Pak pacers blast Aussies away

Seamers Aamer and Asif share six wickets as Pontings men collapse

Newly appointed captain Salman Butt was 38 not out and Imran Farhat had 20, as they enjoyed the best batting conditions of the day with sunshine partly breaking out following gloomy bowler-friendly conditions during Australia's innings.

Left-arm fast bowler Mohammad Aamer claimed wickets with the first two balls after lunch to help reduce Australia to their lowest Test total in 26 years -- they were dismissed for 76 by West Indies in 1984 at Perth.

Tim Paine top scored with 17, after Australia skipper Ricky Ponting won the toss.
The Pakistan batsmen were largely untroubled and though there was still swing for the bowlers, they struggled to control it.

Two such examples saw Ben Hilfenhaus and Shane Watson wobble balls into Butt's leg stump, with both being duly clipped to the boundary. Butt had faced 51 balls and struck seven fours.

Australia resumed on 73 for six after lunch when Aamer bowled Steven Smith with a ball that swung into him sharp 8ly.

Left-hander Mitchell Johnson looked to drive a delivery heading for leg stump through mid-on only to see the ball swing prodigiously away from him to smash into his wickets.

The hat-trick ball to Hilfenhaus was also good, passing the outside edge of the bat close enough to excite the smattering of Pakistani fans in the stadium that was sparsely filled.

Aamer finished with figures of three for 20.Before lunch, Australia regularly lost wickets to Pakistan's well disciplined trio of pace bowlers. Four of the first five wickets were lbw decisions as Australia's batsmen failed to deal with the moving ball.
Mohammad Asif swung the ball both ways and moved it off the seam. Watson (bowled) and Ponting (lbw) were undone by his in-swing. Umar Gul's dismissal of Michael Clarke (bowled) was further evidence of the struggle when he managed to get the ball to swing in and cut back off the seam.

Scoreboard

AUSTRALIA (I Innings):
Watson lbw Asif    5
Katich lbw Aamer    13
Ponting lbw Asif    6
Clarke b Gul    3
Hussey lbw Gul    5
North c K Akmal b Amin    16
Paine c K Akmal b Asif    17
Smith b Aamer    10
Johnson b Aamer    0
Hilfenhaus (run out)    3
Bollinger (not out)    2
Extras (LB-6, NB-2)    8
Total (all out, 33.1 overs)    88
Fall of wickets: 1-20, 2-20, 3-27, 4-29, 5-41, 6-60, 7-73, 8-73, 9-86.
Bowling: Aamer 11-4-20-3, Mohammad Asif 10.1-1-30-3, Gul 9-3-16-2, Umar Amin 2-0-7-1, Danish Kaneria 1-0-9-0.
PAKISTAN (I Innings)
Farhat (batting)    20
Butt (batting)    38
Extras (B-2, LB-3, NB-1)    6     
Total (for no loss, 15 overs)    64
Bowling: Bollinger 6-4-5-0, Ben Hilfenhaus 4-0-31-0, Shane Watson 3-0-10-0, Mitchell Johnson 2-0-13-0.