Spencer Johnson has cleaned up Pakistan with a record five-wicket haul to help Australia secure a T20 series win on Saturday night at a lively SCG.
Defending 147 in the second match of the three-game series, Australia tightened the screws early to reduce Pakistan to 4-44 from 10 overs.
A fighting 52 from 38 balls from Usman Khan gave Pakistan a glimmer of hope but it wasn’t to be for the tourists as Johnson claimed 5-26 from four overs, which were the best figures by an Australian male pace bowler in T20 internationals.
Ashton Agar’s 6-30 against New Zealand in 2021 is still Australia’s best individual T20 international bowling performance. James Faulkner (5-27) is the only other pace bowler to snare five wickets in an innings.
Pakistan fell 13 runs short after being bowled out for 134 in the final over. Only three of the tourists’ batsmen made more than five runs.
“It doesn’t really make any sense to be honest,” Johnson said afterwards. “It’s nice to be back at the SCG. Last time I was here was the Big Bash final. The conditions were probably in the bowlers’ favour.”
Spencer Johnson during Australia’s win on Saturday evening. Credit: Getty Images
Australia continued its unbeaten T20 international record at home against Pakistan with a fifth straight win since the teams first met in 2010. Both sides will meet for a dead rubber in Hobart on Monday.
An embarrassing ODI series defeat to Pakistan would still sting Australia’s players given how much they were outclassed but pegging back two wins in the shortest format eases pressure on the side.
For a T20 series that hasn’t garnered significant interest across the nation, a healthy crowd of 31,482 livened up the penultimate international men’s white ball fixture of the season.
Thankfully for Cricket Australia’s bottom line, the majority were Pakistan fans, who roared with delight every time the ball came within 10 metres of the boundary or one of their own took a wicket.
“If the crowd wasn’t there, we probably would have felt like the game was done,” Johnson said. “But they cheer the drop catch or a boundary ... so the nerves are there.”
A long queue of fans still waiting to get into the SCG missed a frenetic start to the match as Jake Fraser-McGurk and Matt Short bombed their way through the first three overs.
Matt Short in action. Credit: AP
Australia reached 50 runs after 3.1 overs and in record time - the fewest balls in the team’s history - before Pakistan halted by momentum by taking 3-4 and removing Fraser-McGurk (20 off nine), Josh Inglis (duck) and Short (32 off 17).
It was the closest Fraser-McGurk and Short got to really lighting up over the past few weeks but both failed to make it past the power play.
Short’s entertaining cameo was the best of the Australians as Harris Rauf did the most damage with 4-22 from his four overs, to go with three and two wickets hauls from Abbas Afridi and Sufiyan Muqeem respectively.
Australia’s moderate total of 9-147 opened the door for Pakistan to clinch a rare victory in Sydney. Just days after their first ODI series win in Australia since 2002, Pakistan were one good run-chase away from the country’s first men’s international victory over Australia at the SCG since a 50-over game in 1997.
It was around that time - in 2001 - that off-spinner Colin ‘Funky’ Miller took his hat off in an SCG Test and showcased his bright blue hair, leaving West Indies batsman Courtney Walsh in hysterics.
On Saturday, ahead of the seventh over of Pakistan’s innings, Australian spinner Adam Zampa unveiled his own eye-catching haircut; a number one with peroxide blond bleach through it.
A little different from the mullet he has been sporting recently, the look certainly lit up social media in the leg-spinner’s 200th white ball game for Australia. Zampa took two late wickets and bowled with excellent variation for figures of 2-19 from four overs.
“Zorb just does what he wants,” Johnson said. “I think he’s earned the right to have that salad. He’s his own man.”
