We’ll be back on Day 4 with an early start that will in all likelihood be entirely unnecessary. That’s 10am local time, for the overs lost to rain yesterday. Pakistan 82 ahead and three wickets in hand to increase that lead.
Jonathan Howcroft will have the first half of the day, and if required I’ll take the second. It could be done by lunch though, especially with that long first session. Tune in early!
For now, here is the wrap of a stunning day three of the third Test:
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Stumps - Day 3, Pakistan 68 for 7, lead by 82 runs in the third innings
What a crazy couple of sessions of Test cricket. Not quite Cape Town, but how on earth did Pakistan get wrecked like that? Some really poor shots, a couple of brilliant deliveries, and from a first-innings lead they’re clinging on in this match. It isn’t over, we saw Rizwan and Jamal bat really well in the first innings, but it will take a lot of gumption and fortune to repeat that on the fourth day. They will have an evening to settle themselves and come up with a plan, but they will be up against it.
Hazlewood with three in his over, plus the captain’s wicket earlier, has 4 for 9. Starc a wicket with a sizzler, Lyon with one that crawled along the carpet, and Head picked up a bonus. All that after Jamal took 6 for 69 in an effort that should have set up the match for his side.
Goodness me.
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26th over: Pakistan 68-7 (Rizwan 6, Jamal 0) Twelve wickets since the last ball before lunch, on a pitch that isn’t doing all that much. Rizwan drives back past Lyon for a run. Jamal on strike as the clock ticks over 6pm, last over of the day. Jamal blocks out the last two balls.
25th over: Pakistan 67-7 (Rizwan 5, Jamal 0) Last ball of the over goes just by the off stump as the new man leaves it alone. So it is Rizwan and Jamal, together again, in one desperate last chance to salvage this match.
WICKET! Salman c Warner b Hazlewood 0, Pakistan 67-7
Three in the over! Hazlewood has not just turned the match on its head, he has suplexed it into the canvas! Wicket, dot, wicket, dot, wicket. A push with hard hands, an edge to first slip, and Warner snaffles what will probably be the last catch of his career.
WICKET! Sajid b Hazlewood 0, Pakistan 67-6
Pakistan shuffle the order in an attempt to protect Salman Agha, but it doesn’t work. Sajid lasts two deliveries before missing a straight ball at off stump, playing right across it. Hazlewood pegs it back and responds with a furious fist pump. Two in three balls for the giant.
WICKET! Shakeel c Smith b Hazlewood 2, Pakistan 67-5
The game tilts sharply Australia’s way. Horrible shot from Shakeel, whose returns have declined sharply over this series. Wide from Hazlewood, and Shakeel drives on the up, all hands, no feet, no balance. Thick edge into the breadbasket of Smith at slip, who hops but takes the catch.
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24th over: Pakistan 67-4 (Shakeel 2, Rizwan 5) One more for Shakeel, through cover. Edged over short leg again! Rizwan plunges forward and gets some luck, big inside edge as Lyon turns it large. The lead is 81.
23rd over: Pakistan 66-4 (Shakeel 1, Rizwan 5) Shakeel is turning Head into a world-beater. Prodding, poking. And finally off the mark! Turned to square leg. The duckless run continues, 19 innings now. Rizwan charges and doesn’t get to the pitch but manages to lift the ball over Head for two.
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22nd over: Pakistan 63-4 (Shakeel 0, Rizwan 3) Pakistan lead by 77. Another ball from Lyon keeps low, over the wicket to the right-hander this time, and Rizwan has to jam down on it. Three out on the leg side but a big gap at deep midwicket to tempt Rizwan to go over the top. Slip, leg slip, short leg. Can’t beat the midwicket fielder with a wristy whip. Scoreless over.
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21st over: Pakistan 63-4 (Shakeel 0, Rizwan 3) Can Rizwan conjure another innings? Gets into it right away, crouching to sweep Head powerfully behind point, but a brilliant dash from Lyon at deep midwicket gets there to tap the ball back and keep him to two. Nudges a single to follow. Shakeel plays out a couple, still can’t get off the mark. Has yet to make a Test duck in his career but he has rarely struggled to find his first runs. Stuck in gumboots again dual spin here. A dozen balls faced.
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WICKET! Babar c Carey b Head 23, Pakistan 60-4
That’s what Head can do! Not many runs in this Test but takes a huge wicket, a ball that doesn’t turn much. Babar driving outside off, it kisses the edge through to Carey. Pakistan had control two wickets ago, now teetering…
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20th over: Pakistan 60-3 (Babar 23, Shakeel 0) The sightscreen cover doesn’t come down properly, so Lyon runs all the way from his bowling mark to help, only for Starc to sort it out from long on. Lyon trots all the way back. Longest run-up he’ll ever have. Wheels away to Babar, a leg slip in place now alongside the conventional slip and short leg. Babar edges to backward point but Hazlewood is loping around there. The batter goes back and punches one to long on. Saud Shakeel fends suspiciously at a rising ball, to cover.
19th over: Pakistan 59-3 (Babar 22, Shakeel 0) That wicket ball from Lyon kept very low from a normal length, and it was on the stumps. So maybe even 200 would be tricky to chase here. Pakistan lead by 72. Babar moves it on by one, cutting Head square. Another mighty appeal is turned down, Head on his haunches on the pitch. Probably angling down leg against the left-hander from around the wicket? They don’t review.
18th over: Pakistan 58-3 (Babar 21, Shakeel 0) Well, the youngster has given his team a start after the dismal double-wicket opening stages. Can the rest of the side make something of it rather than falling away? They are in this game but they’ve had the habit of losing wickets in clusters. Another left-hander comes out, Saud Shakeel, who blocks his first couple of balls.
WICKET! Saim lbw Lyon 33, Pakistan 58-3
Lyon breaks through! A partnership of 57 ends with another left-hander for Lyon’s collection. Natural variation as the ball goes on almost straight from around the wicket, turning slightly down the line, beats the inside edge and hits low on the pad. Pakistan review but it’s cannoning into the stumps.
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17th over: Pakistan 56-2 (Saim 31, Babar 21) An early jam roll for Travis Head, who can bowl some ripping off breaks among some occasional gifts. Wide and slammed by Babar but straight to cover. One slip and a short leg. Flicks to midwicket where Warner is donning the Double Hat for the final time in Test cricket. All these final moments, they will be lost like tears in rain. Head wearing the servo shades as he bowls. Six dotties.
16th over: Pakistan 56-2 (Saim 31, Babar 21) Huge appeal from Australia for caught behind! Marnus cock-a-hoop as he gallops backwards down the pitch from short leg. Not out says the umpire, and… the review says flat line. Like the end of a dramatic episode of ER. Babar continues and drives a run through cover. Round the wicket to Saim, bright sunshine now at the SCG. Deep backward square, mid off set quite deep, two slips still, Saim dead-bats.
15th over: Pakistan 55-2 (Saim 31, Babar 20) The singles keep coming, Babar off a deflection, Saim off a pull shot, taking on Cummins.
14th over: Pakistan 52-2 (Saim 30, Babar 18) Still looks a good batting pitch, aside from the inconsistent bounce now and then. Pakistan would want to set at least 250. They currently lead by 63, and that grows as Babar tucks away two runs from Lyon behind square, then another in front of square. Two slips and a short leg for the left-hander, Lyon around the wicket and Saim defends back down to the bowler. Then edges just over short leg! Pretty sure there was some bat on that as it squeezed out off the pad. Travis Head spins and dives back but can’t nab it.
13th over: Pakistan 48-2 (Saim 29, Babar 15) Back after the Official Gazetted Hydration Interval. Saim scrubs a little pull shot away for a run. Babar plays Cummins beautifully, gliding three behind square. Saim pushes two runs past mid off, then plays another awkward pull, the Spinning Crouching Flamingo, on one heel as he comes around and gets the bat down lower than he anticipates needing to do as the ball heads towards his waist on the line of leg stump. Gets it out to deep square anyway. His knock has been super impressive given how down we expected him to be after that fielding effort.
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12th over: Pakistan 41-2 (Saim 25, Babar 12) Brilliant batting from Babar. Gets back to turn two runs square from Lyon, then gets forward to the slightly fuller ball to follow and drives it through cover for four. Top drawer. Big appeal from Lyon fifth ball of the over, Babar thrusting one pad down the pitch and the ball bouncing up to short leg, but no support from the umpire. Too high, turning down? Time for drinks. The lead is 55.
11th over: Pakistan 35-2 (Saim 25, Babar 6) Off strike goes Babar, dropping a single away to midwicket. Saim is showing good temperament, not trying to repeat his hit against Cummins, defending and leaving in equal measure through the over.
10th over: Pakistan 34-2 (Saim 25, Babar 5) Time for Lyon, from the Randwick End. Slip and a short leg as he bowls to Babar. Pakistan’s batters went after him hard in the first innings, 1 for 74 from his 17 overs, and that wicket was last man out held on the fence. Only a leg bye from his first over here.
9th over: Pakistan 33-2 (Saim 25, Babar 5) Cummins into the attack, three five-fors on the trot, Captain Fabulous, the man who delivers wickets, and Saim Ayub pumps his first ball for four! The audacity. The veracity. The perspicacity. Leans back and picks up a pull shot, from a length, and dumps it over mid on. Unorthodox batting. Then unorthodox fielding, as Saim drops a ball to cover and Babar has wandered out of his ground at the far end. Labuschagne spies it but doesn’t want to give the game away. So he treads softly softly, like someone sneaking up on a flock of pigeons, looking towards midwicket rather than at the far end of the pitch then essays a no-look scoop throw, off the ground and in underarm fashion back at those stumps.
Misses. Nobody backing up. Gives away two runs. Cummins just looks at him and spreads his arms out in a questioning posture.
8th over: Pakistan 27-2 (Saim 19, Babar 5) One ball keeps really low from Hazlewood, outside the line of off stump. Things to keep an eye on. It is late on the third day. Babar plays out a maiden over.
7th over: Pakistan 27-2 (Saim 19, Babar 5) Oh my, that is slotted! Width again from Starc and the left-handed tyro cuts him for six! Shades of Shubman Gill at the Gabba, but this one went ever squarer than that one, just behind point. Magnificent shot. He’s got 19 runs, 19 balls, 21 years. That’s the first ball of the over, and as a point of contrast he leaves most of the rest alone outside off stump. Aside from a little poke at one of them. Forgivable, when you don’t nick it.
6th over: Pakistan 21-2 (Saim 13, Babar 5) Saim walks at Hazlewood and then lets the ball hit his pad, angled across, prompting one of the more specious lbw appeals you’ll see in your life. Nowhere near, it was already outside the line of off when it hit him, and that was metres down the pitch. Gets another drop-and-run to cover. He’s playing well.
5th over: Pakistan 20-2 (Saim 12, Babar 5) Saim gets into his work! He is an attacking T20-style player, and he shows it by carving Starc over the cordon for a boundary. Very nicely done. Then drops away a single and races through. Into double figures already.
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4th over: Pakistan 15-2 (Saim 7, Babar 5) An update: I have checked with the official scorers (who are sitting a few desks over) and that initial leg bye was rescinded and given as a run. So Saim Ayub formally scored his first Test run from that scramble to fine leg. He’s on five now. Babar reaches the same score in the over, knocking Hazlewood through square leg for a couple before driving through mid off for three. Saim adds a couple more of his own, then a leg bye. They can release a tightly held breath – the tension of those first two wickets and the nerves for a debutant on a pair all eases slightly with a few runs scored.
Pakistan lead by 29.
3rd over: Pakistan 7-2 (Saim 4, Babar 0) First runs for Saim Ayub! Thank god, the kid has had a miserable Test match. Second-ball duck and then dropped two catches. But he sees Starc’s searching length and clips the full ball away behind square leg. Two slips, gully, for the young left-hander, as well as a somewhat funky field with a long leg set quite square, a conventional square leg by the umpire, and a forward square leg. Letting Starc attack the stumps, presumably.
2nd over: Pakistan 3-2 (Saim 0, Babar 0) Two more extras for Pakistan, byes this time as Hazlewood goes down the wrong side of the street and Carey fumbles to fine leg. That score means two wickets, three runs, if you’re of the Australian persuasion. We work on Greenwich Mean Scoring here.
WICKET! Masood c Carey b Hazlewood 0, Pakistan 1-2
Another one goes! Poor shot from Masood, reaches for a ball angled across him. You had no business with that line, Shan, we told you to not to play with those kids. But he does, a thick edge behind. Two wickets, one run, and that was a leg bye off Saim Ayub’s thigh.
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1st over: Pakistan 0-1 (Saim 0) Shafique walks off to end the over, the captain Shan Masood comes out.
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WICKET! Shafique b Starc 0, Pakistan 0-1
Starc starts with a bang! Abdullah Shafique improves on his first-innings effort, which was a duck second ball, because this time he lasts six balls. The last of them is one that I don’t know how he was supposed to play. Left-armer, serious swing into the right-hander. It starts going across, curves a little, pitches on a length, then darts in. Shafique’s feet are going nowhere and he has no chance to stop that ball swinging back through the gate and hitting the top of middle. Supreme bowling, and another for Starc’s first-over wicket collection.
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Here we go…
Three weeks ago in Perth, a slightly shy Aamer Jamal had been pushed by his teammates to get the ball from the umpire after his 6th wicket. Today, he just stormed towards umpire Illingworth after his 6th wicket & walked off holding it aloft. What a brilliant debut series #AusvPak pic.twitter.com/xbaNcY8Sl9
— Bharat Sundaresan (@beastieboy07) January 5, 2024
That's not a light roller, that's a lint remover pic.twitter.com/CJa1Dg1XQG
— Nick (@NickIBIS) January 5, 2024
Australia all out 299, Pakistan lead by 14 runs on the first innings
Pakistan lead! That looked a certainty to vanish a moment ago, when Marsh was still there, but thing innings has evaporated. It’s not quite the six wickets for zero runs that India managed in South Africa yesterday, but it is five wickets for 10 runs.
Before Carey got out it was 289 for 5. Then in 20 balls the innings has ended. Remarkable, truly. Pakistan have a lead. The sun has come out in Sydney. Game on.
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WICKET! Hazlewood c Salman b Jamal 0, Australia 299-10
And that’s the innings! Hazlewood second ball edges into the cordon, where remarkably the catch is held, and Jamal has six wickets in an innings for the second time in this series. What a remarkable series he has played, especially this final match.
WICKET! Lyon c Shakeel b Jamal 4, Austtalia 299-9
That is a turn-up for the books. A highly unusual example of the rare testicle catch, in the gully. Lyon smacks a short wide ball for four, then edges the next. Shakeel takes it low down and it bounces off the heels of his hands and up, into his groin. He clamps his legs together like a true Puritan but keeps one hand in there, also like a Puritan, and manages to fish out the cricket ball from the others as he rolls over onto his side. Uncomfortable, but nothing touched the ground that should not have.
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109th over: Australia 295-8 (Starc 1, Lyon 1) Sajid bowls to Starc and Lyon, who each get a single. Beats Starc’s edge with the last ball of the over.
108th over: Australia 293-8 (Starc 0, Lyon 0) A wicket, the tea break, then two wickets in an over. Into the lower order, and Australia still 20 behind.
WICKET! Cummins lbw Jamal 0, Australia 293-8
And another one! A correct review for Pakistan. Jamal doesn’t get it right but the error works for him. One ball after startling Cummins with a sharp bouncer, he looks for the yorker. Instead bowls a full toss, but it is swinging towards leg stump. Cummins misses the movement and it crashes into his pad below the knee roll, on the full, then ricochets in and hits his back pad. The umpire picks the first point of contact and says it’s swinging down leg. Ball-tracking says it’s hitting the base of leg stump. Jamal has four.
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WICKET! Marsh c Masood b Jamal 54, Australia 293-7
This is Jamal’s Ashes! The shiny new talisman strikes again. Two balls after Marsh hammers him through cover for four, Jamal pitches up once again. Some slight shape into the bat, and Marsh steps into a big straight drive. But the ball does a fraction off the pitch perhaps, away from the middle of the bat, catching the outside half and twisting the bat in Marsh’s hands. The ball lobs to mid off where the captain takes the catch.
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107th over: Australia 287-6 (Marsh 50, Starc 0) Sajid finishes his over and almost gets another wicket, this one smashing Starc in front of leg stump, but it’s going down. The umpire picks it correctly and Pakistan don’t review.
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Tea - Day 3, Australia 287-6 trail Pakistan by 24 in the second innings
That will bring about the break, two balls into Sajid’s over. Down to Marsh and the lower order now to obtain a lead, and Pakistan to suppress it.
WICKET! Carey b Sajid 38, Australia 287-6
What a piece of bowling! The moustachioed off-spinner really pings this delivery through, fizzes it off his finger but spears it, almost an arm-ball. Carey gets forward but is beaten by the lack of turn, the line from around the wicket angling past his inside edge. He still looks safe, it’s bouncing too high, it’s going leg side, but it just clips the outer spigot of the leg bail! And knocks it off! Incredibly fine margins. Sajid is mobbed, his teammates drumming his bald head like a bongo.
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Half century! Mitchell Marsh 50 from 107 balls
106th over: Australia 287-5 (Marsh 48, Carey 38) Streaky again, a big top edge off Jamal’s short ball that goes high over the wicketkeeper, and dropping steeply enough that it stops on the turf and is tapped back from the fine leg boundary. But it gets Marsh two more runs and a half-century. Player of the series, for sure. He’s taken Australia almost to parity from a tricky situation.
105th over: Australia 287-5 (Marsh 48, Carey 37) Reverse sweep from Carey, and Sajid bounces it over his gloves and into his bicep. That makes Carey cagey, and he spends the rest of the over keeping the bowler out.
104th over: Australia 287-5 (Marsh 48, Carey 37) Time for Aamer Jamal again. Time and again in this series, he has been the one to make things happen for Pakistan. Despite being a modest-looking right-arm seamer. Marsh clips through square leg, and Carey hustles to be ready for a third run but Marsh walks the second. Is he tiring already? It’s a cool and overcast day, he shouldn’t be too taxed. Pokes a run to point, Carey steers away with elan for two more. Runs flowing without major risk. Two slips and a gully, as Carey glances one more. Only 26 between the teams.
103rd over: Australia 281-5 (Marsh 45, Carey 35) Having kept strike against Sajid Khan, Carey cuts a couple more runs through cover. Marsh has a rest at the spectator’s end. Australian only 32 behind now, this pair looking comfortable.
102nd over: Australia 279-5 (Marsh 45, Carey 33) Meanwhile Carey is doing that thing he does, ghostlike in ticking over runs at a fast rate while barely being noticed. Two more off the pads behind square. One more to point. He’s faced only 42 balls for his 33.
101th over: Australia 276-5 (Marsh 45, Carey 30) Big Sajid is getting some turn, into the pads of Marsh, inducing an inside edge as the Australian aims through cover again but hits it to midwicket. Ten dots in a row between this pair, eleven as Marsh digs back to the bowler, then he gets two runs off the outside edge past slip. Pakistan so close to a breakthrough.
100th over: Australia 274-5 (Marsh 43, Carey 30) Hasan Ali round the wicket to Carey, who whips a drive gloriously down theground for four! Cracks his wrists through the line of that very full ball and gets it back past the bowler. That after turning two runs through square leg.
99th over: Australia 268-5 (Marsh 43, Carey 24) Back to spin quickly with the new ball. Sajid Khan wheels down an over of off-breaks, met with a defensive blade by Marsh.
98th over: Australia 268-5 (Marsh 43, Carey 24) Another belter from Marsh, through the covers off Hamza once more. Forget the lbw overturn, remember the dropped catch at mid off. Just as in Melbourne, it’s a drop from Marsh’s bat that is defining a Test match. Australia only 46 behind now. Down to 45 as he cuts a single.
97th over: Australia 262-5 (Marsh 38, Carey 24) Working singles comfortably is Carey, as Hasan bowls largely at the stumps.
96th over: Australia 259-5 (Marsh 37, Carey 22) Reprieved, the full power of Marsh is on display. Smites the first ball of Hamza’s over with the most brutal cover drive imaginable. No caressing, all carnage. Follows with one to midwicket, Carey does the same.
95th over: Australia 253-5 (Marsh 32, Carey 21) Thanks Angus. Poor old Hasan Ali, still can’t take a trick. Two wickets first up in Melbourne, wicketless in the second innings there, wicketless so far here. Thinks that he’s broken the drought as Marsh aims a big pull off the front foot, misses, and is smashed on the thigh in front of off stump. Umpire Illingworth gives it out, Hasan falls over and ends up doing a celebratory forward roll. But Marsh reviews and ball-tracking shows it going just over the off bail. Saved by height. Soon afterwards Marsh fishes and misses outside the off stump, another near thing. Square-drives a run to end the over.
94th over: Australia 252-5 (Marsh 31, Carey 21) Marsh middles Hamza’s first delivery and strolls one. Carey flashes a cut at the second and adds two. He stands tall to take the third off his toes and send it to the outer for another two. The ‘keeper looks in good nick here and proves it again with a ripsnorting cover drive that rockets to the fence and draws a huge roar from the pink masses. Time for me to join them and let Geoff Lemon take over. Thanks for your company and enjoy the rest of Day 3.
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93rd over: Australia 243-5 (Marsh 30, Carey 13) The new ball! Hasan Ali will bowl it with Mitch Marsh to face it. He flays a wide delivery outside off stump and earns a single. Carey deflects the next past a diving gully fielder to claim a couple more. Hasan beats him with the fourth. But Carey makes amends on the last, driving powerfully and getting enough bat on it to send it skidding to the rope. After a slow start, this partnership is starting to motor.
92nd over: Australia 236-5 (Marsh 29, Carey 7) Are Australia pinned down? Murray Henman emails in to disagree. “We saw what Pakistan was able to do with their last wicket, so surely Australia should be getting 400 from here.” You could be right, Murray. Perhaps Australia are in a hole of their own invention, Smith and Labuschagne having batted slowly in the first session only to lose their wickets before the break. Lately, Travis Head has been able to swagger out and smash Australia back to ascendancy but the vice captain hasn’t fired this series. Instead Mitch Marsh has become The Man. He bangs Hamza to the boundary to make it three fours in three overs.
91st over: Australia 229-5 (Marsh 25, Carey 6) Carey claims a single from the first drifter of Salman’s 20th over. Although they broke the boundary drought last over, it was with a shot more arse than class. Australia remain pinned down. Still, that chancy four last over put enough confidence into Marsh for him to slam a rare wide ball from Salman down the ground and into the fence.
90th over: Australia 224-5 (Marsh 21, Carey 5) Mitch Marsh is like a buffalo on a tightrope. He knows it’s prudent to tippy-toe but his instinct tells him to charge and charge hard. Just 17 from 56 deliveries with a strike rate of 30 – those are far from typical stats for him. A sign of maturity perhaps? Or simply delayed gratification? A touch of both in the educated edge he sends through slips. It goes for four – Australia’s first in 80 minutes.
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89th over: Australia 220-5 (Marsh 17, Carey 5) Salman continues with spin but paceman Mir Hamza is warming up in the outfield so we might see the new ball soon after all. Just a single for Marsh from this over. We’ve only had 15 runs from the last six overs and the run-rate has dropped to 2.5
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88th over: Australia 219-5 (Marsh 16, Carey 5) Australia bring up a century but it’s one that will please Pakistan most – 100 balls without a boundary. Australia trail by 96 now but all thoughts of a lead have been put aside as these two work hard to survive. Marsh leans back to uncoil a hard late cut but again it only yields a single. Carey taps a run from the fourth as Aamer enters his 17th over, just 48 from them and the wickets of Usman Khawaja and Travis Head against his name. Marsh runs the final ball to fine leg for another single.
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87th over: Australia 216-5 (Marsh 14, Carey 4) No second new ball yet. Pakistan persist with Salman, sending flat fizzers down to Marsh. The Bison rumbles out of his crease to snuff the spin but, tied down and frustrated with 13 from 41, he sweeps rashly on the third delivery and misses, sending the ball skewing off his arm and into the grill. Babar Azam rushes in for a quick comedic concussion test but Marsh swats him away with a laugh. Salman throws in some comic relief with a legside delivery on a 44th stump line that not even the wicketkeeper at full strength can haul in. They run a bye. Was that a trap? Carey doesn’t care. He sweeps another legside looper past the ‘keeper and cordon to run three.
86th over: Australia 211-5 (Marsh 13, Carey 1) Aamer switches to around the wicket for the left-hander Carey. A slower ball gets the batter swiping across the line but it’s a big swing and a narrow miss. Bowler licks his lips, puts the next one full on middle peg. Carey steps out to clip it fine but no run. He’s flashing wide but Aamer is bowling straight and on a length, baiting Carey to miscue a slapshot. It’s a maiden.
85th over: Australia 211-5 (Marsh 13, Carey 1) The Salman and The Bison. It sounds like an Aesop acid trip but it’s the duel now playing out at the SCG. Marsh squirts the fourth delivery behind point for two but can’t collar any of the others as Salman turns the screws on Australia. It’s tense out there.
84th over: Australia 209-5 (Marsh 11, Carey 1) Head’s departure brings Alex Carey to the crease. He got his mojo back in Melbourne with a fine half-century that proved crucial in an Australian victory by 79 runs. Now the wicketkeeper has another rescue job on his hands. Aamer Jamal is bowling beautifully, pinging them down at 138kph and finding movement in the air and off the pitch. With Marsh not settled yet, Carey will be challenged here. And yowzer! He French cuts his first one to get off the mark. Marsh carts one through covers for three from the final delivery.
WICKET! Head LBW Aamer 10 (Australia 205-5)
Head is gone! Aamer beat him for pace and the ball thumped into his kneeroll. Onfield decision was OUT but it looked for a moment as if Head’s stance on leg stump and his hop into the air might save him. But no. Replays show it hitting leg stump. Head departs. Australia in trouble!
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83rd over: Australia 205-4 (Head 10, Marsh 8) Almost a catch! Marsh chipped one down the ground and the fielder went into a crouch when he should’ve taken a stride forward. The ball falls just short and the fielder earns a hard glare from Salman. Definitely a chance blown for Pakistan. Head bottom edges a rare leg-side delivery from Salman and scampers two.
82nd over: Australia 201-4 (Head 7, Marsh 7) Head cracks Aamer Jamal’s first delivery square but it’s straight to the fielder and going so fast they only get one. That single brings up Australia’s 200. Marsh defends well against a volley of inswingers, off-stump curlers and yorkers. Marsh works the wider final delivery away for another run.
81st over: Australia 199-4 (Head 6, Marsh 6) And we’re back. Pakistan have opted not to take the new ball due to them and will continue with Salman’s spin, little wonder when he and Sajid are finding the footmarks as they are. Head and Marsh are biffers and they’d prefer the ball coming onto the bat at pace. Instead they have to decrypt mystery balls from the spinners. A maiden to start the second session. Australia now trail by 114 runs.
LUNCH: Australia 199 for 4 chasing Pakistan's first innings 313
What a fascinating session! Australia dug in early, grinding their way through a tense five-maiden spell to progress in ones and twos with the occasional liberating boundary. Even as they got going, the run rate never exceeded three-per-over as Smith and Labuschagne were kept in check by accurate bowling and spirited fielding in the outer. Pakistan’s pressure finally paid dividends when Smith fell into a fielding trap set by Masood and Labuschagne was undone by a vicious in-spinner from Salman. That 1-2 punch put Pakistan back in the game and Australia on their heels.
This Test is on a knife’s edge. Australia have two new batters at the crease in Travis Head and Mitchell Marsh, neither backward in coming forward with attacking cricket. And Pakistan attack have their tails up and teeth bared for the new ball that is due immediately after lunch.
Another thrilling session awaits. Grab a bite then batten ‘em down and buckle ‘em up – we’ll be back shortly with the second session of Day 3.
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80th over: Australia 199-4 (Head 6, Marsh 6) Last over before lunch and Sajid Khan is brought back to tempt a big shot from these new batters. Marsh clips fine for two from the first and takes a single from the third whereupon Masood cinches the field to amp the pressure and induce something loose. Head sees it out though. And that’ll be the break.
79th over: Australia 196-4 (Head 6, Marsh 3) Head edges! But it falls just short of first slip. Very close shave there. Salman found a little detonation out of the rough and Head’s prod almost ended his innings before it really began. He then clips one just shy of silly mid-off for a quickly-run two.
78th over: Australia 194-4 (Head 4, Marsh 3) Marsh takes a single from Hamza’s first ball, tapping it to deep point. Head finally gets off the mark, swatting his 13th ball wide of mid-off. Hamza is varying his pace shifting gears between 130kph shooters and 113kph slower balls. Head doesn’t mind blocking a few before he unleashes the beast but he’ll be tested here. He whips Hamza’s final delivery square for three where there’s a fielding mixup between Jamal and Shafique that almost ends in calamity.
77th over: Australia 189-4 (Head 0, Marsh 3) Salman the part-time offie has become Pakistan’s strike weapon. He got rid of David Warner yesterday with a ripsnorter that reared off a crack and now he’s dispatched Marnus Labuschagne with a fizzer from the footmarks today. Head defends stoutly to all six, getting his eye in and carefully surveying a fielding ring where Masood has traps everywhere.
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76th over: Australia 188-4 (Head 0, Marsh 1) Australia’s new batters now have an interesting challenge on their hands. Do Head and Marsh, both famously powerful counter-punchers, play their natural game and attack? Or withdraw into their shell and survive until lunch? Marsh lashes at the fifth to give us an answer of sorts, but it doesn’t get through the field.
75th over: Australia 188-4 (Head 0, Marsh 1) This Test has been turned on its head again! Australia were cruising to lunch with Smith and Labuschagne plucking singles at will and flaying the occasional four. Then Shan Masood’s cunning fielding trap lured Smith into a loose shot and Salman found the SCG footmarks to bamboozle Labuschagne. Now there are two new batters at the crease and a dangerous little period for them to negotiate before lunch.
WICKET! Labuschagne b Salman 60 (Australia 187-4)
Bowled through the gate! What a great ball from Salman. It drifted wide of off stump and Labuschagne sensed he had to play. The instinct was correct but nothing could’ve prepared him for the spin that shot it past the blade and into the pegs. Double breakthrough for Pakistan and again they have wrestled back momentum when Australia seemed well on top.
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74th over: Australia 185-2 (Labuschagne 60, Head 0) After exalting over the wicket of Smith, Hamza is now writhing in pain on the wicket after falling heavily in his follow-through. We’ll break for treatment and raise a glass to another great SCG moment where politics, brewing and cricket collided
WICKET! Smith c Babar b Hamza 38 (Australia 187-3)
Smith succumbs! He drove lavishly at Hamza’s second ball and succeeded only in chipping it to a high-flying Babar Azam in close. Big breakthrough for Pakistan and another promising start for Smith scuppered by a well-executed fielding trap.
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73rd over: Australia 185-2 (Labuschagne 60, Smith 38) Salman is back into his stride now. The 30-year-old allrounder has been great in the slips, snaring catches where his teammates have grassed them. And his part-time spinners have provided handy wickets all series, none better than the ball that bit out of the rough and caught David Warner’s edge yesterday. Just two from this over.
72nd over: Australia 185-2 (Labuschagne 58, Smith 38) Hasan Ali leaks three runs from his 16th over as the Australians plonk singles and plunder the occasional boundary with ease now.
71st over: Australia 182-2 (Labuschagne 57, Smith 36) We’ve got a weird holdup here as the fourth umpire and ground officials are called on by Steve Smith to remove a screwed up black bundle of tape that’s found it’s way onto the whiute sheets behind the sightscreen. More time lost here after we frittered a session due to bad light and bung lights yesterday. The crowd show their ire, jeering the SCG’s staff’s inability to resolve the issue. Finally some intrepid soul with full sleeve tattoos clamours up and grabs the gaffa tape. He’s now walking a lap of honour around the outer, slapping palms on the fence. Enjoy your 15 minutes, sunshine but it distracts somewhat from the fact Steve Smith lofts a lovely boundary down that way to finish the Salman over. Very nice shot, very strange over.
And not as good an SCG sightscreen moment as this…
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70th over: Australia 178-2 (Labuschagne 57, Smith 32) Labuschagne takes a single forward of square from Hasan’s first ball. Smith does likewise from the fourth with a drive to cover. Frustrated after a distraction in the field stops play for a few moments, Hasan puts some mayo on the fifth and Labuschagne adds the srichacha, clipping the faster ball to the fine leg boundary. Hands on hips from Hasan but he’s won some fans on this tour.
69th over: Australia 172-2 (Labuschagne 52, Smith 31) Salman comes on for his first over of the day and Smith shows due reverence, playing out a maiden. We’ve had 57 runs from the 22 overs today, not quite a torrent but better than a trickle. Good, tough cricket as the Test hangs in the balance.
68th over: Australia 172-2 (Labuschagne 52, Smith 31) Hasan Ali was on target, attacking Labuschagne’s off stump before the No 3 leaned into a cracking pull shot to the boundary. Well played Marnus!
FIFTY for Marnus Labuschagne! (Australia 172-2)
A superb pull shot brings up a lovely steady half-century for Australia’s No 3. It came from 131 balls so not his quickest but, with Pakistan’s attack applying the pressure today, it’s been an innings Australia sorely needed.
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67th over: Australia 168-2 (Labuschagne 48, Smith 31) Sajid has found his line now and his long and testing spell continues with Labuschagne finding a single but Smith unable to find a gap from the following five.
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66th over: Australia 168-2 (Labuschagne 48, Smith 31) Hasan returns for another spell. He’s been tighter as a turtle’s tookus thus far with just 20 overs from his 13 overs and after Labuschagne works him for a single from the first, normal activity resumes with Smith seeing off five dot balls angled onto his middle peg.
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65th over: Australia 167-2 (Labuschagne 47, Smith 31) Smith goes big! But despite a ballooned shot clearing the infield, Saim Ayub goes bigger, gouging a massive divot from the outfield as he goes down on one knee to stop the boundary. Strewth! The debutant is having an ignominious Test with a second-ball duck, a dropped sitter in slips and now he’s desecrated the hallowed turf of the SCG.
It’s aright young fella, happens to the best of ‘em…
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64th over: Australia 164-2 (Labuschagne 49, Smith 29) Jamal returns to Labuschagne but despite extra bend in the back the attempted bouncer stays low and Labuschagne parries it away for a strolled single. Smith paddles one at half-steam around the corner for another run as the chase goes below 150. There’s been a bit of talk about Smith replacing Warner as an opener. Are you up for it? Do you prefer the idea of allrounders Mitch Marsh or Cameron Green stepping into the role? Or is a specialist opener like Cam Bancroft or Marcus Harris the answer? Have a drink and a think.
63rd over: Australia 162-2 (Labuschagne 45, Smith 28) Smith runs one as Sajid strays wide. Now comes a big shout from Sajid! It can’t be for an edge from Labuschagne because the “catch” flew wide of first slip. But despite the on-field decision of NOT OUT Sajid convinces his captain to review. Turns out there’s a faint inside edge on it. One review up in smoke for Pakistan but a more probing over by the spinner there.
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62nd over: Australia 158-2 (Labuschagne 45, Smith 24) Aamer strays with his first two and Smith punishes the second, hammering it to deep cover where Pakistan captain Shan Masood makes a valiant dive to save the boundary. Labuschagne runs a legbye. Another bouncer to Smith but he won’t fall into the trap. He fidgets through 40-odd safety checks of pads, gloves, helmet, box and then unleashes a wild swipe he doesn’t quite middle. Danger! But it clears a high-leaping infielder Shafique and stops dead to allow a single.
61st over: Australia 153-2 (Labuschagne 45, Smith 20) Pakistan persist with the profligate Sajid Khan and Smith and Lasbuschagne pick off another couple of easy singles. He’s been spanked for 58 runs from his 16 overs so far and Australia are closing in on the halfway mark in their chase of 313.
60th over: Australia 151-2 (Labuschagne 44, Smith 19) Aamer Jamal digs in a brutish first delivery that squares Labuschagne up. He tries to repeat the dose but the second bouncer flies wide. So does the third as Smith resists the inkling to hook it into the ladies lounge of the Doug Walters Stand. Cracks are opening up on this Sydney pitch and Pakistan are zeroing in on them.
The dasher from Dungog turned 78 the other day. Worth a toast I reckon.
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59th over: Australia 149-2 (Labuschagne 43, Smith 19) Sajid’s first delivery draws shouts from the Pakistani fielders but Smith has rolled his wrists superbly and dropped it short of the silly mid-on and snaffles a single. Another Labuschagne single means the Marnus-Smudge union has yielded 41 runs so far, 31 of them coming today.
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58th over: Australia 147-2 (Labuschagne 42, Smith 18) Bright Sydney sun is lighting up the Ladies Stand, today renamed the Jane McGrath Stand. And Labuschagne adds some sparkle to the spectacle, standing up to a short ball from Aamer to pound it to the midwicket boundary. No stopping that one. After a run of five consecutive maidens at the start of the day, Australia have broken the shackles and now trail by 166 runs.
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57th over: Australia 143-2 (Labuschagne 38, Smith 18) Smith and Labuschagne pick off easy singles before Smudge smacks another benign 84kph Sajid delivery down the ground. Good fielding on the rope saves the boundary and keeps it to three but this is loose from Sajid. The batters lean on the final three, easing them to long on for three more singles.
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56th over: Australia 136-2 (Labuschagne 35, Smith 14) Bowling change for Pakistan as Aamer Jamal enters the fray. He has had a good series after debuting in Perth with a six wicket haul and he’s on target here, Labuschagne content to show a full face to the five he faces after a Smith single from the first delivery. Australia trail by 178.
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55th over: Australia 135-2 (Labuschagne 35, Smith 12) It’s a flood of runs as new bowler Sajid Khan shucks the rust with a wide one outside off stump that Labuschagne picks off for three. Smith then bashes an on drive for a single. Sajid, a magnicently moustachioed allrounder from Pakhtunkhwa, has 22 wickets from his seven Tests so far but none in this Test. Labuschagne certainly likes what he sees of the 30-year-old tweaker, cover driving another loose one to the pink-fringed fence for four.
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54th over: Australia 126-2 (Labuschagne 28, Smith 11) Finally some runs! A Bronx cheer rings out from the pink masses in the crowd as 33 dot balls is broken by a flat bat push down the ground by Labuschagne and a scrambled run that shows even the batter’s feet have fallen asleep. Now Smith really jolts the crowd awake, rasping a cover drive to the boundary.
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53rd over: Australia 121-2 (Labuschagne 27, Smith 7) Smith buckles! That second ball from Hasan hit a crack on a length and jagged back to hit Smith’s belt line. He folded in half before rising with a wry smile. Hasan shows some gamesmanship, going down to caress the crack in the pitch he reckons did the deed. A fifth consecutive maiden!
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52nd over: Australia 121-2 (Labuschagne 27, Smith 7) Five overs, five runs so far this morning. This evenly poised Test is into a slow, tense grind. Australia are defending stoically, Pakistan are attacking skilfully. Both sides are refusing to blink. That’s another maiden by Hamza to Labuschagne, the fourth in succession for Pakistan.
51st over: Australia 121-2 (Labuschagne 27, Smith 7) Tempting fate, Pakistan have taken a slip fielder out and placed him at short leg instead. The cordon opens up to reveal the gaps David Warner found so fortuitously yesterday. Smith happy to play out another maiden.
50th over: Australia 121-2 (Labuschagne 27, Smith 7) Hamza enters his 12th over, just 16 runs from them. Labuschagne happy to leave this fifth/sixth stump line for now, waiting for the one that wafts into his strike zone. Nothing doing though. Pakistan are picking up where they left off with probing accurate bowling on this dusty, slowly cracking SCG pitch.
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49th over: Australia 121-2 (Labuschagne 27, Smith 7) Hasan Ali rolls in from the Randwick end to Smith who hippity-hops sideways across the crease to bat a skidding ball at 130kph back down the wicket. Five more stalemates ensue for a maiden.
48th over: Australia 121-2 (Labuschagne 27, Smith 7) Day three gets underway with Smith gliding Mir Hamza’s second ball for a single to short third man. Marnus Labuschagne raises the stakes, rolling his wrists on a straight ball and whipping it to the midwicket fence. Lovely shot by the Australian first drop. He looks a man on a mission today.
G’day cricket lovers and welcome back to the Sydney Cricket Ground for the third day of the third Test between Australia and Pakistan. Angus Fontaine here to shepherd you through the opening session with Geoff Lemon to take you home to Stumps.
The breaking story this morning is David Warner’s baggy greens have been found. That’s the good news. The bad news is we won’t see the veteran opener wearing his prized cap for a while yet because he was dismissed for 34 in the first innings of his farewell Test. The better news is that it’s a bright, rainless day in Sydney and we will see Australia resume at 116-2, trailing by 192 runs in their pursuit of Pakistan’s feisty first innings 313.
This is the Pink Test and Day Three is Jane McGrath Day so this venerable old cricket ground is festooned in pink. Also in the pink are Pakistan, who again rocked Australia’s momentum by removing both Warner after an opening stand of 70 and, late in the day, his opening partner Usman Khawaja for 47. They did it with superb bowling. And, as has become their habit, almost undid it with abysmal fielding, Warner edging a few through slips and being dropped cold by debutant Saim Ayub when he was on 20.
Cricket’s archaic laws, Sydney’s mercurial summer weather and weirdly low-wattage floodlights cost us a full day’s play, the covers coming out before tea for bad light and rain but we are all systems go for play today. The teams have been photographed in their baggy pink caps and donated them for auction as is tradition. And very soon Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne will stroll out to continue Australia’s innings and take this twisting thriller of a Test into what should be an intriguing Day Three.
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