<\/p>\n
Mitchell Marsh hit a counter-attacking 96 in a fighting rescue mission with a dogged Steve Smith Thursday to help Australia build a 241-run lead and regain control of the second Test against Pakistan.<\/p>\n
The hosts were reeling at 16-4 after dismissing<\/a> Pakistan for 264 in reply to their first innings 318 in Melbourne.<\/p>\n But Marsh and Smith put their heads down to compile what could be a match-saving 153-run partnership.<\/p>\n At stumps on day three, the hosts were 187-6 with Smith out for 50, off 176 balls, in the last over of the day, leaving Alex Carey unbeaten on 16.<\/p>\n Shaheen Shah Afridi and Mir Hamza both took three wickets.<\/p>\n It could have been a different story but Abdullah Shafique spilled a regulation catch in the slips when Marsh was on 20.<\/p>\n Marsh eventually fell four runs short of a deserved century, but it took a superb one-handed diving catch at slip from Agha Salman to remove him.<\/p>\n After Cummins took 5-48 and Nathan Lyon 4-73 to dismiss Pakistan, Australia needed to negotiate a tricky 15 minutes of the morning session.<\/p>\n But Usman Khawaja was out for a duck second ball, caught behind by Mohammad Rizwan off bowling spearhead Afridi.<\/p>\n The same combination struck again when Marnus Labuschagne edged down the legside on five as the hosts slumped to 6-2 at lunch.<\/p>\n When they returned, David Warner let rip with a drive to the boundary off Afridi, but he didn\u2019t last, dragging a Mir Hamza ball on to his stumps on six.<\/p>\n He received a standing ovation as he walked off for the last time as a batsman at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, with the third Test in Sydney set to be the last of his long career.<\/p>\n Things got worse for the hosts when Travis Head was bowled by Hamza\u2019s inswinging yorker next delivery to leave Australia in disarray at 16-4.<\/p>\n But Marsh saw off the hat-trick ball and along with Smith dug in to take the sting out of the attack.<\/p>\n When Aamer Jamal came on, Marsh slammed three boundaries in four balls to further relieve the pressure before the missed chance by Abdullah.<\/p>\n Smith played a crucial supporting role, taking 101 balls for his first boundary before reaching a gritty 40th Test half-century.<\/p>\n Pakistan had begun the day on 194-6, after an electric spell from Cummins in the final session on Wednesday saw a collapse from 124-1, and the Australia skipper was again in the thick of the action.<\/p>\n Rizwan made a confident start, adding 13 to his overnight 29.<\/p>\n But he was no match for a canny Cummins, who tempted him into a drive that flew straight to Warner who had just been moved to cover from slip.<\/p>\n It broke a 45-run partnership with Jamal who began to play his shots.<\/p>\n New partner Afridi crunched four boundaries before he was undone by Lyon\u2019s spin, trapped lbw for 21.<\/p>\n Jamal was in good touch, finding the ropes three times in six balls at one point in his 33 not out.<\/p>\n Cummins grabbed his fifth wicket by bowling Hasan Ali for two before Lyon had Hamza stumped for the same score.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Mitchell Marsh hit a counter-attacking 96 in a fighting rescue mission with a dogged Steve Smith Thursday to help Australia build a 241-run lead and regain control of the second Test against Pakistan. The hosts were reeling at 16-4 after dismissing Pakistan for 264 in reply to their first innings 318 in Melbourne. But Marsh […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":40855,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i.dawn.com\/large\/2023\/12\/28133705728a08b.jpg?r=133853","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40854","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pakistan"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\tCummins takes five<\/h2>\n