Fast bowler Nathan Ellis produced a career-best performance of 4-33 as Australia defeated Pakistan by 41 runs in the second one-day international on Tuesday, leveling the three-match series 1-1.
Defending 231, Australia bowled out Pakistan for 190 on a challenging pitch that offered significant turn for spinners and uneven bounce for seamers.
Ellis played a key role with the ball, striking early and regularly to derail Pakistan’s chase. Reflecting on the conditions, he said Pakistan’s pitches for the series were unlike most ODI surfaces seen around the world.
"It's definitely different to the traditional one-day cricket we see around the world at the moment," Ellis said.
"It's no secret that today it was pretty low and slow we saw the cutters and the slow balls working a lot today, and the ball started to tail and reverse swing through the 35-to-45-over mark."
Australia’s innings was built around half-centuries from captain Josh Inglis (51) and Cameron Green (53), while Matthew Renshaw contributed a brisk 43 and teenager Oliver Peake added 31 off 32 balls.
After winning the toss, Pakistan captain Shaheen Shah Afridi chose to field first. Left-arm spinner Arafat Minhas, who impressed on ODI debut in the first match, claimed 2-27, while leg-spinner Abrar Ahmed took 2-34. Afridi and Haris Rauf shared five wickets, finishing with figures of 3-36 and 2-49 respectively.
Pakistan’s chase was led by all-rounder Shadab Khan, who scored 71 from 104 balls after enduring a difficult outing with the ball. He shared a 59-run partnership with Arafat Minhas (33) to revive the innings after Pakistan had slumped to 78-6.
However, Ellis broke the partnership by trapping Minhas lbw in the 32nd over. Shadab reached his half-century and struck two sixes, but he was eventually the last batter dismissed, stumped by Inglis off leg-spinner Tanveer Sangha.
Ellis had earlier removed opener Maaz Sadaqat in his first over before dismissing Babar Azam for 16 with a delivery that sharply moved back into the batter.
Australia captain Inglis said his side felt confident once they crossed the 200-run mark.
"It was a pretty good total in the end," Inglis said. "It would have been nice for someone to go on and get a big score, but we thought anything over 200, we were right in the game.
"You can always call on Nello (Ellis) on those sort of pitches, his variations are outstanding, and when you've got on-pace at 145 and then your slow balls at just over 100k an hour, it's really tough."
Earlier, Australia's innings got off to a poor start when Alex Carey was bowled by the first ball of the match from Afridi. Pakistan quickly introduced spinners Minhas and Abrar during the power play and both found success.
Abrar dismissed Matthew Short, while Minhas removed Marnus Labuschagne for 5. Inglis and Green then steadied the innings with a 51-run partnership, showing patience on the difficult surface.
Inglis reached his fifty before being bowled by Minhas, while Green added another valuable stand with Renshaw. After completing his half-century, Green was caught at long-on off Abrar.
Rauf later bowled Renshaw, but Peake’s late cameo, featuring two sixes and a boundary, helped Australia post a competitive total.
Pakistan captain Afridi admitted his team conceded too many runs in the closing overs.
"We gave away 20-30 extra runs towards the end," Afridi said. "We lost wickets early on and that built pressure on us it is a spinning track, not easy to bat on, but the way Nathan Ellis bowled - stump to stump - that brought him success."
The deciding third ODI will be played at the same venue on Thursday.