David Warner's 107 led Australia to a 41 run win over Pakistan at Taunton in their fourth game of this 2019 Cricket World Cup.
Warner was ably backed up at the other end by Aaron Finch who added 87 runs to the score. A mammoth total had looked on for Australia until a strong spell from Mohammad Amir restricted them to 307 all out from 49 overs.
Despite losing Fakhar Zaman early, strong knocks from Imam-Ul-Haq and Mohammad Hafeez built a strong foundation for the chase. A spell of 15 balls where Pakistan lost 3 wickets consigned them to defeat despite some strong hitting from Hassan Ali and Wahab Riaz leaving Pakistan all out for 266.
Amir keeps Australia down
With both of Australia's openers passing 50 with Warner then going to reach three figures, it looked as though 350+ could be on for Australia.
It wasn't to be however, Finch was removed with the score on 146-1 and from then on no other batsman would score more than 23.
Amir was the star as his five wickets included the scalps of Finch, Shaun Marsh, Usman Khawaja and Alex Carey. The left armer's 5-30 was backed up with regular wickets from the rest of Pakistan's attack meant the momentum was never built up throughout Australia's innings.
Pakistan will be left rueing the exclusion of Shadab Khan as their fifth bowler who may have been able to restrict Australia further and bring the chase into Pakistan's reach.
Middle order collapse leaves Pakistan short
When Fakhar Zaman was caught by Kane Richardson attempting to cut Pat Cummins in the second over, it could've been the start of a long afternoon for the Pakistan fans.
But a strong 50 from Imam-Ul-Haq combined with 30 from Babar Azam and 46 from Mohammad Hafeez kept Pakistan in the contest.
But it was the dismissal of Hafeez that kickstarted the problems. His dismissal started a spell of three overs where just 14 runs were added and 3 key wickets were lost.
Shoaib Malik and Asif Ali both departed for single figure scores and suddenly 307 seemed a million miles away for the Pakistani batsmen. A big hitting display of 32 (15) from Hassan Ali and 45 from Wahab Riaz combined with a laboured 40 from Sarfaraz Ahmad to give Pakistan a glimmer of hope.
It wasn't to be however as two wickets for Mitchell Starc and a brainless bit of cricket which lead to Sarafarz's run out meant Pakistan were all out for 266 - 41 runs short of the target set for them.