Australia Beat Pakistan to Reach Semi Final in ICC Cricket World Cup 2015

Australia withstood a pulsating spell of fast bowling from Pakistan's Wahab Riaz to set up a meeting with India in the World Cup semi-finals.

World Cup quarter-final, Adelaide:

Pakistan 213 (49.5 overs): Haris Sohail 41, Hazlewood 4-35

Australia 216-4 (33.5 overs): Smith 65, Watson 64*

Australia won by six wickets

Australia's hopes of chasing 214 looked in peril when Riaz removed David Warner and Michael Clarke to leave them 59-3.

But Steve Smith countered with a measured 65 and Shane Watson capitalised on a dropped catch to steer Australia home with an unbeaten 64.

Earlier, Josh Hazlewood took 4-35 as Pakistan slid from 97-2 to 213 all out.

Australia's victory keeps them on course for a fifth World Cup victory and sets up a chance to avenge their 2011 quarter-final defeat by India in Sydney next week.

For a short period, however, their progress was in serious doubt as Riaz rattled their top order with a hostile spell of left-arm fast bowling that had Kevin Pietersen and Allan Border purring in the Test Match Special commentary box.

Sending the ball down at over 90mph, Riaz had Warner caught off a mistimed uppercut before Clarke was undone by a throat-high bouncer that lobbed up off the splice into the hands of Sohail Maqsood at short midwicket.

With Pakistan on top, Watson was given a working over by the fired-up Riaz, who also took every opportunity to direct verbal barbs at the struggling batsman.

He almost became Riaz's next victim when he top-edged a pull shot to fine leg where Rahat Ali got right underneath the ball only to let it slip through his grasp.

It looked a pivotal moment at the time and so it proved as Watson grew in confidence and began to drive and pull Pakistan's less pacey bowlers to the boundary.

At the other end, Smith was calmness personified as he stroked his way to a run-a-ball fifty.

Score Card

Pakistan Innings213 all out (49.5 overs)

			Runs	Minutes	Balls	4s	6s
Shehzad	c Clarke	b Hazlewood	5	23	13	0	0
Sarfraz Ahmed	c Watson	b Starc	10	19	16	1	0
Haris Sohail	c Haddin	b Johnson	41	94	57	4	0
Misbah-ul-Haq	c Finch	b Maxwell	34	76	59	1	2
U Akmal	c Finch	b Maxwell	20	23	25	2	0
Maqsood	c Johnson	b Hazlewood	29	63	44	1	0
Shahid Afridi	c Finch	b Hazlewood	23	19	15	3	1
Riaz	c Haddin	b Starc	16	35	22	2	0
Ehsan Adil	c Starc	b Faulkner	15	31	22	1	0
Sohail Khan	c Haddin	b Hazlewood	4	6	5	0	0
Rahat Ali	not out		6	20	21	0	0
Extras	0nb 5w 0b 5lb		10
			213 Bowler Overs Maidens Runs Wickets Starc 10.0 1 40 2 Hazlewood 10.0 1 35 4 Johnson 10.0 0 42 1 Maxwell 7.0 0 43 2 Watson 5.0 0 17 0 Faulkner 7.5 0 31 1 Fall of Wicket 20 Sarfraz Ahmed 24 Shehzad 97 Misbah-ul-Haq 112 Haris Sohail 124 U Akmal 158 Shahid Afridi 188 Maqsood 188 Riaz 195 Sohail Khan 213 Ehsan Adil

Australia Innings216 for 4 (33.5 overs)

			Runs	Minutes	Balls	4s	6s
Warner	c Rahat Ali	b Riaz	24	42	23	3	0
Finch	lbw	b Sohail Khan	2	12	5	0	0
Smith	lbw	b Ehsan Adil	65	115	69	7	0
Clarke	c Maqsood	b Riaz	8	9	11	0	0
Watson	not out		64	114	66	7	1
Maxwell	not out		44	37	29	5	2
Extras	0nb 9w 0b 0lb		9
Total	for 4 (33.5 ovs)		216

Bowler	Overs	Maidens	Runs	Wickets
Sohail Khan	7.5	0	57	1
Ehsan Adil	5.0	0	31	1
Rahat Ali	6.0	0	37	0
Riaz	9.0	0	54	2
Shahid Afridi	4.0	0	30	0
Haris Sohail	2.0	0	7	0

Fall of Wicket
15	Finch
49	Warner
59	Clarke
148	Smith
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Australia

Aaron Finch

David Warner

Steven Smith

Michael Clarke (C)

Shane Watson

Glenn Maxwell

James Faulkner

Brad Haddin (W)

Mitchell Johnson

Mitchell Starc

Josh Hazlewood

Pakistan

Sarfraz Ahmed (W)

Ahmed Shehzad

Haris Sohail

Misbah -ul-Haq (C)

Sohaib Maqsood

Umar Akmal

Shahid Afridi

Wahab Riaz

Sohail Khan

Rahat Ali

Ehsan Adil

Posted in: Cricket