Close Pakistan 168 for 8 (Younis Khan 56*; Lee 2 for 44, Warne 2 for 49) beat Australia 167 all out (Martyn 56; Akram 3 for 18, Afridi 3 for 28) by 2 wickets
scorecard

Younis Khan, with a match-winning 58 not out, led Pakistan to a two-wicket victory over Australia at the Colonial Stadium to level the one-day international series at 1-1.

Pakistan captain Waqar Younis, batting with a runner because of a leg injury, edged Glenn McGrath to third man for the winning run, setting up a winner-takes-all clash in Brisbane next Wednesday.

Australian captain Ricky Ponting made the mistake of bowling Brett Lee late in the innings, while his No. 1 strike bowler McGrath still had three overs left. McGrath, who conceded only nine runs in his first seven overs, did not return until the 47th over and finished with 0 for 16 from 8.5 overs. Lee returned 2 for 44 from his 10 overs.

Lee and Shoaib Akhtar, the two main drawcards for this series, claimed two wickets apiece after missing the first match.

TV umpire Simon Taufel made two controversial rulings in favour of Australia. He gave Wasim Akram run out for 10 late in Pakistan's innings. Lee was in Wasim's way as he tried to reach the non-striker's end and it was a close decision after a direct hit from Ponting at backward point.

Damien Martyn top-scored for Australia with 56, but was on seven when he mistimed a pull shot off Wasim to Waqar Younis at mid-on. Waqar claimed a catch low to the ground and Taufel took about three minutes to rule in Martyn's favour.

The match attracted 16,981 fans, up on Wednesday night's 11,000 but still well short of what the Australian Cricket Board would have hoped.

Pakistan opener Saeed Anwar had a terrible return to international cricket, dismissed for a duck from the third ball of the innings. Anwar, who had not played for Pakistan since late last year because of a hand injury, had not faced a ball when he backed up too far and a direct hit from Shane Watson at mid-off ran him out.

Lee conceded five early wides, but got his act together and dismissed Imran Nazir and Azhar Mahmood in one over to leave Pakistan 21 for 3. Younis stabilised the innings with his knock, which came off 76 balls and included four boundaries. Andy Bichel followed on from his 3 for 30 in the first match to take 1 for 28 from 10 overs.

Wasim Akram inspired Pakistan by grabbing the first two Australian wickets off only three balls. Akram finished with 3 for 18 while Shahid Afridi's leg spin fetched him three for 28 to leave Australia reeling. Shoaib Akhtar, who along with Lee is contending for the tag of the world's fastest bowler, also chipped in with 2 for 30.

Akram had Adam Gilchrist, the man of the match in Wednesday's seven-wicket win, caught behind by Rashid Latif off the first ball of the match. Two balls later, Ponting was caught and bowled by Akram for another duck. Opener Jimmy Maher was then caught behind off Akram for 12 as Australia slumped to 23 for three in the ninth over before Martyn and Darren Lehmann added 66 in 90 balls for the fourth wicket.

Lehmann was then caught behind off Azhar Mahmood for 31 in the 23rd over to leave Australia 89-4. Australia lost their last five wickets for 29 as Afridi and Akhtar ripped through the lower order.

Both sides had made two changes apiece, with Lee and Maher taking the places of Jason Gillespie and Matthew Hayden in the Australian lineup. Lee's return set up the pace duel with Shoaib Akhtar, who replaced Mohammad Sami, but that never materialised.

Australia 1 Adam Gilchrist, 2 Jimmy Maher, 3 Ricky Ponting (capt), 4 Michael Bevan, 5 Darren Lehmann, 6 Damien Martyn, 7 Shane Watson, 8 Shane Warne, 9 Brett Lee, 10 Andy Bichel, 11 Glenn Mcgrath Pakistan 1 Saeed Anwar, 2 Imran Nazir, 3 Younis Khan, 4 Inzamam-Ul-Haq, 5 Yousuf Youhana, 6 Shahid Afridi, 7 Azhar Mahmood, 8 Rashid Latif, 9 Waqar Younis (capt), 10 Wasim Akram, 11 Shoaib Akhtar

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