Australia crush Pakistan by 94 runs

Australia began the series with one of their worst Twenty20 losses but they finished it with their second-best win in the format, crushing Pakistan by 94 runs in the dead rubber in Dubai. David Warner and Shane Watson set up the victory with an Australian-record opening partnership before Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc ran through Pakistan, who suffered their worst defeat in a T20 international and were all out for 74, their lowest total in the format.

Pakistan still won the series 2-1 but if the old sporting cliché that you're only as good as your last performance can be trusted, the Australians will be reasonably happy when they arrive in Sri Lanka in the next few days for the ICC World Twenty20. The fact that Warner and Watson both fired and found their six-hitting rhythm would be especially pleasing for the captain George Bailey, although some more runs from the middle order would have been preferable.

Cummins was outstanding with the new ball as Pakistan slumped to 19 for 5 in the chase, and Brad Hogg's 1 for 11 - the most economical four-over spell by an Australian in a T20 international - was another positive sign for the Australians. They narrowly missed out on bettering their most comprehensive T20 victory, the 95-run defeat they inflicted on South Africa at the Gabba in January 2006, and it was a win Australia desperately needed, having fallen to tenth on the ICC T20 rankings