Key events
“Yesterday my friend told me that India won another match and that had scored 280-odd with two centuries against South Africa,” begins Krishnamoorthy V. “I replied, ‘These days teams score that in a T20’ and he replied: ‘It IS a T20’.
“I give up now.”
Pakistan need 147 to win
20th over: Australia 146-9 (Ellis 1, Zampa 0) Adam Zampa steals a bye off the lats ball. That’s a brilliant performance from Abbas Afridi, who didn’t concede a single boundary in a spell of 4-0-17-3. He and Haris Rauf dragged Pakistan back into the contest after a monstrous start from Australia, who were 50 for 0 after 3.1 overs. But for some desperate fielding, Pakistan would be chasing an even lower total.
WICKET! Australia 146-9 (Johnson c Farhan b Abbas 0)
Spencer Johnson slices his first ball high in the air and is taken at mid-on. Abbas Afridi looks a real find for Pakistan. And now he’s on a hat-trick.
WICKET! Australia 146-8 (Hardie c Rizwan b Abbas 24)
Abbas Afridi strikes with one of the worst deliveries of his life. It was a slower short ball that would have been called wide on line and height, but Hardie was committed to the shot and top-edged it straight up in the air. Mohammad Rizwan did the rest.
19th over: Australia 141-7 (Hardie 24, Ellis 1) Haris ends a glorious spell with figures of 4-0-22-4. He came on with Australia 48 for 0 after three overs and instantly changed the game.
By the way the wicket of Bartlett was Haris’s 107th in T20 internationals, equalling Shadab Khan’s Pakistan record.
18.4 overs: Australia 140-7 (Hardie 23, Ellis 1) Nathan Ellis misses his first two balls, sets off each time for a bye and then thinks better of it. He’s desperate to get Hardie on strike and manages it next ball with a straight drive that hits the bowler Haris on the ankle.
Haris in a bit of pain here – he twisted his left ankle at the same time as the ball hit him on the right ankle. The right one looks to be the problem; there’s a break in play while he receives treatment. He’s okay to continue.
WICKET! Australia 139-7 (Bartlett b Haris 5)
The main man strikes again. Bartlett drags a pull onto the stumps to give Haris Rauf his fourth wicket. He’s been sensational.
18th over: Australia 139-6 (Hardie 23, Bartlett 5) Hardie pulls Naseem’s first ball sweetly to the square-leg boundary. Naseem again finishes the over strongly, conceding three off the bat from the last five balls.
Two overs to go, Australia will be aiming for 160.
17th over: Australia 131-6 (Hardie 16, Bartlett 5) Bartlett slugs Shaheen over midwicket for his first boundary, a pretty good shot for a No8. Shaheen finishes his spell of two halves. The first two overs disappeared for 32, the last two cost just seven.
16th over: Australia 124-6 (Hardie 14, Bartlett 1) Hardie, the senior batter after David’s departure, pulls Naseem Shah for a beautiful flat six. It’s been such a topsy-turvy innings that it’s hard to know whether Australia are anywhere near a par score. You’d think they’ll want at least 150.
That’s if they don’t run out of wickets. Bartlett almost falls, chipping Naseem just short of Farhan at short midwicket. A good comeback from Naseem: six off the first ball, three from the last five.
15th over: Australia 115-6 (Hardie 6, Bartlett 0) Haris Rauf has taken 3 for 20 from three high-quality overs.
WICKET! Australia 115-6 (David c Abbas b Haris 14)
Another dropped catch! Tim David slugged Haris Rauf straight to mid-on, where Babar Azam put down a dolly. Apparently Haris has had seven catches dropped off his bowling in these white-ball series, which is frankly ridiculous.
David slices the next ball just over the head of Farhan, running back from bnackward point, then short-arm pulls his first boundary. It was another poor bit of fielding, this time from Sufyan, whose foot was touching the boundary sponge as he stopped the ball.
David thumps another boundary and then holes out to long on, where Abbas Afridi takes a comfortable catch. Haris clenches his fist, punches the air and growls with delight. He has bowled brilliantly.
Australia’s first 52 runs came in 20 balls; the next 52 have taken almost 12 overs.
14th over: Australia 104-5 (David 8, Hardie 5) The left-arm wristspinner Muqeem ends a crafty, slippery spell with a boundaryless final over. That gives him terrific figures of 4-0-21-2.
This is only Muqeem’s fourth T20 international, and his 13th T20 game full stop, but he looks very promising.
13th over: Australia 99-5 (David 5, Hardie 3) An outstanding over from Shaheen, full of clever slower balls, with only one run off the bat. His overs tonight have cost 21, 11 and now 1.
David is not out He tried to pull a slower short ball, was beaten all ends up and… well, he was beaten all ends up. Not Pakistan’s finest review.
Pakistan review for caught behind against David
Shaheen likes it; Rizwan doesn’t look convinced.
12th over: Australia 97-5 (David 5, Hardie 2) Muqeem’s inclusion has been a triumph; he has figures of 3-0-16-2.
WICKET! Australia 95-5 (Maxwell c Farhan b Muqeem 21)
A huge wicket for Pakistan! Glenn Maxwell, who looked in really good touch, drags Muqeem straight to the man at deep midwicket. Australia, who roared to 52 for 0 after 3.3 overs, are now in a bit of bother.
11th over: Australia 92-4 (Maxwell 19, David 4) Another terrific over from the impressive Abbas Afridi, who has bowled three overs without conceding a boundary. David is completely beaten by a slower short ball; the other five deliveries all go for singles.
10th over: Australia 87-4 (Maxwell 17, David 1) Tim David is the new batter, and for once he can take a bit of time to get his eye in.
WICKET! Australia 86-4 (Stoinis c Abbas b Muqeem 14)
Sufiyan Muqeem strikes! Stoinis middles a reverse sweep straight to deep point, where Abbas Afridi takes a comfortable catch. File under ‘he hit it too well’.
9th over: Australia 83-3 (Maxwell 15, Stoinis 13) Naseem Shah, back in the attack, is driven sweetly between mid-off and extra cover for four by Maxwell. He looks in good touch after that little cameo in Brisbane. Stoinis gets his first boundary to end the over, helped by a lazy bit of fielding from Haris Rauf at deep square leg.
It feels like Australia have weathered the storm, mainly because Haris is no longer bowling.
8th over: Australia 71-3 (Maxwell 9, Stoinis 7) This should be fun: the left-arm wristspinner Sufiyan Muqeem is coming on to bowl. And he has Stoinis dropped third ball! He reverse-hoicked a poor delivery towards short third man, where Shaheen put down a diving chance. It wasn’t easy but he should really have taken it.
Maxwell carves a boundary through the covers, the first since the third over. At that stage Australia were 47 for 0 from 2.3 overs. Things have changed.
7th over: Australia 64-3 (Maxwell 4, Stoinis 5) The Australian commentators are raving about Abbas Afridi. He’s a sizeable unit who hits the pitch hard and at pace; he also grunts like a tennis player every time he releases the ball.
Stoinis tries to cut and is beaten by some extra pace. “Love his energy,” says David Warner. “His energy at the crease is unbelievable.”
There’s a bit too much energy on the next ball, an attempted slower ball that goes miles down the leg side. It only just landed on the pitch. Despite the wide it’s another really good over, which concludes with a slower ball that totally hoodwinks Maxwell. He misses it completely and shakes his head.
After that shambolic start, Afridi and Haris have taken three for 16 in four overs.
6th over: Australia 61-3 (Maxwell 3, Stoinis 4) Stoinis is dropped first ball! He fenced Haris Rauf to first slip, where Salman Agha contrived to drop a very simple chance.
Haris is on fire and has a big LBW appeal turned down two balls later. He wants to go upstairs but Rizwan overrules him; it looked a bit high and replays show there was an inside edge as well. Even so, this is blistering, game-changing stuff from Haris: 2-0-9-2. And he should have three wickets.
5th over: Australia 56-3 (Maxwell 2, Stoinis 0) Erm, who the hell is on top when the team batting first is 56 for 3 after five overs? Steven Stern, you out there?
WICKET! Australia 56-3 (Short b Afridi 32)
He’s got a wicket now! Short has been duped by a beautiful slower ball. He tried to launch it over midwicket, missed and was cleaned up. Pakistan have taken three wickets for four runs, having previously conceded 50 in 3.1 overs. Only them.
4.5 overs: Australia 56-2 (Short 32, Maxwell 2) Abbas Afridi continues Pakistan’s mini-revival, conceding four singles from his first five balls. He almost takes a wicket when Maxwell top-edges the ball into his grille and up in the air. Rizwan charges towards leg gully, dives forward but can’t quite reach the ball.
There’s a break in play while Maxwell has a concussion check.
4th over: Australia 52-2 (Short 30, Maxwell 0) Haris Rauf: 1-0-4-2. The rest: 3-0-48-0.
WICKET! Australia 52-2 (Inglis c Muqeem b Rauf 0)
Haris Rauf is doing it again! Inglis gets a leading edge to cover, where Muqeem sweeps forward to take another very good catch. Two wickets in three balls for Rauf, who has changed the mood of this game in the space of one over.
WICKET! Australia 52-1 (Fraser-McGurk c Salman b Rauf 20)
Haris Rauf comes into the attack. Short works him for two to bring up the fifty in just 3.1 overs, a record for Australia in T20 cricket. Pakistan are already in death-bowling mode, with lots of variations, and it has brought the first wicket.
Fraser-McGurk is hit in the gut by a slower ball, then swats a very short ball high over extra cover. Salman Agha backpedals to take an excellent catch; Fraser-McGurk goes for 20 from 9 balls.
3rd over: Australia 48-0 (Short 27, Fraser-McGurk 20) This is getting silly. Shaheen’s first ball is too short to Short, who wallops it over midwicket for six. A mistimed pull almost goes the distance as well, though in the end Short has to settle for four.
Shaheen switches to around the wicket and bowls two successive dot balls, both slower ones. Australia are slowing down too; they only managed 11 from that over.
2nd over: Australia 37-0 (Short 16, Fraser-McGurk 20) Short pulls Naseem Shah’s first ball into the crowd at midwicket. “Can someone tell our blokes this isn’t a seven-over game?” deadpans Mark Waugh on commentary.
Another short ball from Naseem is cut emphatically for four by Short. He has 16 from 5 balls, Fraser-McGurk 20 from 7. Crikey.
1st over: Australia 21-0 (Short 3, Fraser-McGurk 18) A flying start for Australia, with Shaheen’s first over disappearing for 21! Jake Fraser-McGurk hit three successive fours and then carted a spectacular six over wide mid-on. One of those fours involved a chance to Naseem Shah at third man; he dived forward, didn’t quite get to the ball and felt it slither under him to the fence.
Here come the players. There’s a big crowd at the SCG – not quite the reported sell-out, but enough to create a pretty good atmosphere. Shaheen Shah Afridi will open the bowling.
A happy 53rd birthday to Waqar Younis, the man who busted stumps for a living. This video is well worth a watch.
Weather watch
It’s a bit of a moody night in Sydney, but the forecast is for a dry night. We should get a full game.
Team news
Australia are unchanged. Pakistan bring in the left-arm wrist spinner Sufiyan Muqeem for Haseebullah Khan.
Australia Short, Fraser-McGurk, Inglis (c/wk), Maxwell, Stoinis, David, Hardie, Ellis, Bartlett, Johnson, Zampa.
Pakistan Sahibzada Farhan, Mohammad Rizwan (c/wk), Babar Azam, Usman Khan, Salman Agha, Irfan Khan, Abbas Afridi, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf, Sufiyan Muqeem.
Australia win the toss and bat
Mohammad Rizwan calls incorrectly and Josh Inglis is happy to bat first, as Australia did in the first T20.
Preamble
Rob Smyth
Hello and welcome to live coverage of the second T20 international between Australia and Pakistan in Sydney. The Brisbane weather turned the first game turned into a Seven7, won handsomely by Australia, but happily today’s forecast is much better so we should get a full game. Another win would give Australia the series with a match to spare.
The first T20I was notable for Glenn Maxwell’s hitting and a devastating new-ball burst from Xavier Bartlett (3 for 12) and Nathan Ellis (3 for 9). Bartlett has made an eye-catching start to his international career, taking 17 wickets at 9.23 across both white-ball codes. Australia will soon need a new pace attack across all three formats; Bartlett, Ellis and Spencer Johnson will be hoping to impress again tonight.
The match starts at 7pm AEDT.
