Australia defeated Pakistan by 360 runs in the first Test of the three-match series. Chasing 450 runs, the visiting team was bowled out for 89 runs in their second innings on Day 4.
Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood dismissed three batters each, while Nathan Lyon added two scalps to his bowling figures.
Saud Shakeel (24) was the top scorer while the second most runs came in the form of extra runs (16).
Babar Azam (14) and Imam-ul-Haq (10) were the other two players to reach the double-digit mark.
“Great start to the summer, everything fell into place,” Australia captain Pat Cummins said at the presentation ceremony. “We’ve played a lot of cricket, so the build-up was very chilled and relaxed. No hiccups this week, it’s all gone to the plan.”
Pakistan’s top-order batters crumbled against the relentless pace of Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and captain Pat Cummins on a wicket that had variable bounce with plenty of batters taking body blows.
Hazlewood and Starc snared six wickets between them, while Cummins nicely setup former Pakistan captain Babar Azam (14) before finding the outside edge of his bat as the visitors had no answer to Australia’s nippy fast bowling.
Lyon reached the 500-wicket landmark when he successfully went for a leg before wicket referral against Faheem Ashraf and was embraced by his teammates. The off-spinner raised the ball to the applause of the Perth crowd as he became the third Australian bowler after the late Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath to join the exclusive club of eight players.
“I was pretty confident about it,” Lyon said of the referral. “Everyone said the height was ok, it was just whether it was sliding down leg. Thankfully it was three reds.”
Lyon said the match victory doubled his delight at reaching the landmark.
“It’s something I’m pretty proud of,” he said. “As a young kid growing up in country New South Wales, 500 wickets is a long way away. A lot of hard work but something I’m very proud about. 500 wickets is pretty amazing but to do it here and contribute to an impressive team win makes it better.”
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Australia dominated Pakistan in the first Test of a three-match series, winning by 360 runs. Pakistan was bowled out for just 89 runs in their second innings while chasing a target of 450 runs. Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood took three wickets each, with Nathan Lyon adding two to his tally. Saud Shakeel was the top scorer for Pakistan with 24 runs. Babar Azam and Imam-ul-Haq were the only other players to reach double digits. Australia captain Pat Cummins praised the team’s performance and said everything went according to plan. Pakistan struggled against the pace of Starc, Hazlewood, and Cummins, with many batsmen taking body blows on a wicket with variable bounce. Lyon reached the milestone of 500 wickets and became the third Australian bowler to achieve this feat. He expressed his pride in reaching the milestone and contributing to the team’s victory.
