19 June, 2001 : Aussies went down fighting in reply to Pakistan's 291 at Trent Bridge, in a Natwest series one day match. That day, Waqar Younis captured 6 wickets in his 8 overs, giving away 59 runs which, until today, stood as the best bowling performance by a Pakistan bowler against Australia.22 April, 2009, today : Shahid Afridi snatched 6 wickets for just 38 runs to beat Waqar's record. Afridi bowled the perfect mix of leg-spinners & googlies that none of Australian batsman could handle with authority. 3 bowled, one caught by keeper, one at slip and Brad Haddin lofted it to short cover.. the first one. after playing several good shots against medium pacers.Saeed Ajmal tightened things up from other end, bowled his 10 overs for just 19 runs to go with 2 wickets. Ajmal, a rookie offspinner at International level but highly experienced in domestic circuit, justified his coach's strategy to spin off Aussies. Intikhab Alam, who interestingly was also the coach of Pakistan when they won cricket World cup in 1992, had anticipated Australians will fail against spinner in this 5 ODI series 'Chapal Cup' in Middle East.From 95/1, Australia slipped to 122/9 in just over 10 overs! James hopes called for batting powerplay, constructed a 45 run partnership with last batsman Ben Hilfenhaus to give Aussie bowlers something to bowl at. Under lights, Stuart Clark, Ben Hilfenhaus and Nathan Bracken did swing the ball but not enough.Mini Scorecard : Aus v Pak : 1st ODI, Dubai.Australia (elected to bat) = 168/10 in 38.5 oversB Haddin 40, S Watson 40, J Hopes 43*, S Marsh 16,Shahid Afridi 10-0-39-6 & Saeed Ajmal 10-1-19-2.Pakistan 171 for 6 wickets in 44.1 overs.K Akmal 48, Misbah-ul-Haq 30*, S Afridi 24.Full Scorecard : Aus v Pak : 1st ODI, 22 Apr 09..Dubai = 172nd ODI Venue of International cricket. Today was the first cricket match here in Dubai Sports City stadium, made by Abdur Rehman Bukhatir which indeed looks in spectacular. Not much chance of rain in Dubai anyway, but the extra large stand shades ensured people don't feel too much of sun in first innings and guess what? when night set in, everyone noticed there were no floodlights! instead, multiple lights sources (capable of over 3000 lux) are fitted into stand shades. Generally, cricket stadiums have 4 large towers of floodlights but Dubai stadium has a new innovation installed in itself!7th lowest total ever by Australia against Pakistan. Australia's smallest score against Pakistan in one day internationals is 120 which they made at Hobart in January 1997.. interestingly, none of Aussie batters made a duck today!
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