Mahli Beardman: WA quick bounces back from rough start in Australian debut against Pakistan

After conceding the worst possible start, WA’s Mahli Beardman almost snared a hat-trick in his international debut as Australia went down to Pakistan in their T20 series opener.

Just four days after helping lead the Perth Scorchers to a Big Bash League title, Beardman lined up in Aussie colours for the first time as one of three T20I debutants for the first of three matches in Lahore.

The 20-year-old tearaway from Cowaramup in the State’s South West finished with 2-33 from four overs as Australia kept Pakistan to 8-168 after at one stage it appeared a 200-type total was on the cards.

But an inexperienced Australian side went down by 22 runs after only being able to muster 8-146 in response.

Beardman’s first ball didn’t go to plan, with Saim Ayub flicking a length delivery off his pads and over deep square leg for a towering 71-metre six.

The paceman almost had his revenge and a maiden international scalp three deliveries later, when a catch narrowly evaded a diving Cam Green at mid-off, but ultimately conceded 13 off his first over.

After giving up eight off his next over, Beardman returned in style for his third - the 17th of the innings - as he conceded just four singles.

And upon being entrusted to bowl the final over of the innings, Beardman snared his first scalp when Shadab Khan skied an easy catch to Green at long-on and then grabbed his next the following ball with Shaheen Shah Afridi holing out to deep backward square leg. His hat-trick ball was a no-ball that was steered past the wicketkeeper for four.

Adam Zampa was superb with the ball for Australia, snaring 4-24 for the third-best figures of his 109-match career.

All eight of Australia’s wickets in their turn with the bat fell to spin, and Zampa warned the conditions in Pakistan would be similar to what his side could expect in the World Cup, which will be staged across Sri Lanka and India.

“Tonight, I think the challenge was definitely slow off the wicket, and then the low bounce gets you on the bottom of the bat. It’s pretty alien for some of the young guys, particularly, in the group,” Zampa said.

“Obviously, we’ve got a very different squad in this series as to what we’ll have in the World Cup. A lot more experience comes back then, but exposing those guys in the middle order, particularly to conditions like those tonight, it’s going to be good for them the long run.

“The conditions will change throughout the World Cup. The first stage of the tournament, particularly in Sri Lanka, the spinners will play a huge role, but it’ll change, definitely in India, where my experience is that it’s totally different — good batting wickets as you’ve seen in the latest series with New Zealand there.”

WA’s Cam Green top-scored for Australia with 36 from 31 deliveries at No.3, while Cooper Connolly was bowled for a second-ball duck by leg-spinner Abrar Ahmed to continue his tough run with the bat.

Prior to this summer, Beardman had played only two games of professional T20 cricket, but joined Xavier Bartlett and fellow debutant Jack Edwards in the pace cartel.

The highly-rated WA product had 13 wickets at 22.38 this summer and notably helped the Scorchers rip through the tail in their dominant defeat of the Sydney Sixers in the final.

Beardman has long been rated a star of the future, notably helping Australia win the U19 World Cup in 2024 and selected in the Prime Minister’s XI to face India in the 2024-25 summer.