PERTH: Australia’s bowlers shared the wickets around on Saturday with Nathan Lyon having to wait a bit longer for his 500th after Pakistan folded for 271 in their first innings as the hosts took a 300-run lead on day three of the first Test.

Veteran off-spinner Lyon sits on 499 Test wickets after claiming 3-66 while Imam-ul-Haq top-scored with 62 for the visitors, who were bowled out on the cusp of tea in 101.5 overs.

Opting not to enforce the follow-on, Usman Khawaja and Steve Smith dug in as the hosts ended the day on 84-2 from 33 overs having posted 487 in their first innings.

Smith was unbeaten on 43 and needed a brief on-field treatment after he was struck on the shoulder by a sharp Shaheen Shah Afridi ball late in the day with Khawaja not out on 34 as Pakistan’s hopes of a first Test win in Australia since 1995 faded.

“A 300 lead now and we’ve got Travis [Head] and Mitch [Marsh] coming in next and things can tick along pretty quickly with those two,” said Australian pace spearhead Josh Hazlewood, who pointed to a declaration on Sunday.

“For me, probably the general idea would be halfway through the day tomorrow [to declare], could be earlier or later but that will be the rough guide. I think batting looked really tough there at the end. As the game goes along I think the cracks will come more into play.”

The home side had a shaky start with first innings century-maker David Warner out for a duck.

The 37-year-old, fresh from his defiant 164, mistimed a pull shot from Khurram Shahzad and lobbed to Imam-ul-Haq at mid-wicket.

Marnus Labuschagne also surrendered cheaply on a pitch offering uneven bounce, out for two with Khurram again the tormentor, tempting a big edge taken by wicketkeeper Sarfaraz Ahmed.

He took a nasty blow to the hand shortly beforehand and was due to have a scan.

It left Australia tottering at 2-5 as pacers Khurram and Shaheen showed a better understanding of the Perth Stadium conditions in their second effort, aided by a slight deterioration of the surface, restricting the hosts to seven runs in the first 10 overs and bowling with increased hostility.

Khawaja and Smith slowly steadied the ship, but not without a late scare when Smith hooked Shaheen just over the head of deep fine leg for six, to see their side through to stumps with an unbeaten 79-run partnership heading into day four.

Pakistan resumed on 132-2, but they were no match for Australia’s top-class attack.

“Obviously getting used to the pace and the bounce of this wicket, it was a little bit hard,” Pakistan batting coach Adam Hollioake said. “Their bowling attack is arguably one of the best fast bowling attacks that we’ve seen in recent history, so they bowled well [and] they put the ball in good areas. We’re still getting used to the Australian pitches, but I think we’ve learned.”

Stoic opener Imam began on 38 and nightwatchman Khurram on seven.

Pakistan almost lost Khurram to a run-out on the first ball of the day when Head missed the stumps at the non-striker’s end but skipper Pat Cummins (2-35) ensured no further damage was done, clean-bowling the nightwatchman (7) two deliveries later.

That brought dangerman Babar Azam to the crease in his 50th Test, tentatively facing 13 balls before getting off the mark with a cover drive to the ropes off Cummins.

Biding his time against a seam attack finding bounce and speed on a pitch baked by the sun, he struck another in Cummins’ next over to ensure the scoreboard ticked over.

At the other end, Imam continued chipping away and brought up a ninth Test 50, and his first in Australia, off a glacial 161 balls with a single off Lyon.

But the runs were hard to come by and when all-rounder Marsh was introduced, he immediately removed Babar for 21, with the former captain edging to wicketkeeper Alex Carey.

It sparked a mini-collapse, with Imam stumped for 62 when Lyon was brought back into the attack, charging down the wicket with Carey whipping off the bails.

Sarfaraz Ahmed lasted just six balls, having no answer to Mitchell Starc’s swinging delivery that came back at the right-hander and uprooted the off stump..

Australia took the new ball after lunch and Hazlewood produced a quality bouncer that Saud Shakeel tried to fend off but lobbed to Warner at slip.

He departed for 28 and Faheem Ashraf followed for nine, brilliantly snapped low at square leg by Khawaja.

“They got four world class bowlers [and] they can get you out at any time,” Hollioake said. “That’s the hard thing and that’s probably why they are the No. 1 side in the world. We’ve got to try and find a way of counteracting that. I thought they did that well at the beginning, but when we tried to accelerate, it was hard.”

Some resistance from Agha Salman (28 not out) propped up Pakistan but when Aamer Jamal (10) gave Lyon his second stumping for wicket 499 the modest crowd of 15,956 came alive, anxious to witness the impending milestone moment.

Part-time spinner Head, losing all sense of occasion, ended the Pakistan innings when he drew tail-ender Shaheen Afridi into a slog-sweep which found Khawaja at mid-on.

“Travis said, when they replay your 500th wicket you don’t want it to be a tail-ender, you want it to be a good wicket up the top,” Hazlewood said joking.

SCOREBOARD

PAKISTAN (1st Innings, overnight 132-2):

AUSTRALIA (1st Innings) 487 (D. Warner 164, M. Marsh 90; Aamer Jamal 6-111, Khurram Shahzad 2-83)

Imam-ul-Haq st Carey b Lyon 62

Abdullah Shafique c Warner b Lyon 42

Shan Masood c Carey b Starc 30

Khurram Shahzad b Cummins 7

Babar Azam c Carey b Marsh 21

Saud Shakeel c Warner b Hazlewood 28

Sarfraz Ahmed b Starc 3

Salman Ali Agha not out 28

Faheem Ashraf c Khawaja b Cummins 9

Aamer Jamal st Carey b Lyon 10

Shaheen Shah Afridi c Khawaja b Head 4

EXTRAS (B-8, LB-7, W-12) 27

TOTAL (all out, 101.5 overs) 271

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-74 (Abdullah), 2-123 (Shan), 3-133 (Khurram), 4-181 (Babar), 5-192 (Imam), 6-195 (Sarfraz), 7-230 (Saud), 8-241 (Faheem), 9-258 (Aamer)

BOWLING: Starc 25-5-68-2 (2w); Hazlewood 22-7-49-1; Cummins 20-7-35-2 (2w); Lyon 24-3-66-3; Marsh 9-0-34-1; Head 1.5-0-4-1

AUSTRALIA (2nd Innings):

D. Warner c Imam b Khurram 0

U. Khawaja not out 34

M. Labuschagne c Sarfraz b Khurram 2

S. Smith not out 43

STILL TO BAT: T. Head, M. Marsh, A. Carey, P. Cummins, M. Starc, N. Lyon, J. Hazlewood

EXTRAS (LB-1, NB-3, W-1 5

TOTAL (for two wickets, 33 overs) 84

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-0 (Warner), 2-5 (Labuschagne)

BOWLING: Shaheen 9-3-19-0 (1nb); Khurram 9-2-19-2 (1nb); Aamer 5-0-14-0 (1w); Faheem 3-0-16-0 (1nb); Salman 7-0-15-0

Published in Dawn, December 17th, 2023