Pakistan throw away Test series

Umar Gul is the last man to fall in a depressing day’s play for Pakistan [GALLO/GETTY]

Pakistan fashioned an astonishing batting collapse to lose the second Test against Australia by 36 runs after being set just 176 to win.

Australia resumed their second innings on Wednesday only 80 runs ahead of Pakistan with eight wickets down.

But Mike Hussey scored a century in an incredible 123-run partnership with Peter Siddle for the ninth wicket to give the home side a chance in Sydney.

Pakistan’s bowlers had dominated the match right up until Hussey and Siddle stepped in to steer Australia to 381 all out in their second innings.

Conviction

The home side then grabbed their chance with conviction helped by some suicidal batting and five wickets from Nathan Hauritz as Pakistan were all out for 139.

An inquisition seems unavoidable as the touring batsmen failed to take advantage after Australia were bowled out for a meagre 127 in the first innings.

After the defeat, which gave Australia a 2-0 series win heading into the final Test in Hobart, Pakistan captain Mohammad Yousuf blamed his own dismissal for ripping the heart out of his team.

Yousuf drove powerfully at Nathan Hauritz, only to see his shot clutched bravely into the bowler’s chest.

Day four scorecard

Australia 1st Innings 127 all out Pakistan 1st Innings 333 all out Australia 2nd Innings (o/n 286-8) S Watson c Iqbal b Gul 97 P Hughes c and b Kaneria 37 R Ponting c Iqbal b Gul 11 M Hussey not out 134 M Clarke lbw b Asif 21 M North c Iqbal b Kaneria 2 B Haddin lbw b Kaneria 15 M Johnson b Kaneria 3 N Hauritz c Misbah b Umar Gul 4 P Siddle c Misbah b Asif 38 D Bollinger b Kaneria 0 Extras 19   Total (all out; 125.4 overs) 381 FoW 1-105 2-144 3-159 4-217 5-226, 6-246, 7-252, 8-257, 9-380, 10-381   Pakistan 2nd Innings Imran Farhat c Johnson b Bollinger 22 Salman Butt c Haddin b Johnson 21 Faisal Iqbal c Haddin b Johnson 7 Mohammad Yousuf c & b Hauritz 19 Umar Akmal c Johnson b Bollinger 49 Misbah c Hussey b Hauritz 0 Kamran Akmal c Haddin b Johnson 11 Mohammad Sami c Haddin b Hauritz 2 Umar Gul c Siddle b Hauritz 6 Kaneria c Watson b Hauritz 0 Asif not out 0 Extras 2  Total (all out; 38 overs) 139 FoW 1-34 2-50 3-51 4-77 5-77 6-103 7-133 8-133 9-135 10-139

“My shot was very pathetic and it turned the game,” Yousuf told Channel Nine after seeing a first Test win against Australia since 1995 slip away.

“Everyone tried hard and (the target of) 176 runs – we must chase it.

“We played not a good selection of shots today, especially mine.”

Danish Kaneria took five wickets in Australia’s second innings, which had looked to be insufficient despite a fluent 97 from Shane Watson and Hussey’s unbeaten 134.

It followed six wickets for Mohammad Asif in the first innings, in which Australia already looked to have thrown the match away.

But Pakistan looked shaky from the start batting on Wednesday.

Imran Farhat went for 22 before Faisal Iqbal put on just seven to leave Pakistan at 50-2.

Danger man Salman Butt had hit 21 off 31 balls before he edged a leg delivery and keeper Brad Haddin pulled off a spectacular one-handed catch.

“You’ve got to take those half-chances when you’re defending a small lead and luckily it stuck,” said Haddin.

“The match was a great advertisement for Test cricket – the ebbing and flowing was just unbelievable.

“I’m just glad I didn’t have the heart-rate monitor because it would have gone through the roof.”

Floored

Yousuf was next to go as his shot floored Hauritz, who clung on for a caught & bowled.

Misbah-ul-Haq fell to the spinner for a duck two balls later to put Pakistan on 77-5.

Nineteen-year-old Umar Akmal hung around for 49 runs but the last four wickets fell for 36.

Australia captain Ricky Ponting thanked his tailend for setting up the victory.

“We believed that we could win this morning and I said to Peter Siddle that tailenders have won Test matches with their batting,” he said.

News agencies are not covering this series due to disagreements with Cricket Australia.