Australia's Stanlake tears through Pakistan top order

AFP  |  Harare 

Australian fast bowler demolished Pakistan's top order with four quick wickets today as they were held to 116 all out in the second match of the Zimbabwe Tri-Series.

Stanlake took 4 for 8 in his opening burst, the most economical spell by an Australian in T20 international cricket, and the second best ever behind James Faulkner's 5 for 27 the last time the two teams met.

Opening the from the City End and extracting fearsome pace and bounce from the surface, Stanlake had fending the ball to at first slip with his third delivery.

Finch was back in the action two overs later, running from first slip to gully to take a stunning catch to remove

A rising leg stump delivery had Fakhar Zaman caught by wicketkeeper Alex Carey, and when Sarfraz Ahmed presented a regulation chance to Finch at slip, Stanlake had his fourth and were 24 for 4.

Shoaib Malik, who became the first male to play 100 T20Is in the match, briefly rallied alongside before a horrible mix-up led his run out for 13.

With teetering at 47 for 5, Ali counter-attacked and launched a length delivery from medium pacer clean out of the ground for six. However Stoinis soon had his revenge, Ali for 22 as slipped to 61 for 6.

It was then left to Pakistan's lower order to guide the team beyond 100. Faheem Ashraf managed 21 before he was bounced out by Jhye Richardson, while 19-year-old cracked a four and a six to top score with 29.

But Khan fell trying to quicken the run rate in the final over, and quickly wrapped up Pakistan's innings with two more wickets as the side were bowled out one ball short of the full 20 overs.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

First Published: Mon, July 02 2018. 16:35 IST