Maxwell’s power-hitting and Australian pace flatten Pakistan in a rain-shortened T20

BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — Glenn Maxwell’s robust 43 from 19 balls helped Australia beat Pakistan by 29 runs in a rain-shortened first Twenty20 on Thursday.

After a delay of almost three hours due to lightning and rain, the match was shortened to seven overs per team.

Maxwell took Australia to 93-4 and Pakistan reached just 64-9 after falling to 16-5 inside the first 15 balls.

Nathan Ellis (3-9) and Xavier Bartlett (3-13) reached the top spot ahead of No. 8 batsman Abbas Afridi’s unbeaten 20.

“I definitely had a lot of fun there,” Maxwell said. “We thought we had enough on the board … the bowlers did a great job. There were a few of us who had packed our bags expecting the match to be cancelled, so there was a huge rush to get ready.

Maxwell followed scores of 0, 16, 0 in the previous one-day international series which was won by Pakistan 2-1 by hitting three sixes and five boundaries. He played some extravagant round shots to third man against the pace of Haris Rauf (1-21) and Naseem Shah (1-37).

Maxwell fell in the penultimate over when he hooked Abbas Afridi (2-9) at backward square leg, but Marcus Stoinis provided a final flourish with an unbeaten 21 from seven balls. Stoinis hit 20 runs in Shah’s last over with two fours and a six.

None of the top six Pakistani batters reached double figures.

Sahibzada Farhan hit Spencer Johnson for two successive boundaries from the first two balls he faced, before miscuing a pull shot off the fourth ball and holed out at midwicket.

Mohammad Rizwan, in his first match as Pakistan captain, fell off the first ball as he put Bartlett ahead and scored a point. Usman Khan was caught at third man in the same over.

Ellis struck twice in his first over when Babar Azam was caught in the deep and Jake Fraser-McGurk snapped his third catch when Irfan Khan also took a tame catch at deep midwicket.

Pakistan were 24-6 in the fourth over when Salman Ali Agha scored just 4 in his debut T20, routing a sharp, short Bartlett delivery to Australia’s first captain Josh Inglis.

Leg-spinner Adam Zampa hit Shaheen Shah Afridi and Naseem Shah in the last over with a clean bowl of successive balls to complete the rout.

“It was difficult to keep things normal in a seven-over match,” Rizwan said. “I have to give Maxy credit, his style worked really well.”

The second T20 will be in Sydney on Saturday and the last in Hobart on Monday.

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