Australia vs. Pakistan: Highlights, Scorecard, Report from Cricket World Cup
Australia powered into the semi-finals of the Cricket World Cup with a six-wicket win over Pakistan in Adelaide.
The co-hosts’ revered bowling attack came to the fore, with Josh Hazlewood the star with four wickets, as they bowled Pakistan out for 213.
The chase was not without alarms, as a superb spell from Wahab Riaz had Australia rocking—but the game got away from Pakistan when Rahat Ali dropped a simple catch that would have removed Shane Watson.
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Steven Smith and Watson found their form to put Australia in command and Glenn Maxwell applied the finishing touches to take them into the semi-finals.
Pakistan simply failed to get a foothold with the bat, losing wickets at far too quick a rate, as not one player scored a half-century.
Openers Ahmed Shehzad and Sarfraz Ahmed were back in the shed inside six overs, with 24 on the board, as Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc were rewarded for a probing line and length at good pace.
Haris Sohail and Misbah-ul-Haq committed the cardinal sin of getting in and getting out.
Misbah looked good in getting to 34, but he fell to the spin of Maxwell—while the pace of Mitchell Johnson accounted for Sohail who edged behind to Brad Haddin.
Credit, though, should go to the bowler who softened up Sohail with a bouncer before throwing in a full ball that the batsman chased.
It was a similar story with Umar Akmal and Sohaib Maqsood, who made their way into the 20s before departing.
Shahid Afridi injected some life into the innings as he came out and teed off from ball one.
"WATCH: Boom boom Afridi hits Johnson over cover for six! See the action on Sky Sports World Cup #cwc15 #fireitup http://t.co/xNNbQowix5
— Sky Sports Cricket (@SkyCricket) March 20, 2015"
Too often with Afridi, though, he does not know when to rein things in and after making 23 off 14 balls, he miscued one off Hazlewood and Aaron Finch took the catch.
The Pakistan tail was exposed, but Ehsan Adil and Rahat showed some application to get their side to 213.
"Ehsan played better than some of our top order batsmen. At least, he applied himself #PakvsAus
— Basit Subhani (@BasitSubhani) March 20, 2015"
It at least gave them some sort of total to defend.
| Batsman | How Out | Runs | Minutes | Balls |
| Ahmed Shehzad | c Clarke b Hazlewood | 5 | 23 | 13 |
| Sarfraz Ahmed† | c Watson b Starc | 10 | 19 | 16 |
| Haris Sohail | c †Haddin b Johnson | 41 | 94 | 57 |
| Misbah-ul-Haq* | c Finch b Maxwell | 34 | 75 | 59 |
| Umar Akmal | c Finch b Maxwell | 20 | 24 | 25 |
| Sohaib Maqsood | c Johnson b Hazlewood | 29 | 63 | 44 |
| Shahid Afridi | c Finch b Hazlewood | 23 | 21 | 15 |
| Wahab Riaz | c †Haddin b Starc | 16 | 35 | 22 |
| Ehsan Adil | c Starc b Faulkner | 15 | 32 | 22 |
| Sohail Khan | c †Haddin b Hazlewood | 4 | 7 | 5 |
| Rahat Ali | not out | 6 | 20 | 21 |
| Extras | (lb 5, w 5) | 10 | ||
| Total | (all out; 49.5 overs) | 213 | ||
| Bowler | Overs | Maidens | Runs | Wickets |
| MA Starc | 10 | 1 | 40 | 2 |
| JR Hazlewood | 10 | 1 | 35 | 4 |
| MG Johnson | 10 | 0 | 42 | 1 |
| GJ Maxwell | 7 | 0 | 43 | 2 |
| SR Watson | 5 | 0 | 17 | 0 |
| JP Faulkner | 7.5 | 0 | 31 | 1 |
Pakistan required early wickets to stand any chance of victory and Sohail Khan got a ball to tail in and trapped Finch lbw.
David Warner was his usual fluent self and stroked a couple of glorious cover drives, but he miscued a short ball and fell to an excellent running catch by Rahat at third man.
Pakistan sensed an opening and Misbah went on the attack by providing Wahab Riaz with a short leg. It paid off, as Australia captain Michael Clarke got in a tangle when attempting to fend off a short ball and lobbed it up to Maqsood.
The wicket fired up Wahab and he tore into Watson, peppering him with short balls and verbals.
In the 16th over, it appeared Wahab had won the battle with Watson. A short ball saw Watson top edge the ball down to Rahat. It was a simple chance, far easier than the one he pouched to get rid of Warner, but he shelled it.
"Match Dropped? Rahat Ali drops #ShaneWatson at 4, with Australia's score at 83/3 after 16.1 overs. #AusvPak #CWC15 pic.twitter.com/Lwvf97A6in
— The Quint (@TheQuint) March 20, 2015"
It proved an extremely costly drop, as Watson grew in confidence and began to strike the ball crisply.
At the other end, Smith looked totally untroubled and the pair took the game away from Pakistan in the middle overs.
Smith was trapped lbw by Ehsan Adil, but his 65 had taken the game away from Pakistan and Maxwell joined Watson at the crease and they finished the job at a rapid rate of knots.
| Batsman | How Out | Runs | Minutes | Balls |
| DA Warner | c Rahat Ali b Wahab Riaz | 24 | 41 | 23 |
| AJ Finch | lbw b Sohail Khan | 2 | 11 | 5 |
| SPD Smith | lbw b Ehsan Adil | 65 | 115 | 69 |
| MJ Clarke* | c Sohaib Maqsood b Wahab Riaz | 8 | 10 | 11 |
| SR Watson | not out | 64 | 114 | 66 |
| GJ Maxwell | not out | 44 | 37 | 29 |
| Extras | (w 9) | 9 | ||
| Total | (4 wickets; 33.5 overs) | 216 | ||
| Bowler | Overs | Maidens | Runs | Wickets |
| Sohail Khan | 7.5 | 0 | 57 | 1 |
| Ehsan Adil | 5 | 0 | 31 | 1 |
| Rahat Ali | 6 | 0 | 37 | 0 |
| Wahab Riaz | 9 | 0 | 54 | 2 |
| Shahid Afridi | 4 | 0 | 30 | 0 |
| Haris Sohail | 2 | 0 | 7 | 0 |
India lie in wait for Australia in the semi-finals, and it will be an India side far removed from the one that was so poor earlier in the Australian summer. It has the makings of a cracker.
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