Pakistan claim T20 series with another emphatic win by CricketArchive Staff Reporter

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Ground:	Edgbaston, Birmingham
Scorecard:	Australia v Pakistan
Player:	MJ Clarke, Shahid Afridi, Shoaib Akhtar, Mohammad Aamer
Event:	Pakistan in England 2010

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DateLine: 6th July 2010

 

The Pakistani side seemed to have found their mojo as they got better of Australia for the second match running. This win would have instilled in them before the Test series get underway.

 

The spin of the coin once again went in favour of Shahid Afridi who opted to bat first. Clarke surprised one and all as he opened the bowling with David Hussey who did an excellent job. The off-spinner bowled a tight line and length as he frustrated Shahzaib Hasan who after three balls went for a slog sweep and was trapped leg before. The first over was a wicket-maiden but the duo of Kamran Akmal and Salman Butt kept the scoreboard ticking at the rate of knots. Butt was the aggressive of the two as he repeatedly waltzed down the track to the faster men to find the boundaries. But the Australian side once again showed their resilience as they kept fighting back from tight corners.

 

None of the Pakistani batsmen went on to make a substantial score. Umar Akmal once again threatened to collar the Australian bowlers but Nannes and debutant O'Keefe removed three Pakistani wickets to stem the flow of runs. Mohammad Aamer struck some lusty blows to help Pakistan make 162 in their 20 overs.

 

Clarke once again sprang a surprise in the Australian innings as he opened the batting with Warner. Though Warner did nothing of note Clarke simply blazed away. The Australian T20 skipper took advantage of some poor offerings from Akthar and Aamer. Akthar after getting some rough treatment from Clarke removed Paine and in the next over after getting hammered twice Aamer kept his cool and removed Clarke from the middle.

 

Hopes and David Hussey repaired the innings with a 50 run partnership in 7.2 overs to ignite hope in the Australian camp. The partnership did not have lusty blows but had some clever running between the wickets. Hopes was finally stumped brilliantly by Kamran Akmal and White after hitting a powerful boundary holed out in the deep. David Hussey never looked fluent in the middle and his misery ended when he chipped a return catch to Ajmal. As long as Hussey was there in the middle the match was far from being over and a crunching cover drive from Hussey in the sixteenth over bowled by Aamer confirmed the fact.

 

Some smart work from Kamran Akmal and Saeed Ajmal removed O'Keefe as the batsman was found just short of his ground. Michael Hussey swung the match slightly in the favour of Australia as he found the boundary ropes twice in consecutive balls in the eighteenth over. But Umar Gul kept his cool and trapped Hussey leg before as the southpaw tried to play a cheeky reverse sweep. With Hussey gone the Australian hopes evaporated. Johnson was snuffed out from the middle with a perfect reverse-swinging yorker from Aamer. A run-out finally ended the Australian innings as Pakistan claimed the T20 series.