Australia swept away the Pakistanis with another thoroughly professional display at Sydney. The nine-wicket victory ensured a 3-0 clean sweep for the hosts. This was Australia's third straight Test series victory after the triumphs against India and New Zealand. The series wasn't as one-sided as the final scoreline shows. But then, for Pakistan it was always a matter of so near yet so far.

After defeats at Perth and Melbourne, this was Pakistan's best chance to salvage some pride. They did put up a fight, but in the end it was too little too late. Australia, like in all previous games had their backs to the wall, but fought back and in the end won with comfortable ease.

Adam Gilchrist and Stuart MacGill stole the show for the Aussies after Salman Butt lit up the SCG with his scintillating strokeplay on day one. The Pakistani opener has undoubtedly been the find of the series for Pakistan. Yasir Hameed, his opening partner in Sydney, also impressed. But despite getting half centuries in both innings, he couldn't carry on.

This has been Pakistan's biggest undoing in the series. Time and again the batsmen got starts and failed to carry on. The same applies to their bowlers. There were times when Pakistan had the Australian batting under pressure. But they couldn't carry on the good work and as a result Australia kept coming back strongly. Shoaib Akhtar and Danish Kaneria were the only bowlers to make an impression. While the former answered his critics in the best was possible, Kaneria showed the world that here is another spinner ready to join the elite spinners' club. But he will have to improve on his wicket-taking ability. An average of 30 is considered higher than that expected of a world-class spinner. But alteast he has taken the first step towards greatness in this series, achieving 100 Test wickets. Australia, on the other hand, pounced on every opportunity that came their way. Most teams would have given up when the opposition has reached close to 200 with just a solitary wicket down. But once they got rid of the second wicket, they were on a roll. The same was the case with their batting as well. Ricky Ponting made the Test a memorable one with his first Test century since taking over the 'Test' reigns from Steve Waugh.

But Adam Gilchrist was the one who demoralised the Pakistanis with a display of amazing strokeplay - something which only the super talented Aussie wicketkeeper can come up with. The Aussie vice-captain, along with his skipper, almost batted Pakistan out of the game. Damien Martyn and debutant Shane Watson only compounded Pakistan's woes with nice cameos.

With a lead of 264, Pakistan had to bat out of their skins to set Australia a challenging target. The task was made even more strenuous with the absence of a key player like Inzamam, who missed the last two Tests due to a back injury. To their credit, Pakistan did not cave in easily. All the top-order batsmen got starts but as expected, they fell just when the team needed them the most.
 

Pakistan's worries against leg-spin bowling became more apparent than ever before with the presence of two classy leggies in the opposition. Stuart MacGill, like in most other matches he has partnered Warne in, once again came out with better returns. For his exceptional display of spin bowling, MacGill was named Man of the Match. The fact that he was chosen for the award speaks volumes about his performance. He certainly must be among the most unlucky cricketers of all time, to have been born in the same era as Shane Warne.
 

The Sydney Test will be remembered for more than one reason. Salman Butt's heroics, Ponting's first Test century, Gilchrist's blitzkrieg and of course, Warne and MacGill bowling in tandem. One wonders when we will get another opportunity to watch them bowl together. Overall, the series saw another great showing by the Australians. Pakistan on the other hand can just sit down and introspect on what they could have achieved in the series and what they eventually ended up with.