Prime Minister’s XI vs. Pakistan 324 for 6 (Masood 156*, Sarfaraz 41*, Buckingham 3-63)
Shan Masood, the captain of Pakistan, emphasized the need for his top order to convert starts the day before the team’s first hit-out of the tour. He set the precedent by hitting an almost flawless century against the Prime Minister’s XI in Canberra.
Pakistan made good most of their opportunity to bat first on a hot day with a sluggish pitch, but only Masood was able to fully capitalize, as Sarfaraz Ahmed, Babar Azam, and Abdullah Shafique all left before they could take full advantage of their chances. Pakistan finished the day at 324 for 6, as Cameron Bancroft beautifully caught Faheem Ashraf at slip off the final ball of the day.
“Shan had a near-perfect innings. Jordan Buckingham, who claimed three wickets for the PM’s XI, remarked, “He played brilliantly.” “Obviously, the wicket helped with batting, but you still need to go out there and score runs.” It was a fantastic inning for him to hardly give it a shot. I believe he will have a pleasant summer.”
Shortly after tea, Masood, who had replaced Babar as Test captain, reached his hundred off 169 balls. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was present, having returned to the ground after his quick morning appearance during which he handled the toss and distributed caps.
Masood wishes to take note of the lessons from the 2019–2020 season, when he scored 27, 42, 19, and 68 runs, since he is aware of how crucial it is for the bowling attack to make significant runs on this tour.
“I got a couple of starts but you want to convert those starts in Test cricket and get three figures,” he stated on Tuesday. “That’s going to be my challenge, my chance. We adjusted to the circumstances [in 2019] quite effectively. Yasir Shah and Babar both scored hundreds, but there were many batters who scored fifty, and we want to turn those into contributions that win games.”
Following a lot of recent rain, the pitch at Manuka Oval is probably not going to resemble much of what Pakistan will play in Perth the following week. Early in the game, Shafique’s edge failed to reach the slips, who were standing rather near, demonstrating the lack of pace. Later in the day, Jimmy Peirson, the wicketkeeper, faced Buckingham and Beau Webster with a ring field.
Nonetheless, for those who were able to have respectable stints, time in the middle cannot be ignored. When Imam-ul-Haq got his first opportunity, he inside-edged a drive off Buckingham, who came on as a late substitute for Michael Neser after the latter had opened with a superb wicket maiden to the left-hander.
From then on, though, the early going was solid without the run rate posing a threat to emulate the ‘Pakistan Way’ from the Test match against Sri Lanka. A slow outfield diminished the value of strokes that made it past the infield, and there was some early seam movement to contend with, resulting in a number of plays and misses as they attempted to be aggressive.
Shafique was removed from the game just before noon, partly due to the slow pace of the pitch. After that, there was a 92-run partnership between Masood, who hit Todd Murphy for six successive balls, and Babar, who overcame a sluggish start to produce some impressive drives.
Saud Shakeel suffered the price for a hesitant shot against Murphy after misjudging the length. Babar appeared ready to take advantage of the friendly conditions before shooting Buckingham down the leg side. Murphy was the most costly player in the PM’s starting lineup because he had trouble finding the perfect length even though he did turn a few beyond the edge. Murphy had missed Victoria’s last two Sheffield Shield games due to a shoulder issue.
Subsequently, before the second new ball was taken of the day, Masood and Sarfaraz managed to exploit Murphy and the all-rounders. But in the last delivery of the old ball, Peirson produced a superb catch off Sarfaraz’s glove, giving Buckingham his second leg-side wicket of the day.
Cameron Green was not used with the ball because his workload is monitored ahead of the Test series, despite the fact that he is not anticipated to feature right away, as captain Nathan McSweeney had noted before the game.
When Bancroft, Marcus Harris, and Matt Renshaw get a turn in the crease, there will be a lot of interest in the PM’s starting lineup since they may be David Warner’s replacement.
