Pakistan vs Australia 2nd ODI - The Liebke Ratings

After a comfortable victory in the first one day international against Pakistan, Australia looked to seal the series in the second game. Missed run outs. Hipster batting. The sensitivity of George Bailey. Here’s how they all rated.

Pakistan openers
Grade: B+

Pakistan won the toss and elected to bat first. To even things up a little, Australia chose to play Xavier Doherty. And for the first 25 overs of the game, this generosity from the Australian selectors seemed to tip the balance too far the other way.

Pakistan chose to veer from the successful strategy adopted by the Australians in the opening ODI, daringly failing to lose a wicket first ball. But once on this path less travelled, the Pakistan openers Ahmed Shehzad and Sarfraz Ahmed motored along at five runs an over, bringing up individual half-centuries and a century partnership.

So excited was Ahmed with his fifty that he took the helmet off and saluted the crowd, presumably under the impression that Dubai runs count double. Disappointingly, however, he did not then resume batting with his helmet on backwards. He’s no Fawad Alam.

Australian fielding
Grade: D

Despite their successful partnership, the Pakistan openers gave plenty of chances. There was one dropped catch from George Bailey (which presumably resulted in some serious England-style bullying from bowler Kane Richardson).

There were also numerous run out opportunities. With a bit of luck, the Australians could have had both openers short of their ground on multiple occasions. Or, if not ‘luck’, then ‘throwing accuracy’ (the fancy team’s version of luck).

Perhaps it was the orthodoxy of the throwing technique that resulted in so many misses. I’m sure, for example, that Glenn Maxwell could learn a reverse slog sweep equivalent of throwing the ball at the stumps. It might still miss, but it would be much more absurdly entertaining. Come on, Glenn. Lift your game.

But regardless of the reason for the misses, it’s clear that Australia have now mastered the ‘oooh, sooo close’ face when they inevitably miss a run out. It’s professional stuff from Boof’s lads and I look forward to many such close-ups throughout the summer.

Fawad Alam
Grade: A

At 0/126 after 25 overs, Pakistan had a lot of work to do if they were going to collapse to the 225 par score that Dean Jones had throatily prognosticated before the game. Long time Pakistan viewers had faith, however, in their talents. And that faith was to be rewarded.

While it felt like the kind of point in a match that a captain would bring Ryan Harris back on, the fast bowler’s stubborn absence from Dubai made that challenging. So, instead it was Xavier Doherty who defied the haters and started the Pakistan collapse. Once that first wicket fell, the rest followed rapidly. Heck, Australia even eventually managed to run out three of the Pakistan batsmen, such was the shambolic nature of events.

At the centre of the collapse stood Fawad Alam. You probably remember Fawad as the man who daringly bowled with his cap on backwards in the First ODI. Here, he demonstrated that his alternative street cred extends also to his batting as he plodded his way to 20 not out from 39 balls. In this T20 era of 300+ innings totals, Fawad’s retro hipster strike rate impressed everybody with its bold edginess. Easily my new favourite Pakistan cricketer.

David Warner
Grade: C

David Warner tried to hit the ball over Mohammad Irfan for six.

Over Mohammad Irfan.

The seven foot tall Mohammad Irfan.

David Warner was caught on the boundary.

George Bailey’s manners
Grade: A+

It’s a well known fact that George Bailey is the nicest man in world cricket. This may not actually be a fact. George was, after all, the man under the helmet during the infamous ‘broken f***en arm’ incident during last year’s Ashes.

But even if it’s not a fact, it feels like it should be. He’s always smiling. He speaks very well at post-match interviews. He has dreamy dimples.

And here, while his teammates went about clobbering their way to the 215 target that Pakistan set without a moment’s thought as to how that might make the opposition feel, George showed some empathy. He’d already dropped one of the Pakistan batsmen while fielding. Now he batted even more slowly than Fawad Alam. And he eventually stupidly ran himself out. A touching display of how to make others feel better about themselves.

George Bailey, gentleman at large.

His crass team mates, however, ran down the total in 43 overs to take an unbeatable 2-0 lead in the series. The insensitive boors.