DUBAI: Paceman Mitchell Johnson bowled with fire to restrict Pakistan to 215 after half-centuries from openers Sarfraz Ahmed and Ahmed Shehzad in the second One-day International here at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Friday.

Pakistan, trailing the three-match series 1-0, looked well on course for a big total after Sarfraz (65) and Shehzad (61) put on a rare 126-run stand for the opening wicket but Australia hit back to take the last nine wickets for a mere 89 runs to dismiss Pakistan in 49.3 overs.

Johnson, who took 3-24 in Australia’s 93-run win in the first ODI, put the brakes on the innings dismissing Ahmed, Umar Akmal (five) and Shahid Afridi (two) to finish with 3-40 in a fiery 10-over spell.

Pakistan, who the toss and batted, cruised to their first century stand in 44 innings as Sarfraz and Shehzad batted with authority against a spin-cum-pace attack.

Sarfraz, promoted to open the innings in this series, reached his maiden half-century off 60 balls while Shehzad took 63 balls to his eighth. Sarfraz hit five boundaries and a six off 72 balls while Shehzad struck five fours in his 82-ball knock.

Pakistan’s last opening stand in a one-dayer was between Mohammad Hafeez and Nasir Jamshed against India at Kolkata in January 2013.

As Pakistan tried to build on the opening stand, out-of-form skipper Misbah-ul Haq was run out by a brilliant throw from covers by Glenn Maxwell after making just 15.

Pakistan couldn’t recover from the jolt as Asad Shafiq (29) and Fawad Alam (20 not out) laboured through their innings as Pakistan managed just 29 runs in the final ten slog overs.

Both teams added a left-arm spinner to their first-match line-up, Australia bringing in Xavier Doherty and Pakistan handing a one-day debut to Raza Hasan.

Scoreboard

PAKISTAN:

Ahmed Shehzad c Smith b Doherty61Sarfraz Ahmed c Maxwell b Johnson65Asad Shafiq c Johnson b Lyon29Misbah-ul-Haq run out15Umar Akmal c Smith b Johnson5Fawad Alam not out20Shahid Afridi c Smith b Johnson2Wahab Riaz b Richardson2Raza Hasan run out0Zulfiqar Babar c Maxwell b Faulkner6Mohammad Irfan run out0

EXTRAS (LB-2, W-8)10

TOTAL (all out, 49.3 overs)215

FALL OF WKTS: 1-126, 2-130, 3-159, 4-168, 5-185, 6-199, 7-203, 8-204, 9-213.

BOWLING: Johnson 10-0-40-3 (3w); Richardson 9.3-0-43-1 (4w); Doherty 10-0-44-1; Faulkner 7-0-27-1, Lyon 10-0-40-1 (1w); Maxwell 3-0-19-0.

AUSTRALIA: Aaron Finch, David Warner, Steven Smith, George Bailey (captain), Glenn Maxwell, James Faulkner, Brad Haddin, Mitchell Johnson, Kane Richardson, Xavier Doherty, Nathan Lyon.

UMPIRES: Shozaib Raza (Pakistan) and Nigel Llong (England).

TV UMPIRE: Richard Illingworth (England).

MATCH REFEREE: Javagal Srinath (India).

Published in Dawn, October 11th, 2014