Afridi Shines in Pakistan Beat Australia by 4-wickets

Dubai: Shahid Afridi returned a career-best haul of six wickets to guide Pakistan to a comfortable four-wicket win over Australian in the first of five One-Day Internationals in Dubai on Wednesday.

The experienced leg-spinner, subtly varying his pace on a slow turning wicket, ripped through the Australian middle order as the visitors collapsed to 168 all out after a solid start.

Pakistan made hard work of reaching a modest target before sealing victory in the 45th over with Misbah-ul Haq finishing on 30 not out.

Afridi completed figures of six for 38, the best by a Pakistan bowler against Australia.

Australian captain Michael Clarke won the toss and opted to bat in the first one-day international against Pakistan at the Dubai Stadium here on Wednesday.

Clarke is standing in for regular captain Ricky Ponting in the limited over series, which was moved to the United Arab Emirates after Australia refused to tour Pakistan due to security fears.

All-rounders Andrew Symonds and Shane Watson, as well as paceman Stuart Clarke, returned for Australia after missing the last few months due to fitness problems and injury.

Australia looked on course for a decent total when Brad Haddin and Shane Watson, who each made 40, took the score to 95 in the 19th over but the spinners triggered a dramatic collapse.

With Afridi striking at regular intervals and young off-spinner Saeed Ajmal repeatedly beating the batsmen, Australia lost eight wickets for the addition of just 27 runs.

James Hope (48 not out) and Ben Hilfenhaus (four) added 46 for the last wicket to bring some respectability to the Australian score.

Pakistan built their innings around Kamran Akmal (48), Shoaib Malik (24) and Misba-ul Haq but it was Afridi who eased the pressure, hammering a quickfire 24 off 16 balls to set up the world champions' 10th defeat in 15 ODIs this year.

Next match will be Friday April 24.

Brief Score: Pakistan 171/6 (Akmal 48, Misbah 30*) beat Australia 168 (Hopes 48*, Haddin 40, Watson 40, Afridi 6-38) by four wickets.

Scores	Upcoming	Results
Australia vs India - 1st Test West Indies vs Bangladesh - 1st Test Zimbabwe vs Pakistan - 1st ODI 2nd ODI - Zimbabwe v Pakistan - November 26, 07:30 GMT 1st Test - South Africa v Sri Lanka - November 27-01, 08:00 GMT 3rd ODI - Sri Lanka v New Zealand at Kandy No results 3rd T20I - Australia v Pakistan at Hobart Australia won by 7 wickets (with 52 balls remaining)

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