Australia beat Pakistan in first ODI

Sharjah, Oct 8 (IANS) Australia beat Pakistan by 93 runs in the first of the three One-Day Internationals (ODI) played at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium here.

Captain George Bailey won the toss and elected to bat with Australia posting a respectable 255/8 in their 50 overs Tuesday.

The tourists didn’t have the ideal start losing opener Aaron Finch (0) with the first ball of the match but David Warner and Steve Smith combined for a 86-run partnership to steady the innings before Warner was dismissed for 43.

Smith dug in and went on to post his maiden ODI ton before he was dismissed for 101 by Shahid Afridi (3/46).

In response, Pakistan’s batting order was never really able to get going with Nathan Lyon (2/33) and Glenn Maxwell (2/29) capitalising on a turning wicket. Mitchell Johnson’s pace was again destructive and he was able to pick up three wickets in his seven overs.

David Warner was solid in the field taking two superb catches to dismiss Pakistani captain Misbah-ul-Haq (0) and Fawad Alam (7) before finishing the match off for the Aussies with a run out in the 37th over.

Smith was chosen as the Man of the Match.

Brief scores: Australia 255/8 in 50 overs (Steve Smith 101, David Warner 43, Brad Haddin 23 not out; Shahid Afridi 3/46, Wahab Riaz 2/61) beat Pakistan 162 all out in 36.3 overs (Umar Akmal 46, Sarfraz Ahmed 34; Mitchell Johnson 3/24, Glenn Maxwell 2/29, Nathan Lyon 2/33).