Hardie's spell highlights depth of Aussies' all-round stocks

While Monday night's third T20I between Australia and Pakistan will rightfully be remembered for Marcus Stoinis' explosive finish, it was the effort of another allrounder that will greatly please the Aussie coaching group. 

Aaron Hardie was the sixth bowler used by captain Josh Inglis in Hobart but was among the most effective.

In the best bowling performance of his 24-game international career to date, Hardie took 3-21 from his four overs playing a crucial role in Pakistan's innings-destroying collapse of 9-56.

The 25-year-old is a semi-regular in Australia's white-ball teams over the past 12 months, since his debut in South Africa in September 2023.

He's shown plenty of promise with the bat, with knocks such as his 44 off 28 balls against England in Durham and his 28 off 23 in Sydney on Saturday, but had been yet to crack a game open with the ball.  

"He was brilliant tonight," Inglis told reporters after play.

"He's shown those sorts of skills throughout the Big Bash and for Australia when he's played in the last 12 months.

"Everything he executed was brilliant. He changed his pace. He wasn't predictable at all. And I thought he made it really hard work for their batters."

Hardie's cross-seam leg-cutter that pinned Salman Ali Agha baffled commentators Mark Waugh and David Warner just as much as it did Pakistan's stand-in skipper.

"That actually straightened off the wicket," Waugh said in disbelief after seeing the replay.

"I thought it was going to be an off-cutter … but it straightened the other way."

Hardie also performed a textbook 'celebrappeal', the act of appealing and celebrating in the same motion without turning around to see the umpire's thoughts on the matter, something often seen from the likes of Glenn McGrath and Stuart Broad.

His third over, the 14th of the innings, was a maiden, the majority of which was bowled to Abbas Afridi, who proved so destructive in the second T20.

Inglis said Hardie's career trajectory was still on the up and his batting will continue to improve, especially when he finds a spot in the order to call his own, much like Stoinis, 10 years Hardie's senior, has done.

"He's growing and he's learning. He's still quite young," Inglis said.

"But I've seen firsthand, what he can do at the Scorchers. 

"It's difficult coming into international cricket and trying to find a spot in that side. It's not very easy to bat at seven, then go up to three and be used as an allrounder as well. He's done very well."

Stoinis was awarded player of the match for his 61 not out off 27 balls, which included five monster sixes and five fours.

The veteran allrounder had a wonderful T20 World Cup in the West Indies and the 35-year-old is showing no signs of slowing down in the shortest format.

He closed out the innings in Brisbane with a brutal 21 off seven balls and iced the game in Hobart with his fifth T20I fifty.

'It's one of the hardest roles to do in white ball cricket," Inglis said of Stoinis' power-hitter/finisher brief.  

"Sometimes you need to come out and hit your first ball for six.

"And when you can do that against bowling attacks, it's very hard to stop."