MELBOURNE: Mitchell Marsh scored 96 in a partnership of 153 with Steve Smith to dig Australia out of a deep hole and help steer them to a lead of 241 over Pakistan at the end of the third day of the second Test on Thursday.

Having dismissed the tourists for 264 in the opening session, Australia slumped to 16-4 as Pakistan’s seamers produced their best spell of bowling in the series to bring the tourists right back into the game.

Marsh, though, was dropped in the slips by Abdullah Shafique on 20 and went on to fall agonisingly short of his fourth Test century, steadying the ship with Smith and helping Australia to 187-6 at stumps.

“To get a Test match 100 would have been nice but ultimately I just wanted to extend that partnership as long as possible,” said Marsh. “Our bowlers can bat and we’ve got a lot of faith in them and if we can sneak another 60 for a 300 lead in the fourth innings, it’ll be a great couple of days.”

Shaheen Shah Afridi and Mir Hamza both took three wickets as Smith was dismissed for 50 with the final ball of the day, and Alex Carey (16 not out) will resume with a new partner on Friday, looking to blow out the lead and lay the platform for a victory that would seal the series with a Test to spare.

After Australia captain Pat Cummins took 5-48 — to complete his 10th five-wicket haul — and Nathan Lyon 4-73 to dismiss Pakistan and three overs before lunch and hand the hosts a first-innings lead of 54, Australia needed to negotiate a tricky 15 minutes of the morning session.

Shaheen (3-58) quickly made it appear extremely slender as he led a spellbinding display of swing and seam bowling from the Pakistan attack.

The seamer induced Usman Khawaja into an edge with the second delivery of the innings to send the Australia opener back for a duck and removed Marnus Labuschagne caught behind for four with the last ball before the break.

Australia went into lunch on 6-2 but the worst was not over for the home batsmen.

David Warner, playing his final Test innings at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, edged a Hamza delivery onto his own stumps and departed shaking his head with six runs to his name.

With the next ball, Hamza produced the delivery of the match so far, which nipped in and went straight through Travis Head’s defences to shatter the Australian’s stumps.

All-rounder Marsh watched Hamza’s hat-trick ball sail well wide of his off stump and set about rebuilding Australia’s innings with former captain Smith playing a supporting role.

When Aamer Jamal came on, Marsh slammed three boundaries in four balls to further relieve the pressure before he rode his luck when Abdullah dropped a standard slip catch — as the fielder had with Warner in the first innings — but there were few chances after that, until Hamza produced another peach and Salman Ali Agha a fine catch at first slip.

It was the second time Marsh had fallen just short of a century in the series after he was dismissed for 90 during Australia’s 360-run victory in the first Test in his home city of Perth.

“Abdullah is one of the best fielders in Pakistan and dropped catches are a part of the game, so it’s okay,” said Hamza in a press conference following the close of the day’s play. “The body language of the boys has been very positive and we are aiming to get all the wickets and we think we are in the game.”

Pakistan had begun the day on 194-6, after an electric spell from Cummins in the final session on Wednesday saw a collapse from 124-1, and the Australia skipper was again in the thick of the action.

Mohammad Rizwan made a confident start, adding 13 to his overnight 29.

But he was no match for a canny Cummins, who tempted him into a drive that flew straight to Warner who had just been moved to cover from slip. It broke a 45-run partnership with Jamal who began to play his shots.

New partner Shaheen crunched four boundaries before he was undone by Lyon’s spin, trapped lbw for 21. Aamer was in good touch, finding the ropes three times in six balls at one point in his 33 not out. Cummins grabbed his fifth wicket by bowling Hasan Ali for two before Lyon had Hamza stumped for the same score.

“It’s evenly poised,” said Marsh. “As we saw, I think there’s still enough in the wicket so add a few more runs tomorrow and we’ll give it our all.”

SCOREBOARD

AUSTRALIA (1st Innings) 318 (M. Labuschagne 63, U. Khawaja 42; Aamer Jamal 3-64)

PAKISTAN (1st Innings, overnight 194-6):

Abdullah Shafique c&b Cummins 62

Imam-ul-Haq c Labuschagne b Lyon 10

Shan Masood c Marsh b Lyon 54

Babar Azam b Cummins 1

Saud Shakeel b Hazlewood 9

Mohammad Rizwan c Warner b Cummins 42

Salman Ali Agha c Carey b Cummins 5

Aamer Jamal not out 33

Shaheen Shah Afridi lbw Lyon 21

Hasan Ali b Cummins 2

M. Hamza st Carey b Lyon 2

EXTRAS (B-8, LB-7, NB-3, W-5) 23

TOTAL (all out, 73.5 overs) 264

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-34 (Imam), 2-124 (Abdullah), 3-131 (Babar), 4-147 (Shan), 5-151 (Saud), 6-170 (Salman), 7-215 (Rizwan), 8-240 (Shaheen), 9-255 (Hasan)

BOWLING: Starc 16-3-69-0, Hazlewood 16-5-43-1, Cummins 20-1-48-5, Lyon 18.5-2-73-4, Marsh 3-0-16-0

AUSTRALIA (2nd Innings):

U. Khawaja c Rizwan b Shaheen 0

D. Warner b Hamza 6

M. Labuschagne c Rizwan b Shaheen 4

S. Smith c Salman b Shaheen 50

T. Head b Hamza 0

M. Marsh c Salman b Hamza 96

A. Carey not out 16

EXTRAS (B-1, LB-9, W-5) 15

TOTAL (for six wickets, 62.3 overs) 187

STILL TO BAT: P. Cummins, M. Starc, N. Lyon, J. Hazlewood

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-0 (Khawaja), 2-6 (Labuschagne), 3-16 (Warner), 4-16 (Head), 5-169 (Marsh), 6-187 (Smith)

Bowling: Shaheen 18.3-2-58-3, Hamza 16-6-27-3, Hasan 12-2-31-0, Aamer 13-2-52-0, Salman 3-1-9-0

Published in Dawn, December 29th, 2023