Australia stomp out Pakistan, move to semis
Tough luck for Wahab Riaz and Pakistan along with him, had Shane Watson and Glenn Maxwell been caught when given the chance, the match could have had a different finish.
| QUARTERFINAL 3: AUSTRALIA VS PAKISTAN |
| Pakistan 213 (49.5 Overs) |
| Australia 216/4 (33.5 Overs) Australia won the match by 6 wickets |
Catches win matches – Pakistan learned it the hard way today having tasted a bitter defeat against Australia in the third quarterfinal of the ICC cricket World Cup at Adelaide.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. Tough luck for Wahab Riaz and Pakistan along with him, had Shane Watson and Glenn Maxwell been caught when given the chance, the match could have had a different finish.
Choosing to bat first, Pakistan batsmen failed yet again to make a positive impression at this World Cup slumping for a low total of 213 runs against Australia's aggressive bowling.
For Pakistan, the game can be summarised as: loose shots in the top order and slow going cricket in the middle – resulting in poor cricketing performance throughout the day.
Australia bowlers showed good aggressive bowling with Josh Hazelwood claiming a four-for, Mitchell Starc and Glenn Maxwell claiming two each, and Mitchell Johnson and James Faulkner claiming one apiece.
| Pakistan | Runs | Balls | |
| Ahmed Shehzad | c Clarke b Hazlewood | 5 | 13 |
| Sarfraz Ahmed† | c Watson b Starc | 10 | 16 |
| Haris Sohail | c †Haddin b Johnson | 41 | 57 |
| Misbah-ul-Haq* | c Finch b Maxwell | 34 | 59 |
| Umar Akmal | c Finch b Maxwell | 20 | 25 |
| Sohaib Maqsood | c Johnson b Hazlewood | 29 | 44 |
| Shahid Afridi | c Finch b Hazlewood | 23 | 15 |
| Wahab Riaz | c †Haddin b Starc | 16 | 22 |
| Ehsan Adil | c Starc b Faulkner | 15 | 22 |
| Sohail Khan | c †Haddin b Hazlewood | 4 | 5 |
| Rahat Ali | not out | 6 | 21 |
| Extras 10 | Total | 213 |
Coming down to chase, Australia were in a heap of trouble down three wickets early – credit to the aggressiveness of Wahab Riaz and the opening breakthrough of Sohail Khan.
Two catches were dropped – Watson at 4 and Maxwell on 7 – which arguably were the turning points of the game at a time when Wahab Riaz was on fire.
However, the day was not for Pakistan or for Wahab Riaz as both those batsmen stayed till the end and hammered Pakistan out of the World Cup.
Wahab Riaz had to stay content with two wickets, Sohail Khan and Ehsan Adil one each.
Australia will face India in the Semifinal on 26 March at Sydney Cricket Ground.
| Australia | Runs | Balls | |
| DA Warner | c Rahat Ali b Wahab Riaz | 24 | 23 |
| AJ Finch | lbw b Sohail Khan | 2 | 5 |
| SPD Smith | lbw b Ehsan Adil | 65 | 69 |
| MJ Clarke* | c Sohaib Maqsood b Wahab Riaz | 8 | 11 |
| SR Watson | not out | 64 | 66 |
| GJ Maxwell | not out | 44 | 29 |
| Extras 9 | Total | 216 |
[gallery id="72741"][/gallery]
Australia Team
AJ Finch, DA Warner, SPD Smith, MJ Clarke (Captain), SR Watson, GJ Maxwell, JP Faulkner, BJ Haddin (Wicketkeeper), MG Johnson, MA Starc and JR Hazlewood
Pakistan Team
Ahmed Shehzad, Sarfraz Ahmed (Wicketkeeper), Haris Sohail, Misbah-ul-Haq (Captain), Sohaib Maqsood, Umar Akmal, Shahid Afridi, Wahab Riaz, Sohail Khan, Rahat Ali and Ehsan Adil