Pakistan steamroll to ODI series victory over Australia in Perth

Australia were left red-faced after their brittle batting order was exposed as Pakistan steamrolled to ODI series victory at Optus Stadium on Sunday by eight wickets.

The hosts’ apparent lack of care for the result came back to bite as Australia’s next-gen XI were blown away for a meagre 140, with Shaheen Shah Afridi, Naseem Shah and Haris Rauf making Perth their swing-bowling playground.

Pakistan then showed the Aussies how it’s done, chasing the total and claiming their first series win over the powerhouse nation in 22 years with consummate ease. They lost just two wickets and needed little more than half an innings to reel in the target.

With the series squared 1-1, Australia made a fleet of changes, with stars Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Steve Smith, Josh Hazlewood and Marnus Labuschagne rested ahead of the Test series against India.

West Aussies Marcus Stoinis, Cooper Connolly and Lance Morris were parachuted in alongside Spencer Johnson and Sean Abbott, with Josh Inglis taking the reins as stand-in skipper.

But after being sent in to bat, it quickly turned to tatters. Australia’s top order fell inside the first 10 overs before Connolly was struck down with a hand injury and sent for scans.

The blow exposed Stoinis and the out-of-form Glenn Maxwell who couldn’t provide a rescue mission towards even a semi-competitive total.

Stand-in skipper Inglis said the team needed to look at the way they batted in the series to find improvement going forward.

“Game two and three, we clearly didn’t get enough runs on the board, and our whole batting line-up just didn’t get going at all,” he said.

“Credit to Pakistan, I think they bowled outstanding. They’ve got four very quick bowlers, and I thought they put pressure on our batters throughout and made it really tough.

“We’ve probably got to look at ourselves individually and find ways to keep improving. We’ve obviously got some big names out today, but there are guys playing on this team who are very good cricketers and a lot better than what we’ve shown the last couple of days.”

Matt Short and Jake Fraser-McGurk were able to survive the dreaded third over, where the first wicket has fallen for Australia in each of the first two matches, but lasted just one ball beyond it.

Fraser-McGurk was caught rooted to the crease by Shah, wafting at and nicking a length ball that moved away and into Mohammed Rizwan’s grateful gloves.

Shaheen made Aaron Hardie’s promotion to first drop a nightmare, hitting both pads, beating the inside edge and catching the outside edge before the Perth Scorchers captain finally glided a genius surprise outswinger to slip while attempting to withdraw the willow.

Inglis then fell for just seven trying to pull, bringing rising star Connolly to the crease for the first time in the international arena.

He was off the mark first ball against Shah before Pakistan decided he would be given a baptism of fire against electric speedster Rauf.

The left-hander showed good confidence before his partner, Short fell hook, line and sinker for the short-ball trap, caught pulling into the vast expanse of leg-side acreage for 22.

Stoinis faced a stern exam as he made his ODI return, but the wheels began to fall off for the hosts as Connolly was forced to leave the ground after a Mohammad Hasnain short ball smashed into his knuckles.

Rauf made very light work of Maxwell, who, in nine balls faced against the lightning-quick Pakistani this series has been dismissed three times for four runs.

A poor attempt to run the ball to third man off the back foot nicked off Stoinis, leaving the Aussies 6-88, effectively seven, with Connolly sent for scans.

Adam Zampa and Abbott added 30 as Afridi nursed a dislocated thumb, but the end came quick as Rauf was brought back into the attack to deal with the tail.

Abbott ended with 30 as Australia were curtly dismissed for 140.

Pakistan made a sedate start to the chase as Johnson probed the outside edge while Abdullah Shafique and Saim Ayub played Stoinis with caution.

Johnson earned a chance with a thick outside edge, but Morris grassed a tough chance diving forward at third man to hand Saim a life.

Johnson had his own moment to forget at fine leg, dropping a non-catch from a free hit onto the boundary bollards for a maximum trying to be cute.

Zampa had another drop at fine leg, almost a replay of his spilt chance in Adelaide.

A change of ends for Morris, who clocked speeds in the mid-140km/h, finally brought the breakthrough, with Abdullah caught and bowled for 37.

It became double delight as Saim chopped the ball into his stumps for 42 to end the over.

However, the Aussies’ joy ended there as Rizwan and Babar Azam gave the Pakistan fans half an hour of classic stroke play, including two big maximums, to finish off the run chase.