Inglis and Smith partnership
In Melbourne Smith managed 44 and Josh Inglis hit 49 runs to play a significant role in getting Australia home and dry in the first ODI between the teams.
A wicket here for Pakistan of either of these men would be a significant step to their victory in Adelaide since 1996, let’s see how Inglis and Smith dig in here.
Australia 2-47
Short’s wicket
Short wicket and another tough day for Aussie openers
Short is gone for 19.
Short was looking very good but Babar Azam manages to hold on to the catch at cover from Shaheen Shah Afridi’s bowl.
That’s Shaheen’s second wicket of the day and another tough day at the office for Australia’s openers.
Australia 2-41
Slow start from Smith
After Short’s dropped catch and the early wicket of Fraser-McGurk, Smith took a while to get on the scoreboard and hits a nice four after ten balls without a run and finishes the over with another four through extra cover.
Australia 1-41
Fraser-McGurk’s wicket
Short gets a bit of luck with dropped catch and gets a four
Huge bit of luck as Short gets dropped at the boundary by Afridi as the ball hits his hands he drops it off Naseem Shah’s bowling. As a bowler, Afridi will rue that dropped catch for a while to come.
Short breathes deeply as the ball goes over for a four, that would have been a huge wicket for Pakistan after Fraser-McGurk early dismissal.
Australia 1-26
Fraser-McGurk gone for LBW for 13 runs
The curse of the blog writer, Fraser-McGurk is gone to a plum LBW from the bowling of Shaheen Shah Afridi.
Extremely disappointing for Fraser-McGurk who goes again very early for just 13 runs after looking comfortable early.
There’s a big job here for Steve Smith to come in and steady this ship. Great start for Pakistan who will be delighted with that scalp.
Australia 1-21
Three fours from Fraser-McGurk
Jake Fraser-McGurk gets three fours off Naseem Shah and is looking extremely confident and comfortable on this field.
He’s a young man in a hurry and is already showing a variety of shots to this relatively small crowd that is still shuffling into Adelaide Oval.
Australia 0-20
Opening boundary from Matt Short and a confident start
An interesting start from Jake Fraser-McGurk, easing into the game by leaving the first two balls as he works this pitch and Shaheen Afridi,
A confident start from Matt Short who gets a nice four to end the over, hitting the ball to get it past deep backward square.
Australia 0-8
Settling into Adelaide and Marcus Harris gets his 50 against India A
There is 4mm of grass on the pitch with the sun beating down in Adelaide and the temperature holding at 19 degrees, so it’s imperative Jake Fraser-McGurk and Matt Short take their time to ease their way into this partnership and work out the Pakistan seam attack.
Pakistan captain Mohammad Rizwan will have seen enough from his team in Melbourne to believe that victory is absolutely possible, but it reliant on getting early wickets.
Not too long to go here and in the audition for Australia’s next Test opener Marcus Harris has done his chances no harm, raising the bat as he moves past 50 against India A.
We are about to start here.