Australia bats first and brings on Connolly for third ODI against Pakistan

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LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — Australia brought in Cooper Connolly for the series decider against Pakistan as captain Josh Inglis won the toss and elected to bat in the third and final one-day international on Thursday.

Connolly replaced leg-spinner Tanveer Sangha in the only change the tourists made from the team which won the second game by 41 runs at the same venue on Tuesday to level the series.

Pakistan, which won the first match at Rawalpindi last week by five wickets, went in with the same playing XI for the third successive game, hoping the wicket will suit its four-pronged spin attack of Abrar Ahmed, Arafat Minhas, Shadab Khan and Salman Ali Agha.

The start of the game was delayed by 15 minutes due to a brief thunderstorm and rain in Lahore.

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Lineups:

Australia: Matthew Short, Alex Carey, Josh Inglis (captain), Matthew Renshaw, Marnus Labuschagne, Cameron Green, Cooper Connolly, Oliver Peake, Nathan Ellis, Matthew Kuhnemann, Adam Zampa.

Pakistan: Sahibzada Farhan, Maaz Sadaqat, Babar Azam, Ghazi Ghori, Salman Ali Agha, Abdul Samad, Shadab Khan, Arafat Minhas, Shaheen Shah Afridi (captain), Haris Rauf, Abrar Ahmed.

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AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket