AUS vs PAK, 3rd Test: Marsh hits fourth fifty in five innings, Aussies within touching distance of lead (Day 3, Tea)

A half-century by Mitchell Marsh in the third successive Test and his partnership with wicketkeeper-batter Alex Carey put Australia within touching distance of a lead at the end of the second session during day three of the second Test between Australia and Pakistan at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) on Friday.

At Tea, Australia is 289/6, with Marsh (50*) unbeaten.
Australia started the second session at 199/4, with Travis Head and Marsh unbeaten at six each. Head continued his disappointing run in the series in the series, being trapped lbw by Aamer Jamal for just 10. Australia was five down at 205 runs. Then, Marsh and Alex Carey started to rebuild the innings after the early wicket.

Australia reached the 250-run mark in 94 overs. Marsh brought up his fourth half-century in five innings of this Test series in 107 balls, with five boundaries. Just a few balls before the session end, Sajid Khan cleaned up Carey for 38 off 58 balls, with three fours. Earlier, Marnus Labuschagne’s 60-run knock powered Australia to 199/4 against Pakistan after the end of the first session on day three at Sydney Cricket Ground on Friday.

In the first session on day three, Pakistan were disciplined with their bowling attack, giving only 83 runs and scalping two wickets. Shan Masood’s side also gave no freebies and delivered five consecutive maiden overs in the morning in Sydney. Even though Labuschagne (60 runs from 147 balls) and Steven Smith (38 runs from 86 balls) made a solid partnership to take the Aussies to a better position.

Mir Hamza dismissed Smith in the 74th over to break the partnership, and just a few minutes later, Agha Salman removed Labuschagne in the 75th over. Recapping the second day of the Test match, the rain had the final say and Stumps were called early on Day 2 with only 46 overs bowled. At the time of Stumps, Australia’s score read 116/2 -trail by 197 runs- with Marnus Labuschagne (23) and Steve Smith (6) standing unbeaten at the crease.

Because of Pakistan’s mainly disciplined bowling, Australia made sluggish but steady progress in their reply, adding just 110 to the overnight deficit despite losing both set openers. Aamer Jamal removed Australia batter Usman Khawaja just before the end of the second session, leaving Australia at 116/2. Rain fell shortly after, decreasing the prospects of the last session starting on schedule.

Brief Scores: Australia: 289/6 (Marnus Labuschagne 60, Mitchell Marsh 54*, Aamer Jamal 3/65) trail Pakistan: 313 (Mohammed Rizwan 88, Aamer Jamal 82, Pat Cummins 5/61) by 24 runs.