Lyon takes 5 on flat track, Oz again crush Pak by an innings

Adelaide, December 2 

Spin king Nathan Lyon snared five wickets, including dangerous fifty-makers Shan Masood and Asad Shafiq, as Australia wore down a stubborn Pakistan to clinch the second Test and wrap up the series 2-0. Pakistan resumed Day 4 of the Day/Night match on a precarious 39/3 with Masood not out 14 and Shafiq on eight after being bowled out for 302 in their first innings and forced to follow on.

It followed Australia's mammoth 589/3 declared, built around David Warner's exceptional 335 not out. Needing another 248 to force Australia to bat again and avoid a second successive innings defeat, Pakistan had a decent crack at it but were eventually all out for 239, with the home team claiming victory by an innings and 48 runs.

Lyon was Australia's saviour, finishing with 5/69 on a lifeless pitch that offered little for the home side's fast bowlers, who were made to toil. At least Pakistan offered some resistance on today, with Masood, who models himself on England's Alastair Cook, playing some glorious strokes as he assumed a leadership role after Babar Azam and captain Azhar Ali fell cheaply on last evening. Masood's sixth Test 50, in his 17th Test, arrived with a boundary off Lyon, his sixth four, before he chipped the spinner to mid-off on 68 for Mitchell Starc to collect an easy catch. Shafiq, who has 12 Test hundreds to his name, proved to be Masood's equal and brought up his 25th half-century with a single off Josh Hazlewood. But Lyon struck again, with Shafiq getting a thin edge to a flighted ball that carried to Warner at slip and he was gone for 57.

Lyon then removed Iftikhar Ahmed, caught at short-leg by Marnus Labuschagne for a battling 27, before trapping surprise first-innings century-maker Yasir Shah lbw for 13. Shaheen Afridi became his fifth victim, caught at mid-off by Hazlewood on the last ball before dinner. — AFP 

Brief Scores: Aus: 589 decl./3 (Warner 335*, Labuschagne 162); Pakistan: 302 and 239 (Masood 68, Shafiq 57, Lyon 5/69)

• 6 Australia’s sixth consecutive win in a pink-ball Test, four of them at Adelaide. Every Day/Night Test played so far since the concept was introduced in 2015 has produced a result

• 16 Five-wicket haul for Nathan Lyon (above) and his first vs Pakistan, who have lost all four Tests they have played this year after two defeats to SA in January 

• 14 Consecutive Tests lost by Pakistan in Australia