LAHORE – Muhammad Zafar excelled with the bat as Pakistan blind cricketers defeated Australia by 61 runs in the opening ODI at Park 25, Adelaide on Saturday. Australia won the toss and asked Pakistan to bat first. Pakistan had a terrible start as they lost both their openers for just 24 runs. Arfan Majeed was bowled on seven runs and Muhammad Jameel was bowled after scoring three runs.
Pakistan lost wickets on regular intervals. The wicket of Anees Javed left Pakistan in deep trouble. He scored just eight runs and was bowled by Peter Robinson. At one stage, Pakistan were hovering at 130 runs with five of the top order batsmen back in the pavilion. Australia were looking to restrict Pakistan to a meager total, but Muhammad Zafar, who was later named man of the match, came at no. 7 and turned the tables with his 98 runs off just 53 balls.
Abdul Razzaq played a captain’s knock of 67 runs as both the players added 140 runs for the 6th wicket partnership. Pakistan were bowled out with 325 runs on the board in 35th over. Raymond Moxly took three wickets, while Peter Robinson and Bailie took two wickets each. In reply, Australia fell short of the target, scoring 264 for the loss of nine wickets in 40 overs.
Heberley was the top scorer with 65 runs, Mathew Horseyand and Lindsay Heaven scored 58 and 44 runs respectively. Abdul Razzaq took two wickets while Yasir Andleeb and Waqas shared a wicket apiece.
