The second game of the Australia-Pakistan ODI series saw Nathan Ellis take his career-best figures of 4 for 33 from nine overs. Australia bested Pakistan in the second ODI of the series by 41 runs at Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore.
Now the three-match series is pretty much alive and will go to the final game. The best part about this victory for Australia is that it came on a rank-turner by an under-strength team.
Australia performed much better than they did at Rawalpindi. This time, they lasted for all 50 overs and scored a competitive 231 on a turning pitch.
Ellis and Matt Kuhnemann removed the Pakistani openers early to split the match wide open. They sent half of the Pakistani batsmen packing within 12 overs for just 58 runs. Shadab Khan applied himself and was the top scorer in the game. He made 71 off 104 balls. At one stage in the game, it looked like Shadan would pull off a miracle, but he eventually ran out of partners at the other end. He was the last man to be dismissed in the 44th over.
In the first innings, Australia improved their batting from the first ODI match and showed some vigour to score some quick runs before perishing. Josh Inglis and Cameron Green scored half-centuries, and Matt Renshaw and Oliver Peake made crucial contributions lower down the order to take Australia to a fighting score.
The Pitch was expected to favor the spin bowlers because of the high temperatures. Also, the head curator of Gaddafi Stadium was encouraged to make it that way. The slowness of the pitch made both captains change tactics and place fielders at nearby catching positions.
On the bowling front, Nathan Ellis was on a different level on a spin-friendly pitch. Ultimately, he was awarded the match of the match for his 4/33 in nine overs.
Here are the brief scores of both teams.
Australia 231 for 9 (Green 53, Inglis 51, Renshaw 43, Afridi 3-36)
Pakistan 190 (Shadab 71, Ellis 4-33, Short 3-36)
Australia won by 41 runs.
