Oz dismiss Pak for 240

Brisbane, November 21

Mitchell Starc took 4/52 as a middle-session blitz and some late new-ball fireworks helped Australia dismiss Pakistan for 240 to bring a close to the opening day of the first Test here. Pat Cummins took three wickets (3/60) and the third paceman, Josh Hazlewood, grabbed two as the Australian bowlers took the honours on a sunny day at the Gabba ground.

Pakistan’s Asad Shafiq offered most resistance to the barrage from the Australian pace battalion with a fine knock of 76 before he was ousted by a Cummins delivery that removed his middle stump. Left-armer Starc took the second new ball in the final hour of the day and made good use of it, dismissing Yasir Shah (26) with a trademark yorker and Shaheen Shah (0) off successive deliveries to put himself on a hat-trick.

Naseem Shah, the 16-year-old fast bowler playing his first Test, faced the next delivery and, without appearing to know much about it, managed to keep the ball from hitting his stumps with a thick inside edge. The teenager was the last batsman to depart, caught and bowled by Starc for seven to bring an end to a day that ebbed and flowed with long periods of Pakistani resistance punctuated by bursts of wickets.

After losing the toss, Australia had been frustrated by an opening stand of 75 from Azhar Ali (39) and Shan Masood (27) in a partnership that lasted throughout the first session and into the second. The Australian quicks finally found their length, however, and removed both in three deliveries before swiftly adding the wickets of Haris Sohail and Babar Azam for one run apiece. That spell of four wickets at the cost of three runs had the tourists rocking and a rout looked in order when Iftikhar Ahmed departed for seven to leave Pakistan on 95/5.

However, Shafiq managed to take the team past 200, with help from Mohammad Rizwan (37) and Yasir Shah (26). — Reuters

Brief Scores: Pakistan: 240 (Shafiq 76, Azhar 39, Rizwan 37; Starc 4/52, Cummins 3/60, Hazlewood 2/46) vs Australia