Australia 8 for 277(Hussey 67, Hauritz 53*, Asif 3-42) beat Pakistan 142 (Umar Akmal 38, Harris 5-19) by 135 runs

Australia mercilessly ripped through a feeble Pakistan at the WACA to keep alive the prospect of inflicting upon the tourists only their second 5-0 whitewash in ODIs. Michael Hussey and Nathan Hauritz starred with the bat, before Ryan Harris tore through the batting with a second successive five-for to set up a crushing 135-run win. Remarkably, given how poor Pakistan have been in this country, this was Australia's first win over them in an ODI in Perth.

Pakistan's tour has been one long, dark and miserable spiral since the fourth day of the second Test in Sydney and it continued with another dispirited, stuttering performance. They did battle in the field but let Australia get away at a critical stage once again, and contrasting fifties from Michael Hussey and Nathan Hauritz then took them to 277.

For much of the innings, control was a loose concept. Every time Pakistan struck, an Australian partnership settled. But every time the batsmen threatened to take over, Pakistan struck, so that momentum never rested decisively with either side. The final shift, however, came after the 40th over as an 80-run partnership between Hussey and Hauritz propelled Australia to the kind of total Pakistan haven't looked like chasing down at any point this summer.

Australia were 6 for 190 at that point and James Hopes had just been dismissed by the excellent Mohammad Asif. Hussey had hung around unnoticed from the 22nd over, stealthily keeping Australia afloat. Hauritz frustrated Pakistan with the ball through the Tests and today he did so with bat, swinging four sixes with all the freedom of a man no longer trying to prove himself in a 39-ball 53.

Hussey had hit one boundary in his fifty, but timing is everything and as he did in Adelaide, he utilized the PowerPlay beautifully, ensuring that sixty runs came in the last six overs. Death bowling was once Pakistan's trump card, but on this tour it has cost them.

Pakistan had shaded the start, much of the groundwork laid in a fine opening spell from Asif, who immediately hit the length that makes him so dangerous, not allowing batsmen to drive or to defend back with any great ease.

Brad Haddin provided Australia with some momentum but just when he was looking dangerous, he went. Michael Clarke was undone in a manner in which he has sent back so many batsmen - a smooth direct hit from cover running him out. Ricky Ponting scratchily tried to soldier on as Pakistan giving him plenty of pulls. It wasn't convincing and it didn't last, as Shahid Afridi got one to go across him; now Pakistan were on top.

Cameron White initially looked every inch a man averaging 60 in the series when he came in. But as the heat picked up and Saeed Ajmal came in, he had to fight. The doosra wasn't picked but he didn't get out to it and there were plenty of singles to keep things moving.

Ajmal's spell through the middle overs was crucial; only two boundaries came between overs 22 and 36, but only one wicket fell. That was White, frustrated despite having sneaked into the 40s. It should've been Pakistan's innings from there, but Hussey and Hauritz had other ideas.

The chase was never on. Pakistan have long been renowned for producing fast bowlers, but that assembly line is no match for Australia. They have been without Brett Lee for a while, Ben Hilfenhaus is also injured and they chose to rest both Mitchell Johnson and Doug Bollinger for this game. Ryan Harris and Peter Siddle were their third new-ball pairing of the series and they've hardly missed anyone progressing towards, potentially, a whitewash.

Harris bustled in Adelaide a few two nights ago and coolly picked up a maiden five-for and he did much the same here. He bowled at the brisk pace all Australian pacemen seem to have, in the mid-140s kmph, and curved the ball considerably away from the batsmen. Salman Butt was fed a few coming in, before the inevitable one angled across him got the edge. Younis Khan has had time off from the game but his form seems no closer to coming back to him and he was soon gone, fishing uncertainly at another outswinger.

Siddle was more erratic but carried with him the menace he has done through a luckless summer. If his two wickets were gifts, no one has deserved them more. Umar Akmal and Fawad Alam steadied the ship, as they did in Adelaide, and Afridi swung carelessly, but Harris bulldozed his way through, returning for a double-wicket maiden to essentially finish things off.

Zaheer burst sets up 2-0 victory

India 544 for 8 dec (Tendulkar 143, Dravid 111 retd hurt, Dhoni 89) and 2 for 0 beat Bangladesh 233 (Mahmudullah 96*, Ishant 4-66, Zaheer 3-62) and 312 (Tamim 151, Junaid 55, Zaheer 7 for 87) by ten wickets

From a position of relative strength to utter disarray in the space of half an hour - that was Bangladesh's story on the final day of the series in Mirpur. From 290 for 3, they lost six wickets for 14, and only a couple of hefty blows from Mushfiqur Rahim ensured that the innings defeat was avoided. But Zaheer Khan, who had spent much of the morning wearing a back-brace before returning to scalp three in an over, needed just three balls after lunch to make a mess of Rubel Hossain's stumps, and when Shakib Al Hasan's second ball went for byes, the match was over.

Pragyan Ojha had taken the wickets of Mohammad Ashraful and Shakib Al Hasan, before ceding the limelight to Zaheer, easily the pick of the bowlers in the series. But there was no hint of the drama to come as Bangladesh made serene progress in the opening hour. Ashraful drove Zaheer through cover, but was largely an amused onlooker as Shahadat Hossain, the nightwatchman, took to the attack with some gusto. 

A pull for four off Ishant Sharma bolstered his confidence and though a subsequent top-edged heave over slips betrayed his tail-end roots, there was nothing fortuitous about a lovely straight six off Ojha or a copy-book cover-drive off Zaheer. With Gautam Gambhir then conceding four overthrows, and Ojha clubbed for another four through midwicket, there would have been Indian supporters whose minds strayed to the prospect of a tricky fourth-innings chase.

The sense of unease was compounded when Amit Mishra dropped Shahadat at deep midwicket after he'd given Harbhajan Singh the big heave-ho. There were 51 runs scored before drinks and it was only when Shahadat tried to wallop Harbhajan over long-on again that the wheels came off. This time, Amit Mishra held on to the catch, and the 68-run partnership was over.

Ashraful, who had shown uncharacteristic patience all the while, followed in Shahadat's wake, undone by a beautiful Ojha delivery from round the wicket. Shakib played the most bizarre of innings, striking the first ball he faced for a straight six, and then sweeping one straight to Gambhir at square leg. Resistance breached, MS Dhoni turned to his best bowler.

Brace or no brace, Zaheer was a man on fire. Raqibul Hasan shouldered arms to one that came in with the angle from round the wicket, while Mahmudullah was defeated by late movement and a magnificent catch from Murali Vijay, who took the catch an inch from the ground while diving to his left at second slip. Shafiul Islam's stumps were splayed next ball, and it took some defiance from Mushfiqur to make India bat again. In the event, they didn't even need to play a shot in anger.

Ryan Harris grabs five as Australia take series

In his second one-day international, Ryan Harris kept a cool head under pressure to deliver Australia a 40-run victory and an unassailable 3-0 series lead after Shahid Afridi lit up a match that had threatened to fizzle out. Workmanlike half-centuries from Shaun Marsh and Michael Clarke, and a late Michael Hussey blitz, set up Australia's 6 for 286 before Harris grabbed 5 for 43 to confirm Australia's win.

It was a remarkable effort from Harris, who finished up as the Man of the Match having only been called into the squad late on match eve as cover for Peter Siddle, who had a sore back. He began with a wicket in his first over and returned with three in two overs during the batting Powerplay when Afridi and Rana Naved-ul-Hasan were giving Pakistan hope of a famous fightback.

They had taken 37 from the first three overs of the field restrictions. Harris was introduced with 65 needed from 42 balls and promptly yorked Afridi, who had raced to 40 from 29 balls, and two balls later had Umar Gul caught skying for a duck. The fifth for Harris came in his next over when Rana (33) was caught at midwicket and Nathan Hauritz finished things off in the 48th over with Mohammad Asif caught top-edging.

That wrapped up the match and the series and consigned the two matches in Perth over the next week to dead-rubber status, which will test the patience of Australian fans for ODIs in a summer featuring ten of them. It would not have escaped Cricket Australia's notice that the crowd of 15,521 was smaller than the attendance for the domestic Twenty20 final at the same venue on Saturday, when 17,722 turned up to the Adelaide Oval.

There were late onslaughts in both innings and the hint of a surprise comeback, but overall the manner of Australia's win won't do a lot for the cause of the 50-over game. Professional though they were, from the start of the 20th over to the beginning of the 44th Australia struck only four boundaries and added 114 runs. It's precisely these middle overs that the Twenty20 format eliminates.

Clarke's first four didn't come until he had 56 runs on the board as he gladly pushed singles and twos to the defensive field. Despite the lack of pizzazz, it was the sort of innings his team was hoping for and he built three important partnerships, 85 runs with Marsh, 55 with Cameron White and 80 with Hussey.

The fun came in the last ten overs when, led by Clarke and Hussey, Australia added 95, helped by sloppy work from Pakistan, who had earlier missed run-outs and dropped Clarke on 32. The 48th over, bowled by Gul, featured three consecutive no-balls - an overstep, a full toss above waist height, and a delivery with too many fielders outside the circle. The over took nine balls and cost 23 runs.

Clarke (80) and Hussey, who hit 49 from 28 balls, both fell to Gul in the 50th over but by then they'd done their job. The platform had been built by Marsh and Shane Watson, who combine for a 63-run opening stand that ended when Watson was bowled trying to slog a wonderful offcutter from Asif.

Marsh went on to pass fifty for the seventh time in one-day internationals and looked set for his second hundred when he was stumped for 83, lured at a wide, spinning ball from Saeed Ajmal. Ajmal was the hardest of Pakistan's bowlers to get away, with 1 for 41 from his ten overs, but they'd dropped their other spinner Shoaib Malik and Australia handled the fast men with ease.

It wasn't quite the same for Pakistan, even though Australia's three main fast seamers entered the game with a combined 14 matches of experience. Harris kicked things off with Kamran Akmal lbw for 1 in the second over in a decision that, while tight and probably striking him a fraction outside off, was not a howler from Asoka de Silva.

His next call was. Salman Butt loomed as the man most likely to anchor Pakistan's innings and had 34 when he was sent packing by de Silva, who upheld Clint McKay's appeal despite the ball pitching a long way outside leg stump and sailing well over the top of the bails, according to Hawkeye's prediction.

There was no doubt about the second of McKay's three wickets. Younis Khan, who had taken 20 balls to get off the mark, was surprised by a sharp rising bouncer that took the top edge and was snaffled by Haddin. Mohammad Yousuf followed when he chopped on to Watson and it took an 85-run stand from Umar Akmal (59) and Fawad Alam (33) to give Pakistan a sniff.

Afridi and Rana gave them more than that before Harris spoilt their fun. It will be a brave selection panel to leave Harris, a cover player in Adelaide, on the sidelines for the next two games.