SYDNEY: Australia speedster Spencer Johnson claimed a maiden five-wicket haul in international cricket to propel the hosts to a tense 13-run victory over Pakistan in the second Twenty20 International on Saturday and seal the three-match series with a game to go.

Set just 148 to win after Haris Rauf kept the hosts in check, Pakistan were all out for 134 in the final over as Johnson (5-26) sliced through the top order and Australia’s second-string pace attack showed they could get the job done again with their frontline seam lineup rested ahead of the India Test series.

Usman Khan made a lively 52 and Irfan Khan scored unbeaten 37 but the visitors otherwise struggled with Johnson’s pace on a bouncy wicket with captain Mohammad Rizwan (16) the only other batter to cross the double-figure mark.

“It’s an opportunity I don’t take lightly,” said man-of-the-match Johnson. “I’m privileged to be wearing the green and gold.

“You never know when your last game is going to be for Australia, so every game is a bonus. Hopefully I can play a couple more,” added the 28-year-old. “It’s a different bowling unit than we’re used to for Australia and hopefully we’re doing a good enough job.”

Australia, beaten by Pakistan 2-1 in the preceding ODI series, won a rain-hit first match in Brisbane by 29 runs and will eye a sweep on Monday at Hobart in Josh Inglis’ first series as skipper.

“We thought we were there or thereabouts and I thought the way the bowlers went about it was brilliant,” said Inglis. “There’s so many options in this team I can go to. Every time I turned to Johnson tonight, he got a wicket. The way they played tonight was really good.”

Pakistan recovered from an early onslaught by Australia’s opening batsmen to restrict the hosts to 147-9 despite several dropped catches as Haris finished with 4-22 and Abbas Afridi bagged 3-17.

“If you take the positives, the boys bowled very well. We know Australia is not an easy team,” said Rizwan. “But if you drop crucial catches, it will cost you the game. We all know the pitch wasn’t easy to bat.”

Matthew Short (32) and Jake Fraser-McGurk (20) hit five boundaries and three sixes between them in the first 15 balls of the contest at the Sydney Cricket Ground as Australia posted their fastest-ever 50 in T20s off 20 balls after electing to bat first with both Shaheen Shah Afridi and Naseem Shah going for plenty of runs.

Fraser-McGurk was dropped by Naseem at third man in Shaheen’s expensive first over which went for 21 and Naseem conceded 16 in his first over.

Haris struck twice in his first over when Fraser-McGurk attempted a cross-batted hit but couldn’t clear Salman Ali Agha at cover and Sufiyan Muqeem, playing his first T20 since making his debut at the Asian Games last year, took a splendid diving catch at point to dismiss Inglis for a duck two deliveries later.

Pakistan had their tails up and Abbas ended Short’s 17-ball knock with a brilliant slower ball to knock back the stumps as Aust­ralia slipped to 61-3 in six overs.

Marcus Stoinis (14) had twice survived due to some sloppy catching by Salman Agha and Shaheen before he played a reverse sweep to Sufiyan’s left-arm spin straight to deep point.

Glenn Maxwell shook off a top-edge that rattled his helmet grill and looked to accelerate but he holed out against Sufiyan for 21 to leave Australia in a bit of trouble at 95-5.

Another dropped catch, this time by Babar Azam, handed the dangerous Tim David a lifeline and he carted Haris for two fours in the 15th over before becoming the seamer’s third victim.

Haris then castled Xavier Bartlett for his 107th T20I wicket to join Shadab Khan atop Pakistan’s all-time list.

Aaron Hardie made a handy 28 off 23 balls to lift Australia’s total before Abbas removed him and Johnson in successive balls in the final over.

Pakistan made a sluggish start and after Babar (three) flicked Bartlett’s first ball straight to Nathan Ellis at deep square leg, their woes deepened when Johnson accounted for Sahibzada Farhan (five).

Australia didn’t allow Pakistan to score a boundary off the bat for nine overs and after facing 26 balls for 16, skipper Rizwan knew he had to up the tempo.

But it cost him with Tim David taking a fine diving catch in the deep off Johnson, who then bagged Salman Agha next ball, caught behind by Inglis to leave Pakistan on 44-4 after 10 overs before Usman and Irfan combined in a 58-run stand.

Inglis couldn’t hold on to a sharp edge of Usman against Adam Zampa’s leg-spin when he was on 12 and then Short misjudged a catch over his head when the batter reached 41 before he completed his half-century off 34 balls.

Johnson broke the threatening stand when he had Usman caught at short fine leg with a sharp short delivery in the 16th over and then removed Abbas for four.

Two wickets in an over by spin king Zampa piled the pressure on Pakistan before Irfan laun­ched another counter-attack.

But he could not take the tourists over the line despite only 16 required from the final over and Pakistan were eventually dismissed when Haris was run out in the last over.

SCOREBOARD

AUSTRALIA:

M. Short b Abbas 32

J. Fraser-McGurk c Salman b Haris 20

J. Inglis c Sufiyan b Haris 0

G. Maxwell c Farhan b Sufiyan 21

M. Stoinis c Abbas b Sufiyan 14

T. David c Abbas b Haris 18

A. Hardie c Rizwan b Abbas 28

X. Bartlett b Haris 5

N. Ellis not out 1

S. Johnson c Farhan b Abbas 0

A. Zampa not out 0

EXTRAS (B-3, LB-1, W-4) 8

TOTAL (for nine wickets, 20 overs) 147

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-52 (Fraser-McGurk), 2-52 (Inglis), 3-56 (Short), 4-86 (Stoinis), 5-95 (Maxwell), 6-115 (David), 7-139 (Bartlett), 8-146 (Hardie), 9-146 (Johnson)

BOWLING: Shaheen 4-0-39-0; Naseem 4-0-44-0 (1w); Haris 4-0-22-4 (1w); Abbas 4-0-17-3 (2w); Sufiyan 4-0-21-2

PAKISTAN:

Mohammad Rizwan c David b Johnson 16

Babar Azam c Ellis b Bartlett 3

Sahibzada Farhan c Bartlett b Johnson 5

Usman Khan c Bartlett b Johnson 52

Salman Ali Agha c Inglis b Johnson 0

Irfan Khan not out 37

Abbas Afridi c Short b Johnson 4

Shaheen Afridi b Zampa 0

Naseem Shah b Zampa 0

Sufiyan Muqeem run out (Short) 0

Haris Rauf run out David 2

EXTRAS (B-1, LB-2, W-12) 15

TOTAL (all out, 19.4 overs) 134

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-12 (Babar), 2-17 (Farhan), 3-44 (Rizwan), 4-44 (Salman), 5-102 (Usman), 6-106 (Abbas), 7-107 (Shaheen), 8-107 (Naseem), 9-127 (Sufiyan)

BOWLING: Johnson 4-0-26-5 (4w); Bartlett 4-0-18-1 (1w); Stoinis 3-0-27-0; Zampa 4-0-19-2; Ellis 3.4-0-30-0 (3w); Maxwell 1-0-11-0

RESULT: Australia won by 13 runs.

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Spencer Johnson

SERIES: Australia lead 3-match series 2-0.

Published in Dawn, November 17th, 2024