(Cricket news) Australia had taken a comfortable 54-run lead in the first innings thanks to a five-wicket effort from Pat Cummins, but Shaheen Afridi and Mir Hamza added two more runs in his next two overs to put Australia in trouble. Finding his form away from the left-hander, Afridi first got Usman Khawaja nicking behind before strangling Marnus Labuschagne down the legside in his subsequent over, effectively leaving Australia at 60/2 at lunch on the opening day.
The pattern persisted after the interval. David Warner was being chopped by Hamza as he attempted to pull, ending his last innings at the MCG for just six runs. Then, with a nasty ball that nipped in, he castled Travis Head to give Pakistan the finger. Pakistan were essentially at 16/4 and roaring back in the game. If Mitchell Marsh hadn’t been dropped in the next over, or if an edge from Smith hadn’t gone short of slip, things may have gone differently. But the pair soon realized the cost of their errors and began to defend themselves with a strong stand.
At the other end, Smith held firm as Marsh reached his seventh Test fifty off just 70 balls. By the end of the second session, the pair had made sure that Australia’s lead was solid once more and that the earlier efforts of Cummins and Co. had not been in vain. Because it was Cummins who held the fort at the beginning of the day, playing with the batters and getting the ball to seam in and out. By trapping Mohammad Rizwan in a situation where two men were standing near to one another at a brief extra cover, he took advantage of his propensity to play uppishly through covers.
With that wicket at 215 it looked as though Pakistan would blow the innings open, but Aamer Jamal and Shaheen Afridi kept them in the hunt. When needed, the latter employed the long handle as Pakistan’s inferior order reduced the deficit. Nathan Lyon provided strong assistance for Cummins, as he defeated Afridi with an arm ball to break a 35-run stand. Additionally, the pair claimed the final two wickets, bowling Hasan Ali past his defense and outstumping Mir Hamza to give Lyon his fourth and give Australia the advantage.
