BRISBANE: Marnus Labuschagne scored a sparkling 185 to help Australia to a commanding lead before their pace attack struck to leave Pakistan facing a heavy defeat on the third day of the first Test in Brisbane on Saturday.

Queenslander Labuschagne’s maiden Test century combined with a doughty 154 from experienced opener David Warner fired the hosts to 580 all out in response to Pakistan’s 240 an hour after tea at the Gabba.

Fast bowlers Mitchell Starc (2-25) and Pat Cummins (1-16) then took over to reduce the tourists to 64 for three, still 276 runs short of forcing Australia to bat again.

Pakistan skipper Azhar Ali, Haris Sohail and Asad Shafiq were all sent packing cheaply to leave opener Shan Masood, who had made 27 not out, and Babar Azam, unbeaten on 20, fighting a desperate rearguard action.

Starc made the first breakthrough when Pakistan began their second innings, trapping Azhar leg before for five. He then enticed the horribly out-of-form Haris to waft at a ball well outside off stump, only to get a thick edge behind the stumps to Australian captain Tim Paine.

Asad, who was the top scorer with 76 in the first innings, was next to fall, edging Cummins to second slip where Steve Smith took a comfortable catch Australia have not lost at the Gabba since 1988 and the efforts of the experienced Warner and the more junior Labuschagne almost certainly ensured that record would be extended for another year.

“It’s a dream come true,” Labuschagne said of scoring his first Test century on his home ground. “It was set up by the boys at the start and I was able to capitalise on that. It’s a privilege to play with this hat on and ... if I can score runs along the way, that’s great.”

Warner, who resumed on 151 after building the foundations of the innings in a 222-run opening partnership with Joe Burns, looked exhausted by his efforts on day two and added only three runs to his tally before departing an hour into play.

Pakistan’s 16-year-old pace bowler Nasim Shah celebrated his first Test wicket with the key dismissal and when Yasir Shah prised out Steve Smith for a paltry four runs there was a small glimmer of hope for the tourists.

That hope was washed away by a torrent of runs from the solid bat of Labuschagne, who resumed his 16th Test innings on 55 and quickly assumed the mantle of aggressor from Warner.

He had a scare when he was given out lbw to Yasir on 93. It was reviewed immediately and the TV replays showed a clear inside edge.

After a morning of clean-striking, Labuschagne reached the hundred in fortuitous fashion with a thick outside edge for his 12th four. The 25-year-old scored four 50s in the recent Ashes series but had been unable to convert any of those until his near chanceless innings on Saturday.

Having put on 129 with Warner, Labuschagne constructed a partnership of 110 with Matthew Wade (60) and looked unmovable as he powered the hosts to 532-5 at tea.

The effort of batting for so long in the Brisbane sun finally caught up with him, however, and a loose cut at a Shaheen Shah Afridi delivery — the 279th he had faced — went straight to Babar at gully.

The last five Australian batsmen were dismissed at a cost of 35 runs with leg-spinner Yasir taking 4-205, including the wicket of Smith for the seventh time in six Test matches.

Pakistan bowling coach Waqar Younis said later that with such an inexperienced attack at their disposal, it was only natural that there would be tough times.

“Nasim is only 16 remember and even Shaheen is only 19, so of course they are going to learn a lot from this tour,” he said. “We’ve got to give them time and hope they learn, and in a year or so they’ll be a force.”

Scoreboard

PAKISTAN (1st Innings) 240 (Asad Shafiq 76; M.A. Starc 4-52, P.J. Cummins 3-60).

AUSTRALIA (1st Innings, overnight 312-1):

D.A. Warner c Rizwan b Nasim 154

J.A. Burns b Yasir 97

M. Labuschagne c Babar b Shaheen 185

S.P.D. Smith b Yasir 4

M.S. Wade c Rizwan b Haris 60

T.M. Head c Rizwan b Haris 24

T.D. Paine c Asad b Shaheen 13

P.J. Cummins c Rizwan b Imran 7

M.A. Starc lbw b Yasir 5

N.M. Lyon not out 13

J.R. Hazlewood lbw b Yasir 5

EXTRAS (B-6, LB-4, NB-3) 13

TOTAL (all out, 157.4 overs) 580

FALL OF WKTS: 1-222, 2-351, 3-358, 4-468 5-506, 6-545, 7-546, 8-559, 9-567.

BOWLING: Shaheen Shah Afridi 34-7-96-2 (2nb); Imran Khan 24-3-73-1; Nasim Shah 20-1-68-1 (1w); Iftikhar Ahmed 12-0-53-0; Yasir Shah 48-4-1-205-4; Haris Sohail 19-1-75-2.

PAKISTAN (2nd Innings):

Shan Masood not out 27

Azhar Ali lbw b Starc 5

Haris Sohail c Paine b Starc 8

Asad Shafiq c Smith b Cummins 0

Babar Azam not out 20

EXTRAS (LB-3, NB-1) 4

TOTAL (for three wkts, 17 overs) 64

FALL OF WKTS: 1-13, 2-25, 3-25.

BOWLING (to-date): Starc 4-0-25-2 (1nb); Cummins 5-1-16-1; Hazlewood 6-1-16-0; Lyon 2-1-4-0.

Published in Dawn, November 24th, 2019