Australia crush Pak by 360 runs in 1st Test

Perth: Australia skittled Pakistan on a treacherous Perth pitch to record a thumping 360-run victory in the first test inside four days with Nathan Lyon achieving the elusive landmark of 500 test wickets on Sunday.

Pakistan was blown away for 89 all out in the final session on Day 4 for its 15th consecutive test defeat in Australia after the home team setup a daunting 450-run target when it declared its second innings at 233-5 around half an hour after lunch.

Pakistan’s top-order batters crumbled against the relentless pace of Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and captain Pat Cummins on a wicket that had variable bounce with plenty of batters taking body blows. Hazlewood and Starc snared six wickets between them, while Cummins nicely setup former Pakistan captain Babar Azam (14) before finding the outside edge of his bat as the visitors had no answer to Australia’s nippy fast bowling.

Lyon reached the 500-wicket landmark when he successfully

went for a leg before wicket referral against Faheem Ashraf and was embraced by his team-mates.