Maxwell's power-hitting and Australia pace flatten Pakistan in a rain-shortened T20

BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — Glenn Maxwell's robust 43 off 19 balls helped Australia thump Pakistan by 29 runs in a rain-shortened first Twenty20 on Thursday.

After a nearly three-hour delay due to lightning and rain, the match was shortened to seven overs per side.

Maxwell powered Australia to 93-4 and Pakistan reached only 64-9 after slumping to 16-5 inside the first 15 balls.

Nathan Ellis (3-9) and Xavier Bartlett (3-13) ran through the top order before No. 8 batter Abbas Afridi’s unbeaten 20.

“Certainly had a lot of fun out there,” Maxwell said. “We thought we had enough on the board … the bowlers did a great job. There was a few of us who had packed our bags expecting the game to be called off, so it was a mad rush to get ready.”

Maxwell followed scores of 0, 16, 0 in the preceding one-day international series won by Pakistan 2-1 by smacking three sixes and five boundaries. He played some extravagant lap shots to third man against the pace of Haris Rauf (1-21) and Naseem Shah (1-37).

Maxwell fell in the penultimate over when he hooked Abbas Afridi (2-9) to backward square leg but Marcus Stoinis provided a final flourish with an unbeaten 21 off seven balls. Stoinis smashed 20 runs in Shah’s last over with two fours and six.

None of the top six Pakistan batters reached double figures.

Sahibzada Farhan hit Spencer Johnson for two successive boundaries off the first two balls he faced before mistiming a pull shot off the fourth ball and holing out at midwicket.

Mohammad Rizwan, in his first match as the Pakistan skipper, fell to the first ball when he top-edged Bartlett to point. Usman Khan was caught at third man in the same over.

Ellis struck twice in his first over when Babar Azam was caught in the deep and Jake Fraser-McGurk snapped his third catch as Irfan Khan also offered a tame catch at deep midwicket.

Pakistan was 24-6 in the fourth over when Salman Ali Agha scored only 4 in his debut T20, guiding a sharp, short Bartlett delivery to Australia first-time captain Josh Inglis on the run.

Leg-spinner Adam Zampa clean-bowled Shaheen Shah Afridi and Naseem Shah off successive balls in the last over to complete the rout.

“It was difficult to keep things normal in a seven-over game,” Rizwan said. “Got to give credit to Maxy, his style worked really well.”

The second T20 is in Sydney on Saturday, and the last in Hobart on Monday.

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

Pakistan's Mohammad Rizwan, congratulates Australia's Xavier Bartlett, left, and Pakistan's Babar Azam, right, congratulates Australia's Spencer Johnson following their T20 cricket international between Pakistan and Australia at the Gabba in Brisbane, Australia, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Tertius Pickard)

Australia's Adam Zampa, right, celebrates with teammates after defeating Pakistan during the T20 cricket international between Pakistan and Australia at the Gabba in Brisbane, Australia, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Tertius Pickard)

Pakistan's Usman Khan bats during the T20 cricket international between Pakistan and Australia at the Gabba in Brisbane, Australia, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Tertius Pickard)

Australia's Xavier Bartlett, right, is congratulated by teammate Marcus Stoinis, left, after dismissing Pakistan's Mohammad Rizwan during the T20 cricket international between Pakistan and Australia at the Gabba in Brisbane, Australia, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Tertius Pickard)

Australian players celebrate after dismissing Pakistan's Sahibzada Farhan during the T20 cricket international between Pakistan and Australia at the Gabba in Brisbane, Australia, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Tertius Pickard)

Pakistan's Abbas Afridi celebrates with teammate Mohammad Rizwan, right, after dismissing Australia's Glenn Maxwell during the T20 cricket international between Pakistan and Australia at the Gabba in Brisbane, Australia, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Tertius Pickard)

Australia's Glenn Maxwell bats during the T20 cricket international between Pakistan and Australia at the Gabba in Brisbane, Australia, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Tertius Pickard)

Pakistan's Haris Rauf and Usman Khan, left, celebrate the dismissal of Australia's Matt Short during the T20 cricket international between Pakistan and Australia at the Gabba in Brisbane, Australia, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Tertius Pickard)

Australia's Marcus Stoinis bats during the T20 cricket international between Pakistan and Australia at the Gabba in Brisbane, Australia, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Tertius Pickard)

Australia's Glenn Maxwell bats during the T20 cricket international between Pakistan and Australia at the Gabba in Brisbane, Australia, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Tertius Pickard)

OSLO, Norway (AP) — The Norwegian equality minister said Thursday that she found it “completely unacceptable” that men on average earn 13% more than women as she reacted to a government report stressing that the pay gap in egalitarian Norway persists.

The conclusion of the report, which covers the period 2015-2022, was on par with the figures in the European Union of which Norway isn't a member. According to the European Commission, the gender pay gap in the 27-member EU stood at 12.7 % in 2021 and has only changed minimally over the last decade.

The report, which had been commissioned by the Norwegian Ministry of Culture and Equality and was published Thursday, said that since 2015, there has been little change in the wage differences between women and men performing the same work.

“I find it completely unacceptable that women and men who have the same job, the same experience and the same competence, end up with different salaries," Culture and Equality Minister Lubna Jaffery told Norwegian news agency NTB.

The report by the Institute for Social Research, concluded that women who work in the same sector, industry and profession, have the same length of education and experience and similar job size, earn 8% less than men. If women also have the same professional title and employer, they earn 6% less than men.

“An important explanation is that men and women work in different parts of the labor market with different wage levels,” the 122-page Norwegian report said.

“We show how the wage gap varies across sectors, industries, education groups, occupations and labor market regions,” it said. “We find that women on average have longer education than men, but within fields of study with lower wages. The gap between men and women with equally long education is therefore larger than between all men and women.”

Norway, a country of 5.6 million, has often been described as at the forefront internationally in terms of gender equality and living standards. According to official Norwegian figures, about 70% of women participate in the workforce.

In October, the annual report from the U.S. Census Bureau said that in 2023, the gender wage gap between men and women working full-time widened year-over-year for the first time in 20 years. It said that women working full time earned 83 cents on the dollar compared to men in 2023, down from a historic high of 84 cents in 2022.

FILE - The sun reflected in the windows of the skyline of the so called 'Barcode Project' neighborhood at dusk in Oslo, Norway, on Dec. 8, 2022. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, File)