‘Depleted’ Australia trounce Pakistan

Travis Head capped a remarkable return to limited over cricket with a fiery century before taking two wickets to anchor Australia’s thumping 88-run victory over Pakistan in the first day-night international in Lahore on Tuesday.

Head’s 72-ball 101 guided Australia to a challenging 313-7 before the 28-year-old turned his arm over for 2-35 to bowl Pakistan out for 225 in 45.2 overs. Leg-spinner Adam Zampa also starred with the ball, taking 4-38 in ten probing overs.

The victory gives Australia a 1-0 lead in the three-match series, their tenth successive ODI win over Pakistan since January 2017. Opener Imam-ul-Haq hit a fighting 96-ball 103 while skipper Babar Azam made a 72-ball 57 but with the asking rate hovering around 9.5 Australia were never in doubt of victory.

Azam, who hit six boundaries in his knock, became the second-fastest batter to complete 4,000 ODI runs in 82 innings, one more than South African Hashim Amla’s record. For Pakistan, pacer Haris Rauf took 2-44 and debutant leg-spinner Zahid Mahmood finished with 2-59.

Australia, already missing key players such as Warner, Steve Smith, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc for multiple reasons, were further depleted after spinner Ashton Agar tested positive for Covid-19 on Tuesday. The remaining two matches are on Thursday and Saturday, also in Lahore.

Brief scores: Australia 313 for 7 (Head 101, McDermott 55, Green 40*, Rauf 2-44, Zahir 2-59) beat Pakistan 225 (Imam 103, Babar 57, Zampa 4-38, Head 2-35) by 88 runs