Third Test wash-up: Every player rated

Australia player ratings: Mike Hussey

Legendary Australia batsman Mike Hussey calls it how he sees it for the Australia XI after the Sydney Test.

David Warner 9.5/10

His hundred before lunch on day one, the first that’s ever been done on Australian soil was simply amazing and set the tone for the match. In the second innings when Australia needed quick runs to have a go at Pakistan in the evening, again he just absolutely smashed them to record the second fastest Test fifty ever. He’s a champion. 

Matt Renshaw 9/10

Classic opener’s innings. Loved it. It’s not easy when Warner’s going so fast at the other end and he just stuck to his game plan, played his way, played well through to lunch then picked up his pace in the middle session and then really cashed in after tea. He then kicked on to be out for 184 in what was an outstanding innings of high quality batting. It looks like he’s definitely arrived and I think he’s certainly played his way onto that Indian tour and must be picked. Hopefully he recovers quickly from the concussion he suffered on day three. 

Usman Khawaja 7.5/10

He’s been on fire this summer. Even through the South Africa series debacle he stood pretty firm. He scored a century in Adelaide under lights, he got 97 in Perth, 64 in the second innings in Hobart and 79 not out in this match. He’s been ultra-consistent and an absolute run-machine, he keeps churning them out.

Steve Smith 7.5/10

Much like Uzzie, Smith scored at a fast clip in the second innings to post 59 from 43 balls and set up a target for Pakistan to chase and allow his bowlers enough time to take 10 wickets. The skipper also took a couple of good catches including the terrific one-handed effort at slip to remove Asad Shafiq on day three.

Peter Handscomb 8.5/10

He’s had a dream start to his Test career I just think he’s got to enjoy this now because it’s not going to last forever. That’s just the way the game goes. It’s gone his way and he’s batted brilliantly and cemented his place in the team and proven to himself that he can succeed at this level. There’s going to be certain challenges ahead but right now he’s in sparkling touch, and his century in the first innings was top-shelf. 

Hilton Cartwright 6.5/10

Cartwright’s done pretty well in his debut. What people need to realise is that he’s in the team to bat first and foremost and just help out with the ball. He’s not a genuine allrounder at this stage. His job is to come in and bowl 10 overs a day to give the other guys a bit of breather and when there’s two spinners he won’t have to bowl too much. He looked really composed for his 37 and has a good defence which is the ideal foundation to have. He didn’t look out of his depth whatsoever and it was a really promising start. 

Matthew Wade 6/10

Wadey’s been sick during this Test match which is never nice. He’s been pretty solid with the gloves again with that one chance going down off Younis early on day four. He was going for quick runs in his only innings, scoring 29 from 33 balls and selflessly putting the team first.

Mitchell Starc 6/10

He hasn’t looked like himself this Test I must admit but I feel like he hasn’t been at his best throughout the series yet he continues to take wickets. While he’s taken just one less wicket than Josh Hazlewood, Starc’s have cost 13 more runs each and that is probably an indicator that he hasn’t been at the top of his game. That can happen, like in this Test match where he’s had issues with the footmarks, but he has the ability to blast out a batting line-up.

Image Id: 18AF4FB68CBB4DFF886B022736192FA6 Image Caption: Starc was rapid // Getty

Josh Hazlewood 8/10

He’s been quality again. So consistent and in top form. He claimed four wickets in the first innings and three in the second and you just know what you’re going to get with Hazlewood, day in and day out. Steve Smith must be loving having a bowler he can rely on like that, who’s solid as a rock, plus Starc who can rip out the heart of the opposition, two good spinners and a handy allrounder. It’s a very balanced attack.

Steve O'Keefe 6.5/10

He’s been solid without being outstanding. He’s done his job of keeping it tight, going at less than three runs per over during the Test. O’Keefe would have had some nerves heading into this Test but he came through it well and will be setting his sights for India.

Nathan Lyon 7/10

I think Gazza has bowled really well and got some reward for once. I loved how he got his line outside off-stump and with a bit more rough to work with it’s encouraged him to try and the get the right-handers hitting through the off-side. I hope he continues to bowl that line in India and try to spin the ball back into the stumps. Gaz would have also enjoyed bowling more overs, whereas in other games he hasn’t been able to bowl longer spells. He bowled the most overs in the match for Australia and that allowed him to get into some rhythm and really enjoy the Test. He’s looked more confident and Smith has had more confidence in him, which is a big boost leading in to India. 

Pakistan player ratings: Mazher Arshad

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

Sharjeel Khan 5/10

He was one of the two changes Pakistan made in XI from the previous match. Coach Mickey Arthur said the idea behind bringing him in place of Sami Aslam was to have a Warner-like impact the at start of the innings. Sharjeel failed in his maiden Test innings scoring just four but in the second he showed his ability, scoring at a quicker rate than every other Pakistan batsman. He knocked 40 off 38 balls, 30 of those from boundaries, but got out to a poor stroke off Lyon just four overs before stumps on the penultimate day.  

 Azhar Ali 7/10

He rescued Pakistan from a precarious position in the first innings when they were 2-6 and had a 146-run partnership with Younis. The pair had some iffy moments and one of them resulted in Azhar being run out on 71. Although he ended the series as Pakistan’s only batsman ever to aggregate 400-plus runs in a series in Australia, he could not stay in during the last innings when his side needed to bat 114 overs to avoid a whitewash. He was caught by Hazlewood off his own bowling in second over of the last day.  

Babar Azam 2/10

He bagged the first duck of his Test career in the first innings and scored just nine in the second. Even worse, he was trapped LBW on both occasions in the same fashion by Josh Hazlewood. The 22-year-old had shown a lot of promise before coming to Australia and was earmarked as a batsman to watch but finished the series with just 68 runs, the lowest tally by any specialist batsman in the series who played all the three Tests. 

Image Id: 7FBA1A8788DB4B79B4D64CF3DE0B094D Image Caption: Azam scored a duck and nine in Sydney // Getty

Younis Khan 8/10 

With a 0-3 series defeat on the line and himself just 23 short of 10,000 runs, Younis will regret the stroke he played on the last day of the series and in his last innings on Australian soil. He holed out at mid-on looking for a heave. But his unbeaten 175, the second highest score by a Pakistani in Australia, in the first innings was a fighting knock that helped Pakistan to reach a respectable 315. Younis was just one of the two batsmen in the first innings who scored more than 20. 

Misbah-ul-Haq 4/10

In his last innings in Australia and possibly the last of his international career the Pakistan captain could not save his team from a sixth consecutive defeat in Tests. In spite of immense experience, having a reputation of a stubborn batsman and a good technique against spinners, Misbah threw his wicket away in both the innings, going for careless shots off Lyon and O’Keefe at crucial junctures. He scored 18 in the first innings and 38 in the last. It was a forgettable series for him.  

Asad Shafiq 4/10

Sydney didn’t get to see the Asad that turned up in Brisbane showing fight and resistance. He also didn’t look like a batsman who has nine hundreds at number six when he was bowled on 30 by Starc on the last day due to a lack of foot movement. That followed his four first-innings runs. A lot had been expected from him especially after his grinding knock in the first Test but he finished the match and series in an unsatisfying manner. 

Sarfraz Ahmed 4/10

He missed a stumping chance when Handscomb was on nine and the batsman went on to score 110. He missed another chance to give a reprieve to Cartwright and it was not the last time he would do it. He fluffed another stumping chance in the second innings when Khawaja, who would finish 79 not out, was on 21. In a nutshell, Sarfraz was awful behind the stumps. He failed to deliver as a batsman in the first innings too and scored an unbeaten 72 when the result was a foregone conclusion. 

Mohammad Amir 3/10

Amir, like many other Pakistan players, had a forgettable match. It is the first time in his career that he has played two consecutive Tests without a wicket. He bowled in just one innings as he picked up a side strain before play on the fourth day and didn’t bowl in the second innings. He was a disappointment with the bat too, scoring just four and five and was run out when Pakistan was trying to save the match. 

Image Id: 13C4AC1A89F3410CA6FD380F2A9D54CC Image Caption: Mohammad Amir has been sent for scans // Getty

Wahab Riaz 6/10

The left-arm quick was the pick of the Pakistan bowlers and struck thrice in the first innings and also dismissed the dangerous looking David Warner in both innings. If not for him, what Warner could have done to Pakistan’s bowlers is anybody’s guess. There was an improvement in his discipline too. He bowled just three no balls in the match across two innings compared to 12 in one innings in Melbourne. Wahab was Pakistan’s best bowler in the series too. 

Imran Khan 4/10

The right-arm seamer came into the team at the expense of Sohail Khan and bowled couple of good spells in the match but couldn’t build pressure consistently. He also induced a false shot from Khawaja’s bat but Babar grassed it at gully. The right-arm seamer managed to take two wickets later but was not up to the mark with his pace as he bowled regularly below 130kmph. However he did no harm to his reputation of being a genuine number 11 batsman scoring a duck in each innings. 

Yasir Shah 3/10

Pakistan had come to Australia heavily relying on his leg-spin but the end result was unsatisfactory. In his last innings he was taken for 124 runs in 14 overs at 8.85, the most expensive ten-over spell in cricket history. He also struggled with his fitness due to a hamstring issue and didn’t take field after lunch on the second day (before going for 167 runs in 40 overs). He took just one wicket in the match but also had a catch dropped off his bowling. He showed some resistance with bat as a night watchman in the second innings but that was not enough to save the day for Pakistan.