Marnus Labuschagne continued to lead Australia’s rout of Pakistan, cashing in on breaking the barrier of getting to his maiden Test century and extending it to an unbeaten 171 by Tea on Day 3. Runs flowed in the session as Australia consolidated their position in the Test, with a lead of 292, going into the interval on 532 for 5 at the Gabba in Brisbane. Labuschagne did the bulk of the scoring in the session, with the display of a 360-degree game. His inventiveness, ability to pick the lengths skilfully and footwork shone through his knock that spanned 262 deliveries on Saturday (November 23).
As the ball got softer, the spinners were able to get a bit of turn through the session, with part-time spinner Haris Sohail getting the breakthroughs. In-form Matthew Wade played the perfect cameo, attacking from the onset, using his feet well and reached a half-century. He went on to share a swift century stand with Labuschagne before Haris struck against the run of play to pick out a wicket out of nowhere, getting Wade for 60. Done in by the loop, Wade was caught in a territory of uncertainty and ended up with a feather that Mohammed Rizwan pouched.
The ‘keeper then took a sharp catch when Travis Head was strangled down the leg to get a feather as Australia had half its side back in the shed. Although the spinners operated most of the session, Shaheen Afridi and Imran Khan bowled brief spells. Yet, Naseem Shah only bowled the four overs in the day, during which, he picked up his maiden Test wicket.
He was one of the two wickets, alongside Steve Smith to have fallen in the morning session. Pakistan’s bowlers learned their lessons from a deflating second day’s play where Australia scored 313 runs. They straightened their lines and bowled with a lot of discipline early on. The runs dried up, especially to Warner, who bizarrely added just three runs to his overnight score of 151 before he fell just before the end of the first hour.
Labuschagne, though, kept the scoreboard ticking with a fine mix of attack and caution. As fate would have it, it was Naseem who picked up Warner for his maiden Test wicket, for the second time. Only, this time, Naseem didn’t overstep. It was a bouncer that rose into the left-hander, who was caught in a tangle to get a bottom-edge that was pouched by the ‘keeper.
Steve Smith was getting rid of all the anticipation of a shot in the middle and dispatched Yasir Shah for a boundary off his first ball, but had his stumps knocked over. Smith played across the line was done in by flight and the ball dipped on him to knock him over. Yasir then had Labuschagne trapped leg-before for 92, but a review from the batsman showed an inside edge. Thereafter, Labuschagne was unstoppable, with the third day of play belonging to him.
Brief scores: Pakistan 240 (Azhar Ali 39, Shaan Masood 27, Asad Shafiq 76; Mitchell Stars 4-52, Josh Hazlewood 2-46, Pat Cummins 3-60) trail Australia 532/5 (David Warner 154, Joe Burns 97, Marnus Labuschagne 171*; Yasir Shah 2-180, Haris Sohail 2-75) by 292 runs.
