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

Mitchell Marsh’s fifty in the third straight Test and his partnership with wicketkeeper-batsman Alex Carey put Australia close to a lead at the end of the second session on day three of the second Test between Australia and Pakistan at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) on Friday.

Australia is 289/6 at Tea, and Marsh (50*) hasn’t lost yet. Australia began the second session on 199/4, with Travis Head and Marsh both on six without being out. Head had another bad run in the game when Aamer Jamal trapped him leg-before-waist for only 10. They were five runs behind with 205 runs to go. After the early wicket, Marsh and Alex Carey began to rebuild the game. In 94 overs, Australia scored 250 runs. Marsh hit his fourth fifty in five innings of this Test series. It took him 107 balls and five fours to get there. Sajid Khan got Carey out for 38 runs off of 58 balls, with three fours, just a few balls before the session ended. Australia was 199/4 against Pakistan at the end of the first session on day three at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Friday, thanks to Marnus Labuschagne’s 60-run knock. Pakistan’s bowlers were very conservative in the first session of day three. They only gave up 83 runs and took two wickets. Shan Masood’s team also didn’t give away any runs and bowled five straight no-ball overs in Sydney in the morning.

The Aussies got ahead thanks to a strong partnership between Labuschagne (60 runs off 147 balls) and Steven Smith (38 runs off 86 balls). In the 74th over, Mir Hamza got rid of Smith to end the partnership. In the 75th over, Agha Salman got rid of Labuschagne just a few minutes later. A look back at the second day of the Test match: the rain won in the end, and stumps were called early on Day 2 after only 46 overs were played. Australia was behind by 197 runs at the time of Stumps, with Marnus Labuschagne (23) and Steve Smith (6) still not out at the wicket.

Pakistan bowled mostly steadily, so Australia’s response was slow but steady. They added only 110 runs to the overnight lead, even though they lost both of their openers. Australia was at 116/2 when Aamer Jamal got rid of Usman Khawaja just before the end of the second session. Soon after, it started to rain, which made it less likely that the last class would start on time. Short Scores: Pakistan has 313 runs, and Australia is 24 runs behind them with 289/6 (Marnus Labuschagne 60, Mitchell Marsh 54*, Aamer Jamal 3/65). Mohammed Rizwan scored 88, Aamer Jamal 82, and Pat Cummins 5/61.