Midday Briefing: Smith, Labuschagne and Marsh in the runs overnight

[p][b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/smith-steven/hty17mok/"]Steve Smith[/a][/b] continued his bid for an appearance at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics with his sixth T20 century and just his second outside of the BBL.[/p][p]This time, it was in a losing cause for the [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/multan-sultans/YVselbdU/"]Multan Sultans[/a] despite Smudge 106 from just 50 balls to follow up his 56 scored on the same ground (Karachi's National Stadium) only 24 hours earlier. [/p][p]The former Australian captain is now the third-leading run scorer for the tournament behind [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/sri-lanka/zahH5UHg/"]Sri[/a] Lanka's Kusal Mendis and former [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/pakistan/tS3K91g9/"]Pakistan[/a] captain Babar Azam.[/p][p]Smith crawled along to 16 from 13 balls before ending the powerplay with back-to-back boundaries, scoring 90 runs from his final 37 deliveries to anchor a formidable score of 7/213 that was supported by a 66 from his opening partner, 30-year-old Pakistan international Sahibzada Farhan. [/p][embed guid="e346575c-cdab-4b59-ac43-afee0c9f2b6c" url="https://x.com/thePSLt20/status/2046975635709673666" social-type="twitter" /][p]Smith's Australian teammate [b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/philippe-josh/8jxnwHFf/"]Josh Philippe[/a] [/b]and captain [b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/turner-ashton/Es4lEKk9/"]Ashton Turner[/a][/b] both failed to make an impact with scores of 19 and 5 respectively.[/p][p]The Sultans failed to defend that 213 against [b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/labuschagne-marnus/0QSnItBN/"]Marnus Labuschagne[/a][/b]'s [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/hyderabad-kingsmen/tM2PWzGa/"]Hyderabad Kingsmen[/a], who after losing the first four games of their debut season have won four on the trot to move to fourth in the standings. [/p][p]Opening the batting for the side he captains, Labuschagne lost three partners in the powerplay overs before putting on 123 for the fourth wicket with Usman Khan, whose 101 from 47 balls would be the Player of the Match performance in a successful chase. [/p][p]Labuschagne's teammate [b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/maxwell-glenn/INzDBZW0/"]Glenn Maxwell[/a][/b] had a quiet evening, dismissing Farhan in the 13th over for two-over figures of 1-26 before getting caught off the bowling of [b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/siddle-peter/llWIItY6/"]Peter Siddle[/a] [/b]in the 18th over of the chase. [/p][embed guid="4d5c2f0e-e37e-4801-ac69-3612dcc6bf61" url="https://x.com/thePSLt20/status/2047008026297827742" social-type="twitter" /][p]Siddle claimed the wickets in the 16th and 18th overs of the chase to finish with 3-39 from his four overs, but the 41-year-old's efforts were in vain thanks to the Kingmen's American import, Hassan Khan, biffing three sixes in the final two overs to see the chase home.[/p][embed guid="6391874b-d5e8-4ed9-9567-6536f894f5ce" url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROSrXNs4S4U" social-type="youtube" /][p]Earlier in the afternoon, [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/karachi-kings/rmXtkk2A/"]Karachi Kings[/a] captain [b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/warner-david/vBpPglWe/"]David Warner[/a][/b] was one of four wickets for Pakistan fast bowler and hat-trick hero Ali Raza as his Karachi Kings fell to a fifth consecutive defeat. [/p][p]Karachi have fallen to pieces since Warner's drink driving charge in Sydney over the Easter long weekend and their bowling unit had no answers for an unbeaten 119-run stand between Kusal Mendis (80 from 43) and Pakistan's Farhan Yousuf (58 from 36*).[/p][embed guid="29615835-7cc6-468c-9c08-2e002dfd93b9" url="https://x.com/thePSLt20/status/2046893640275075227" social-type="twitter" /][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/perth-scorchers/UgkXNmRT/"]Perth[/a] Scorchers all-rounder [b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/hardie-aaron/6uT78mbB/"]Aaron Hardie[/a][/b] was on the winning team on this occasion, but didn't have the game he would have liked with just 5 runs in the run chase - although his four-over figures of 1-26 were very tidy given the other four bowlers went for 9.75 runs per over combined. [/p][p]Hardie's previous three scores in the tournament were 8, 18* and 26*, whilst Warner is averaging only 20.80 across his five innings so far. [/p][embed guid="0419e3a6-c003-4e5e-ae75-cda5d5ad07b6" url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivBuPIaF_48" social-type="youtube" /][p]Overnight in the IPL, [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/australia/OxG0JfXg/"]Australia[/a] captain [b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/marsh-mitchell/UovVueNf/"]Mitch Marsh[/a] [/b]delivered on [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/news/cricket-ipl-i-haven-t-got-going-marsh-admits-ipl-season-not-going-to-plan/QBLP1itn/"]a promise made earlier this week[/a] that he was not far off a big score after a lean start to the 2026 season.  [/p][p]Marsh had a top score of just 35 in his first four innings of the season but has since followed it up with a pair of 40s and then a 55 overnight against [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/rajasthan-royals/S2MQPiFG/"]Rajasthan Royals[/a], albeit without any support from the top or middle order.[/p][p]A 22 from the out-of-form Nicholas Pooran was the next best score as English quick Jofra Archer claimed 3-20 to see the Royals stay at second place on the table.[/p][embed guid="c4b5016c-08be-4e7d-af3f-43f280978a69" url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCv1v9MoSuM" social-type="youtube" /]