Cricket: Australia claim miracle test victory

Mitchell Starc of Australia celebrates after one of his four wickets. Photo / Getty

A brilliant all-round performance by Mitchell Starc propelled Australia to series-clinching victory over Pakistan by an innings and 18 runs in the second test as the visitors crumbled under pressure on the fifth day at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Friday.

The rain-interrupted test had long seemed destined for a draw, with only 18 wickets falling in total up until lunch on the last day, but Australia took Pakistan's final nine wickets in a hurry, clinching the win with an hour to spare.

Starc hammered 84 runs off 91 balls with a record seven sixes as Australia built its first-innings lead early Friday, and then took 4-36 as Pakistan - which needed 181 runs to make the hosts bat again - was skittled for 163 in the second innings. He took three wickets in the space of nine balls to turn the likely draw into a stunning win.

Skipper Steve Smith (165 not out) and Starc shared 154 runs for the eighth wicket as Australia declared just before lunch on 624-8 in response to Pakistan's 443-9 declared.

Josh Hazelwood dismissed opener Sami Aslam prior to lunch and, with the first ball after the resumption, Starc trapped Babar Azam lbw to immediately put Pakistan on the defensive at 6-2.

Azhar Ali (43) continued from where he left off in the first innings, when he hit an unbeaten 205. He and veteran Younis Khan shared 57 runs for the third wicket before the innings unraveled.

Offspinner Nathan Lyon (3-33) forced Younis to lob a catch to Peter Handscomb at short leg, and two balls later claimed skipper Misbah-ul-Haq (0).

Misbah swept the first ball he faced dangerously, and then repeated that shot, only to lob a simple catch to Nic Maddinson at backward square leg. Pakistan had slumped from a seemingly comfortable 63-2 to 63-4 in the space of three balls.

Then minutes before the tea break, Asad Shafiq flicked a Lyon delivery and Handscomb took a brilliant reflex catch.

Azhar fell soon after tea, trapped lbw by Hazlewood, but wicketkeeper Sarfraz Ahmed (43) and Mohammad Amir put on a handy seventh-wicket stand that threatened to deny Australia victory.

However both were dismissed - Amir bowled by Jackson Bird and Sarfaz by Starc - in the space of 19 balls and Starc then swiftly removed Wahab Riaz and Yasir Shah to end it.

Australia also won the first test at Brisbane, and the series will be completed at the Sydney Cricket Ground starting on Jan. 3.

- AP