But while Hopes conceded how dangerous Afridi was, he said Australia had to do their part to keep him from stamping his authority on the contest."We're going to have to bat better against him, we exposed our tail to him and when he gets a sniff in a game of cricket, he's very competitive and he can do what he did last night," he said."The trick for us is not to give him that sniff to take over a game."Last night it was a 50-50 game, he came in and got 24 off 16 balls and took the game away from us."We've got to expect that that's the way he bats, some days he's going to come off.""If history shows us anything, I think Australian teams learn the more they play against the spinners."Murali's (Muttiah Muralitharan) record against Australia is not that great and that's because guys figured it out after playing a few times."Hopes admitted Ajmal caught Australia by surprise purely because they were not able to obtain any vision of him in the lead-up to the series."With Pakistan it's very hard (to obtain vision of players) considering they haven't played much cricket, we didn't have much footage on their guys whatsoever," Hopes said.
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Thursday, April 23, 2009
Watch Pakistan vs Australia 2nd ODI Live Streaming
But while Hopes conceded how dangerous Afridi was, he said Australia had to do their part to keep him from stamping his authority on the contest."We're going to have to bat better against him, we exposed our tail to him and when he gets a sniff in a game of cricket, he's very competitive and he can do what he did last night," he said."The trick for us is not to give him that sniff to take over a game."Last night it was a 50-50 game, he came in and got 24 off 16 balls and took the game away from us."We've got to expect that that's the way he bats, some days he's going to come off.""If history shows us anything, I think Australian teams learn the more they play against the spinners."Murali's (Muttiah Muralitharan) record against Australia is not that great and that's because guys figured it out after playing a few times."Hopes admitted Ajmal caught Australia by surprise purely because they were not able to obtain any vision of him in the lead-up to the series."With Pakistan it's very hard (to obtain vision of players) considering they haven't played much cricket, we didn't have much footage on their guys whatsoever," Hopes said.
Watch Pakistan vs Australia 2nd ODI Live Streaming

Pakistan are not used to playing against Australia and they are certainly not used to winning against them; this was only a second win in their last 12 ODIs (over nearly seven years) against them. Though not many in this team are scarred by that kind of record, they batted as if that history was firmly on their mind. If this was a weakened, transitional Australia, it was Australia nonetheless and Pakistan can happily point to an absent middle-order bearded wonder and an equally absent lanky fast bowling genius.But with the added layers of what has happened to Pakistan cricket over the last two months, the broader fate that has befallen them over the last two years, and to a nation seeking cheer as desperately as Susan, it is as welcome as might be a water cooler in the Thar desert. The details don't matter as much as the bigger picture but they are worth noting, if only to sketch an outline over the rest of the series.