Smith, Handscomb punish Pakistan

The scorecard: Pakistan 7-263 (Babar 84, Hazlewood 3-32) lost to Australia 3-265 (Smith 108no, Handscomb 82) by seven wickets, with 30 balls remaining

The match in a tweet: Smith, Handscomb star as Pakistan miss their chance! Debutant rides luck as he and his skipper cruise home in run chase #AUSvPAK

The partnership: When debutant Peter Handscomb joined his skipper Steve Smith in the middle of the WACA Ground this evening, Pakistan's small but vocal contingent of supporters were rightly in full voice. Chasing 264 to win, the hosts were wobbling slightly at 2-45 having lost David Warner and Usman Khawaja in the space of just six deliveries. But after some early nerves (see below) the right-handed duo steadied and produced a magnificent 183-run partnership as the home side cruised home with five overs to spare. It was the third-highest partnership by an Australian pair against Pakistan and the sixth-highest by an Australian pair in Perth.

The turning point: It's hard to think of a more eventful start to a debut innings than Handscomb's tonight, a moment that also proved to be pivotal in the outcome of the match. With Pakistan on the charge, Handscomb edged the third delivery he faced to one of four fielders in the slip cordon and he was on his way without scoring ... until replays showed Junaid Khan had overstepped. Better yet, the next ball Handscomb faced was a free hit and with Pakistan unable to change their field, the Victorian aimed a booming pull shot to the vacant on side and landed one just inside the boundary rope. But the ball somehow plugged in the outfield and stopped almost dead, meaning the Australian pair had to complete and all-run four to help the Victorian get off the mark. Handscomb was given another life a short time later when Mohammad Nawaz put down a sitter at point off a delivery from Junaid that replays showed to be another no-ball. It would be another 30 overs before Pakistan struck again, by which point the game was as good as gone.

The milestone: During Steve Smith's century tonight, the eighth of his career, the skipper unseated dumped teammate George Bailey and one-day icon Michael Bevan as the fastest Australian batsmen to 3000 career runs in one-day international cricket. Smith reached the milestone in his 79th career innings, one faster than the record of 80 shared by Bevan and Bailey. While Smith holds the Australian record for himself, he scored his 3000th career run an incredible 22 innings slower than South African run machine Hashim Amla, who did so in just 57 innings.

 

The milestone II: Pakistan's Babar Azam joined an illustrious quartet of Sir Viv Richards, Kevin Pietersen, Jonathan Trott and Quinton de Kock by becoming the equal-fastest man to post 1000 runs in ODI cricket. The right-hander's innings of 84 today meant he reached the milestone in his 21st innings, matching the record first set by Richards 37 years ago.

The dream summer: Steve Smith's century tonight continued his total dominance of Pakistan's bowlers this summer. The skipper has scored 50 or more in six of his eight innings against the touring side this summer, averaging 101.50 against them. And the bad news for the visitors is there's still two more matches to go.

The debutant: Handscomb had his fair share of luck this evening, but his score of 82 was another sensational performance in a dream summer for the Victorian. It's the third-highest score by an Australian on ODI debut, behind the late Phillip Hughes (112) and Phil Jaques (94), while Handscomb also becomes the first Australian since Shaun Marsh in 2011 to score fifty or more in both his maiden Test and ODI innings.

The allrounder: Glenn Maxwell was once again conspicuous by his absence from Australia's bowling attack today as fellow off-spinner Travis Head carried the spin-bowling workload. Maxwell, whose spin-bowling could earn him a return to Australia's Test side in India next month, has bowled just four overs out in the middle since the start of December and hasn't bowled more than five overs in his past 12 ODIs. Head did bowl well for the Aussies today, picking up two crucial wickets following his economical display in the series opener in Brisbane, but Maxwell will no doubt be hoping for more overs in the five ODIs to come before he links with Australia's Test squad in Dubai ahead of the India series.

The stat: It's been 1462 days – more than four years – since Australia last lost consecutive ODIs on home soil, a streak that will last a little while longer after tonight's performance.

The catch: Handscomb's first catch in ODI cricket was a memorable one, even if it took two-a-half minutes to confirm that a clean catch had been taken. Having received his cap from the great Adam Gilchrist before play, the part-time wicketkeeeper moved well in the outfield, diving forward and getting both hands under a Babar Azam pull shot, before a lengthy third-umpire review finally sent the batsman on his way.