Second Test wash-up: Every player rated

Australia player ratings: Mike Hussey

Legendary Australia batsman Mike Hussey calls the action from the Boxing Day Test how he saw it.

David Warner 9/10

Brilliant innings, it was his first hundred at the MCG so he got the monkey off his back, so to speak. Again, great energy in the field and a really great Test match all round.

Matt Renshaw 3.5/10

Only scored 10 with the bat in Australia's only innings, but took a good catch at first slip to remove Sarfraz Ahmed. He's be disappointed with the shot he got out on, but it was a bit of a mix of inexperience youth and he will certainly learn from that.

Usman Khawaja 8/10

He batted brilliantly, I thought he deserved a hundred. I really felt for him when he got out caught behind on 97 for the second time this summer. He is just cementing that place as a very important batter at No.3 for Australia and played with a calmness and assurance the whole time, it was a brilliant innings.

Steve Smith 9/10

Just a brilliant game again. He loves batting at the MCG, 165 not out. He's just a run machine, he's scored more than 1000 runs for three consecutive calendar years which just shows his appetite for runs. He took a couple of good catches at second slip and was pretty impressive again. To be able to forge a result when there's been that much rain and a flat pitch, it will give him a lot of confidence in himself as skipper and in his team to know they can force a result from anywhere.    

Peter Handscomb 7.5/10

A good solid innings. He came in at a tough time when the ball was reversing a bit and while there were runs on the board it wasn't easy to start. He got through that and put together a nice innings. His catching at short leg was also important for Nathan Lyon on the final day and that's really important for the team and also for Nathan Lyon's confidence as well. 

Nic Maddinson 4/10

He took a couple of good catches which bumped him up ahead of Renshaw. He looked to be a bit more positive and started to build a nice innings but couldn't go on with it. 

Matthew Wade 5.5/10

I thought he kept wicket pretty well but unfortunately he would have liked more runs again. From what I'm hearing, he's batting well in the nets so you've got to believe a big score is around the corner.

Mitchell Starc 8.5/10

His last day was outstanding. He didn't do much across the first four days but his last day was unbelievable, setting a record for seven sixes at the MCG and taking 4-36 and getting the ball to reverse like he did, he's just deadly. He's just so good on those flat pitches and a real match winner again for Australia.

Josh Hazlewood 8/10

Brilliant again. He's just a machine, 3-50 in the first innings and 2-39 in the second. He bowled well and did his job again and has been a champion bowler for Australia all summer.

Nathan Lyon 7.5/10

He took three big wickets in the second innings including Younis Khan and Misbah-ul-Haq and gave Australia the belief they could win this Test match. You can't underestimate the pressure he would have been feeling today, after a lot of talk about his place in the team and I think Steve Smith put a bit of pressure on him the night before at his press conference. It was a bit of a worry but he certainly stepped up with a really good performance. 

Jackson Bird 7/10

He's was a really consistent performer again. He's doing his job, builds up pressure and is just a good-quality Test match bowler. I think he feels like he belongs there now. 

Pakistan player ratings: Mazher Arshad

Pakistani statistician and cricket.com.au writer Mazher Arshad offers his expert assessment of Pakistan's performances in Melbourne.

Sami Aslam 3/10

He failed to boost his chances of retaining the opening spot for the third Commonwealth Bank Test against Australia in Sydney. Even before the match there were suggestions Pakistan should bring in Sharjeel Khan to avoid sluggish starts to the innings, with Aslam returning scores of nine and two. He was the only top-order batsman in the match who failed to register a double-figured score. 

Azhar Ali 9.5/10

He may not have the panache of the several great Pakistan batsmen who have toured Down Under before but he achieved what none of them got close to, a double-hundred on Australian soil. Pakistan posted a strong 443 on the back of his unbeaten 205 and even during the second innings collapse, where they were all out for 163, he scored 43 off 112 balls and looked like the only batsman who would avert the defeat. He is first Pakistan batsman to score a double-century in a losing cause and scored 248 runs in the match but will now travel to Sydney with his team 2-0 down.

 

Babar Azam 3/10

After his 23 and three at the MCG he is another batsman, besides Aslam, who could make way for Sharjeel in the next Test in Sydney. The 22-year-old didn’t do justice to his potential and got out in both the innings off deliveries that he could have dead batted or dispatched to boundary. More significantly, on both the occasions he lost the wicket at a crucial juncture – the last ball before lunch in the first innings and first ball after lunch in second innings. 

Younis Khan 4/10 

Pakistan’s most prolific batsman looked to have finally hit form after he scored 65 in the last innings in Brisbane, but it turned out to be a false dawn. He had settled himself in the first innings in Melbourne but was undone by Bird, who found a gap between his bat and pad before the ball crushed the stumps when he was on 23. He had more responsibility in the second innings to avoid defeat but handed the catch at short-leg off Lyon’s bowling and left Pakistan reeling at 3-63. Younis’ chances of becoming first Pakistan batsman to reach 10,000 runs in Tests now appears a remote possibility.   

Misbah-ul-Haq 3/10

The end is nigh for the skipper. After dreaming of becoming the first Pakistan captain to win a Test in Australia in the two decades, he might now not even reach Sydney. He said he will be thinking about retirement in the next couple of days. He is the most successful captain of the country’s history but his tactics and batting efforts have left everyone bewildered. Using Yasir Shah as a runs-container rather than wicket-taker was not appreciated by anyone and he had a brain snap when he played a sweep off Lyon on the last day which bagged him a two-ball duck. It might well be his last ever innings for Pakistan. 

Asad Shafiq 6/10

Even if he had done half of what he delivered in Brisbane Pakistan would have escaped with a draw, but he was undone by a superb catch at short leg by Peter Handscomb off Lyon and his dismissal killed any chance of Pakistan avoiding the defeat. He will be disappointed with himself as a much better performance was expected from him. He scored a half-century and had a 115-run partnership with Azhar Ali in the first innings, providing the team a launch pad to score 443 runs but it turned out to be a vain effort. 

Sarfraz Ahmed 4/10

He is one of the contenders of becoming Misbah’s successor but has not done justice to the cause as he showed little responsibility in the second Test. Although his wicketkeeping was better than Brisbane he failed to save the match with the bat. He scored 43 off 62 balls on the last day but that was enough to avoid the defeat. He failed in the first innings, too, scoring just 10 runs off 20 balls. 

Mohammad Amir 4/10

His figures of 0-91 from 33 overs are his worst analysis since return to the Test fold and second worst of whole career. It is also first time in 18 Tests that he failed to claim a wicket. Not that he bowled poorly. He created chances and induces edges off Australia’s batsmen at start of the innings but they didn’t reach the fielders’ palms and the one shot which was returned to him was dropped. He didn’t contribute with the bat as much as he did in the first Test either.

Sohail Khan 4/10

He was Pakistan’s only change from the previous Test but it was a risky and surprising call. Even though he took three wickets but those came after conceding 131 runs, the joint-most expensive spell of his career. He confirmed the management’s fears that he was not fit enough for Tests by bowling too many loose deliveries in his later spells at a mediocre pace. In the field he looked lethargic and dropped perhaps the easiest catch he would have received in his career. He scored an enterprising 65 off 65 balls but failed to deliver in what he was selected for – his bowling.  

Wahab Riaz 3/10

He took two wickets but that came at the expense of 147 runs, the most expensive spell of his Test career, while his lack of discipline also hurt Pakistan. He dismissed Warner on 81, only to find he had overstepped. He bowled 12 no balls in the match, which equates to two extra overs. Pakistan were in commanding position after totaling 443 but his wayward bowling and overstepping squandered the advantage.

Yasir Shah 4/10

Conceding 200 runs in an innings could be ignored once but doing it twice cannot be condoned. Yasir Shah has leaked 200 runs twice this year – first in Manchester and now in MCG. He’s looked ordinary when there is little help for spinners in the pitch. It is true he was not helped by Misbah’s strange field placements, but he is capable of much better bowling than what he displayed. The leg-spinner took an early wicket but by the time the next two came the damage had been done. He had the chance to end the match on a high by batting through the last hour but got out on a duck handing Australia an innings and 18-run win. 

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