Australia beat Pakistan by eight wickets with David Warner scoring a pulsating 57 in his farewell Test match in Sydney on Saturday to sweep the series 3-0. Warner, playing in his 112th Test, was dismissed at his home Sydney Cricket Ground before an adoring crowd just 11 runs short of victory. The opener was out with the job almost done after losing a review for lbw to spinner Sajid Khan. Warner was congratulated by the Pakistan players and waved his bat acknowledging the cheering crowd as he left the SCG for the last time.
It was a typical aggressive innings from Warner, known as “The Bull”, coming off 75 balls with seven fours, replete with crashing drives and audacious reverse sweeps.
At the close Australia were 130-2, Marnus Labuschagne unbeaten on 62 in his 19th Test half-century and Steve Smith on four.
Warner finished his Test career as he began it in 2011 in typical pugnacious style.
It was Australia’s 17th consecutive Test win against Pakistan after securing the current series in Melbourne over Christmas.
Australia had an early setback when Warner’s childhood friend and fellow opener Usman Khawaja was out in the second over, lbw to Sajid for a duck.
It set centre stage for Warner as he sought to put pressure on the bowlers and fielders with his intimidating gung-ho approach.
His 37th Test half-century came off just 56 balls.
He had a near miss on 23 when he skied Sajid over mid-on but Aamer Jamal could not get his outstretched hand to the ball before it hit the ground and the chance went begging.
Earlier, Mohammad Rizwan and Jamal defied the Australian attack for almost the first hour, adding 41 runs to the overnight score before Nathan Lyon struck.
Lyon switched to bowling around the wicket and Rizwan played across the line, edging a catch to Warner at leg slip for 28.
Jamal followed three balls later in Pat Cummins’ following over, top-edging a pull shot straight to Travis Head at deep backward square leg for 18.
The end of the innings came three overs later when Lyon claimed his third wicket of the innings, bowling Hasan Ali for five. Lyon finished with three for 36 and has 509 Test wickets.
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