Australia vs Pakistan 3rd ODI Preview – 3rd September

The series is currently tied between Australia and Pakistan as they have both won a game each. It has come to the decider which again will be played in Sharjah and it is tough to pick a favourite for the match. There have been two fairly close games which have been completely different to each other.

If Australia bowl the way they did in the 2nd ODI it will make it a lot easier for Pakistan to win the ODI series. If Pakistan bat poorly like they did in the 1st ODI then Australia should be all over them.

Match Information :

September 3, Sharjah

 Starting Time: 1800 Local Time (1400 GMT Time)

Key Contest:

Mitchell Starc vs Nasir Jahshed

Mitchell Starc started off the series against Pakistan very well picking up a 5 wicket haul but in the 2nd ODI he was part of the bowling attack that leaked runs which influenced the result of the match favouring Pakistan. Starc will have a huge influence on this match, Australia no longer have Brett Lee who was very good at the start of the innings or the old Mitchell Johnson so Starc needs to step up into a senior role. Nasir Jahshed got the Pakistan fans on their feet in Dubai as he went so close to scoring his 2nd ODI hundred falling only 3 runs short. His innings set the Pakistan innings up to chase a good score of 248 set by the Australian’s. Jahshed or Hafeez need to have a big contribution early on so that the middle order isn’t put under as much pressure as they were in the 1st ODI.

Team News:

Abu Dhabi: Star Pakistani all-rounder Shahid Afridi will play the third and the final One Day International (ODI) against Australia at Sharjah, after he recovered from the back pain.

Pakistan played very well in the 2nd ODI but their could be a few changes made to the bowling attack. Aizaz Cheema could be brought back for Sohail Tanvir who has leaked 106 runs from 17 overs also going wicketless in the 2 ODI’s so far.

Saeed Ajmal has taken 7 wickets for the hosts and Australia don’t have a well recognised spinner in the XI at the moment. The bowlers went for runs last match and a change should be made to bring Xavier Doherty in for either Mitchell Johnson or Daniel Christian.

Pakistan v Australia, 1st ODI, Pak Lose :(

Australia 199 for 6 (Clarke 66, Bailey 57*, Ajmal 3-30) beat Pakistan 198 (Shafiq 56, Starc 5-42, Pattinson 3-19) by four wickets

Sharjah: Australia will chase a target of 199 runs in the first ODI against Pakistan after Pakistani batting line collapsed against the furious Australian bowling attack at Sharjah Cricket Association Stadium, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.

Pakistan team won the toss and decided to bat first. But the decision was proven wrong after the top three batsmen were sent to pavilion on 40 runs. Later two partnerships between Asad Shafiq-Misbah-ul-Haq and Asad Shafiq-Umar Akmal provided Pakistan a chance to stable the innings.

But the lower order of the Pakistani team failed to capitalize on the stand provided by two partnerships and the whole team got out at 198 runs.

Asad Shafiq (56) and Umar Akmal were the two successful batsmen from Pakistani side followed by Misbah-ul-Haq (26) and Nasir Jamshed (23). Other Pakistani batsmen failed to cross 10’s.

Mitchell Starc, who took five wicket haul for the first time in ODI career, was the most successful batsmen from Australian side. Pattinson took three wickets while Johnson and Christian shared one wicket each.

Pakistan v Australia, 1st ODI, Sharjah

August 28-29, 2012
 Start time 1800 (1400 GMT)

Pakistan (squad) Misbah-ul-Haq (capt),

Nasir Jamshed, Mohammad Hafeez,

Azhar Ali, Asad Shafiq, Umar Akmal,

Kamran Akmal (wk), Shahid Afridi,

Sohail Tanvir, Aizaz Cheema, Saeed Ajmal, Imran Farhat, Shoaib Malik,

Abdur Rehman, Junaid Khan, Anwar Ali

Australia have made one change from the side that beat Afghanistan, leaving out their frontline spinner Xavier Doherty. The allrounder Daniel Christian will take his place, meaning plenty of seam-bowling options for Michael Clarke, while the spin duties will be shared by Glenn Maxwell, David Hussey and Clarke himself. It remains to be seen whether Matthew Wade will open or be moved down the order to give him some respite from the heat.

Australia 1 Matthew Wade (wk),

2 David Warner, 3 Michael Clarke (capt),

4 Michael Hussey, 5 David Hussey,

6 George Bailey, 7 Glenn Maxwell,

8 Daniel Christian, 9 Mitchell Johnson,

10 Mitchell Starc, 11 James Pattinson