Key events
63rd over: Pakistan 2-961 (Jamal 37, Hamza 0) It’s become predictable now. Jamal isn’t a comprehensively good enough player to need the whole field back. Surely conventional bowling would challenge him? Here he has licence to swing – and he does so again for six! Strikes Hazlewood over square leg, and that’s not even a normal pull shot, that’s almost off a length. Picked that up beautifully. Slips come back for the fifth ball, Hazlewood bowls channel, and Jamal nearly edges it. One ball left and he plays it smartly, advancing at the bowler to create the shorter length to cut it into the gap at point and keep strike. Might even have run three had they gone hard immediately, but he settles for one. Did well to hit that softly enough that it wouldn’t race to the fence. Drinks.
62nd over: Pakistan 254-9 (Jamal 30, Hamza 0) Hard straight drive from Jamal against Lyon but long on is back. Doesn’t take the single behind squrae either. Five out. Slip, midwicket, mid off and cover within cooee of the bat. Reverse sweep single from the fourth ball. Hamza takes his tally of deliveries faced up to nine.
61st over: Pakistan 253-9 (Jamal 29, Hamza 0) Hazlewood to Jamal, who keeps turning down singles, and makes a couple of errors when the ball is in the channel. How about that. Nearly spoons back a catch, after almost dragging on tohis stumps. Finally from the fifth ball, he pulls a run into miles of open space on the leg side. That’s all too easy. The Australians appeal for a catch off Hamza to short leg, but it was all thigh and no bat.
They’ll be praying for the rain to arrive. There’s a classic Nasty Little Session™ coming any minute.
@GeoffLemonSport I bet Ussie and Warner are thanking their lucky stars that Afridi isn’t playing if they have to bat before stumps.
— Michael Graham Yallop (@master_grundy) January 3, 2024
60th over: Pakistan 252-9 (Jamal 28, Hamza 0) Lyon versus the Flying Jamal. Sweeps square but doesn’t run. Backs away and tries to punch through cover but Lyon gets too much turn into him. Waits and stabs the next one. Reverses a run from the fourth ball and again it will be Hamza x 2. Again, the 11 delivers.
59th over: Pakistan 251-9 (Jamal 27, Hamza 0) Boshed! Hazlewood back for Starc, and Jamal calmly smacks him off a length through backward square for four.Then rocks back and uppercuts but hits it so firmly it goes out in front of point, Khawaja around again. “Uzzie!” screams a guy in the crowd so loudly that I can hear him from the far side of the ground. He’s in the Trumper Stand, we’re in the Bradman. And Hazlewood is in the Members, as Jamal batters him for six! Cross bat again, and finally connects one clean.
Splices the next ball out to midwicket for a run, airborne but safe, and gives Hamza two balls to survive. Hamza does his part. That’s 13 from the over and the 250 up for Pakistan, a great result from where they were. Jamal has done his bit.
58th over: Pakistan 238-9 (Jamal 14, Hamza 0) Cummins decides to try buying a wicket with spin. A wristy clip to midwicket gets nothing. The reverse sweep gets four! Thanks to Hazlewood’s misfield. Jamal wasn’t even trying to run one, he doesn’t want Mir Hamza on strike, but Hazlewood gets his feet tangled while getting to the ball and barely gets fingers on it. Jamal smashes one straight, and Lyon nearly takes a superb rebound catch! Tips it up in the air, spins in his follow through and dives back, but can’t reach the butter-up. Jamal turns over strike with one ball to go, the field comes up, and Hamza defends.
57th over: Pakistan 233-9 (Jamal 9, Hamza 0) A chance for Cummins to get six, as again Jamal plays teeball and doesn’t connect. Wears that one in the armpit. Cummins tries a slower-ball yorker, running is fingers over it, but Jamal spots it and gets forward. Then finally connects with his cross-bat shot, in between two of the leg-side boundary riders for four. Smith couldn’t see it at deep forward square, just holds his palms to the sky. It’s very gloomy out there. The crowd at deep point goes wild as Khawaja starts doing push-ups, clapping between each rep, then he has to race after a ball that Jamal bunts out that way to keep the strike.
56th over: Pakistan 228-9 (Jamal 4, Hamza 0) Starc bowling the bumpers now, and Jamal nearly edges one pulling. Races a single after knocking a fuller one to midwicket. Interesting to read Phil Walker’s interview with Wes Hall, being reminded how the ideal of bouncing tailenders is seen completely differently now.
WICKET! Hasan c Starc b Cummins 0, Pakistan 227-9
55th over: Pakistan 227-9 (Jamal 3, Hasan 0) Booming pull shot from Jamal facing Cummins, but the only boom is ball onto shoulder into grille. Nearly swings himself off his feet. Gets his helmet checked, says he’ll carry on, and plays the same shot again. Misses totally, but doesn’t get whacked this time. Third time lucky, a bottom edge from his baseball swing and a run to deep backward. Still five out. Those three on the leg side, plus a fly slip and a deep backward point. Then a mid on, square leg, short leg, and gully. Acres of space through cover, anywhere from gully to mid on is open. If he could just flat-bat one in front of point he’d get four all over. But he can’t. Fences at a ball outside the off stump, unsure about the in-between length. The Australians think that he’s nicked it, and use their last review to learn that he hasn’t. Umpire Gough stands vindicated.
But the wicket comes to end the over, Hasan picking up a pull shot from his hip, making decent contact, getting what would be enough of a ride on a lot of grounds, but Starc has heels by the rope at fine leg as he takes it bucket style around his sternum. Cummins has five.
54th over: Pakistan 226-8 (Jamal 1, Hasan 0) Jamal batted well in Melbourne too, in the first innings, but the job here is too big for him. Hasan Ali is nowhere coming out to join him. Fends at his first ball, walks across and tries to a lift a pull shot off his stumps from the next.
WICKET! Salman c Head b Starc 53, Pakistan 226-8
Could all be over in seconds now. Five in the deep for Salman Agha, including three on the leg side – forward square, backward square, fine leg. And somehow he punts a pull shot straight to the regulation square leg, the only man within 50 metres of him on the leg side.
Half century! Salman Agha 52 from 64 balls
53rd over: Pakistan 224-7 (Salman 52, Jamal 1) Cummins looking for three five-fors in a row against Pakistan. Almost gets Aamer Jamal gloving to silly point but it goes past and earns the lower-order man a run. Off the glove, painful, as he ruefully inspects his hand at the non-striker’s end. Salman follows with a lovely dab to deep third, and there are cheers for Warner sliding on his belly to keep it to three, but cheers also for Salman who notches consecutive fifties in Australia. No small feat. And at a rattling rate as well.
WICKET! Sajid c Lyon b Cummins 15, Pakistan 220-7
That’s daft, but it was always coming. Sajid keeps playing a flash outside off, even with a fly slip there, and gets away with it a couple of times. Then he flaps a short ball straight to square leg and is caught. The whole field is there for cross-bat shots and he plays into the trap.
52nd over: Pakistan 220-6 (Salman 49, Sajid 15) Pulling, but keeping the ball down, is Salman. He goes high to low on those shots and manages to make them safer. Picks off Starc twice in the over, one boundary squarer and one finer.
51st over: Pakistan 211-6 (Salman 41, Sajid 14) More bouncers to the bouncer field from Cummins’ over. Oh Lord, the sky is very grey and menacing over behind the green corrugated roofs of the Ladies Stand.
50th over: Pakistan 209-6 (Salman 39, Sajid 13) Salman is happy to take the single early in the over. It failed spectacularly at the end of the Melbourne Test. Sajid is a better batter than any of those final four, but he’s still facing a fired-up Starc. Hooks a run without much control, turning his head away on impact as it skews to deep backward square. Salman pulls another. Sajid glides a run away, via a deflection from Marsh in the gully, on the bounce. That’s a solid over of collecting.
49th over: Pakistan 204-6 (Salman 37, Sajid 11) Back after tea, and Cummins is gonna keep on bouncing. Salman, first, who pulls a run. Sajid, second, who hops and sizzles like drops on a hot skillet. Then gets one ball pitched up and punches it for four. Through mid off. Cop that, Captain Pat.
Hold me closer, Tiny Trev.
“Gutted Rizwan’s gone, but I have to say I’m a fan of how the players have taken to the Pakistan Way philosophy. It looks good on them!”
It does look good, Rowan Sweeney. It would sit more comfortably if they weren’t still battling to reach 250.
Tea – Day 1, Pakistan 199 for 6
Well, the visitors fought back into the contest in that session, though they lost the key man Rizwan shortly before it ended. Still Australia’s match to boss.
48th over: Pakistan 199-6 (Salman 36, Sajid 7) Marsh continues to Sajid, who is dropped! Khawaja at third slip puts down a flat and fast but gettable chance, knee high. No run there, one later for Sajid off the pads, and that’s tea.
47th over: Pakistan 197-6 (Salman 35, Sajid 6) Out strides Sajid Khan, a man with a fiercely shiny head and an even more fierce moustache. Welcomed with a short ball, naturally, which he rides via the pull shot for a single. Takes on his next short one though, uppercut with style over the slips for four! They leave Smith down there at fly slip, and Sajid plays the same shot which nearly carries to Smith. Gets another run.
WICKET! Rizwan c Hazlewood b Cummins 88, Pakistan 190-8
Oh no! Cummins is back into the attack, and as so often he’s the one to make a breakthrough. Not with a great delivery though – it’s barely chest high, short but not venomous, except Rizwan spinning on his heels pulls the ball and gets a long top edge all the way down towards the fence behind square. Hazlewood is standing there and takes the catch. Rizwan gets a huge ovation as he comes off, and he deserves it for an entertaining innings. Pakistan needed more though.
46th over: Pakistan 190-5 (Rizwan 88, Salman 34) Racing alongside his partner is Salman, who gets some refuse-grade stuff from Marsh a mile outside off stump and can barely reach it, but comes down on the ball with his cut shot and gets enough on the toe to send it to the backward point fence.
45th over: Pakistan 186-5 (Rizwan 88, Salman 30) Streaky like a Zimbabwe all-rounder, Rizwan flashes Starc over the cordon with an angled bat. He’s not holding back as he moves through the 80s.
44th over: Pakistan 180-5 (Rizwan 83, Salman 30) MmmmmmMarsh has a wicket already and he’s back for more. Bowled well earlier. Solitary slip, Smith floating at around second. Two catches already today have taken him to 172, which is 8th all time in Tests. Three more to catch Alastair Cook, nine to equal Mark Waugh – which is kind of a big deal. Not much gets mentioned about Smith the slipper, but he’s close to the man who is probably the best ever to do it.
I’m open to suggestions if you think there’s someone better.
A few pull shots in this over, Rizwan for two, Salman for four.
43rd over: Pakistan 173-5 (Rizwan 80, Salman 26) Juicy for Rizwan. Gets width from Starc and tucks in with a cut shot for four. Then more singles. Warner is pointing to his cap for some reason. It looks very green and fresh so presumably it’s a replacement.
42nd over: Pakistan 166-5 (Rizwan 74, Salman 25) Rizwan, rinse one! Sloggo sweepo from the keepo, kneeroll to the ground as he lumps Lyon a mile over deep midwicket. Goes in the same direction for brace, then slaps one through cover, and that’s after he and Salman started the over with singles. Eleven from it.
41st over: Pakistan 155-5 (Rizwan 64, Salman 24) Starc to bowl from the Paddington End, two slips and a gully for Rizwan with a deeo pooint and a long leg. None relevant as he drills a glorious straight drive! Starc can get full, and Rizwan slots it back past him with bottom-handed power. Hot. Hits the next one just as firmly but right at mid on.
40th over: Pakistan 150-5 (Rizwan 59, Salman 24) Made 50 in Melbourne, and Salman Agha is up for more, getting down for a muscular sweep against Lyon for four. Carey resets the field. Deep square leg, short fine leg. So Salman advances and hits straighter, over midwicket this time! Four. Smokes his next on drive, too, but straight at the midwicket fielder.
39th over: Pakistan 141-5 (Rizwan 58, Salman 16) Shot, lad. Salman goes back to Hazlewood and flicks him stylishly off the pads for four. Then pulls a shorter one to fine leg for two. Runs coming comfortably when shots are played here. Ball coming on nicely. I’m tipping Australia for a big one when they bat.
38th over: Pakistan 135-5 (Rizwan 58, Salman 10) Thanks Gus. Here we are, glorious sunshine in Sydney as it is every year, and Rizwan producing a few rays for Pakistan after a gloomy start. He picks off Lyon for a couple off the hip, after trading singles with Salman Agha.
37th over: Pakistan 131-5 (Rizwan 55, Salman 9) FIFTY for Rizwan! Nice way to do it too, kinking the knees to Hazlewood and swivelling into a pull shot that pierces the field and races to the boundary. Great fighting innings from Rizwan – his ninth Test fifty has come from 74 balls and has put some much needed steel into this Pakistan innings. Hazlewood shows his appreciation for Rizwan’s efforts with a bouncer that gets Salman ducking. But Salman bounces back with an on drive that yields three runs. This partnership is up to 35 from 89 balls, a valuable one for the visitors.
That’s me done for the day. Thanks for your company and see you on the morrow. Geoff Lemon will bring you home.
36th over: Pakistan 122-5 (Rizwan 49, Salman 6) Pakistan’s run-rate is a resolute 3.38 which shows that, despite five of them being rolled, at least they’re not rattled. Rizwan is batting beautifully, striking at 70 and closing in on a fine half-century. Salman has survived a few overs and slapped a boundary so Pakistan have some hope.
36th over: Pakistan 122-5 (Rizwan 49, Salman 6) Wide from Lyon and WHACK goes Rizwan. The GOAT rips one into the rough in revenge and there’s a half shout before the echo of bat makes it a resounding non-review. Rizwan celebrates by sweeping for another four, reaching way down the wicket to catch it on the bounce and send it to the fence.
35th over: Pakistan 113-5 (Rizwan 40, Salman 6) A Rizwan single from the first puts Salman on strike and he’s beaten badly as Hazlewood hoops one off a length with a scramble seam. Just when another maiden looks inevitable Salman breaks the shackles, on-driving handsomely for four.
34th over: Pakistan 108-5 (Rizwan 39, Salman 2) Almost a catch! Salman swiped across the line to Lyon but the top edge fell short of the man close in. Scoring has slowed to a trickle here as Australia turn the screws and Salman tries desperately to get his eye in.
33rd over: Pakistan 107-5 (Rizwan 37, Salman 2) Like Batman and the Creature with the Atom Brain, Josh Hazlewood returns. He can sniff a tailender like a fox can smell a chicken with a limp and had been whirling his arms in warmup to tell his captain as much. Sure enough, after leaking a single to Rizwan first ball, he gets something to shout about on his third, clipping the top of Salman’s pad. Onfield decision is YEAH NAH but Australia opt to review. Even then it’s not out, flying a good distance over middle peg. That’s another review burned. Just one remaining for Australia now.
32nd over: Pakistan 106-5 (Rizwan 38, Salman 2) Marsh’s two wickets in 10 balls (one valid, one scrubbed) are rewarded with a rare fourth straight over. Well earned too. He is varying his pace and finding bounce, sending through a six demon bag of line balls, bouncers and tempters and it’s got Pakistan on the hop.
31st over: Pakistan 106-5 (Rizwan 37, Salman 2) Rizwan won’t relent! He’s lost his captain but he hasn’t lost his nerve, slapping a full ball from Cummins back down the ground for a four. Lovely on drive! Then he doubles down, whipping the Australian skipper through midwicket for another boundary. Good batting by the gloveman!
WICKET! Masood c Smith b Marsh 35 (Pakistan 96-5)
Marsh gets Masood! That was good bowling and bad batting. The dust was just settling on a near run-out and Marsh rushed in and put a sweet fizzer outside off. Masood lunged at it with a flashing bat that flinched and caught a thick edge which flew to Steve Smith at second slip. Marsh cast a cheeky look back at the umpire to ensure he hadn’t overstepped again and could celebrate. He can. Not so Pakistan, who have lost their skipper for the second time in 10 balls – and with it, a whole lot of hope.
30th over: Pakistan 98-5 (Rizwan 28, Salman 0) Almost a run-out! Rizwan pushed his hands at Marsh’s first ball and stuttered a little as Labuschagne swooped at midwicket and then threw down the stumps. He looked home but it’s close enough to warrant a second look from the third umpire, Yep, well home. Masood’s snick off has brought Salman to the crease and officially revealed Pakistan’s tail.
29th over: Pakistan 95-4 (Masood 35, Rizwan 28) Captain to captain as Cummins cruises in to the stately Masood. The dapper Kuwait-born left-hander has won many fans on this first tour as leader with his high-tempo batting and statesmanlike dealings with press and public. He swishes at a wider fifth ball but it misses and also evades the edge. It’s a maiden.
28th over: Pakistan 95-4 (Masood 35, Rizwan 28) Marsh to Masood and the skipper drives deep for a single. Rizwan crouches, ready to pounce at these cleverly disguised 126kph half-trackers. But Marsh has guile beneath his brawn and to prove it he pushes the fourth ball through shorter at 133kph, sending Rizwan back on his heels. Rizwan leaves a tempter on the last. Be good to see Marsh get a decent spell here but it’ll likely be another brief cameo before the frontline stars return.
27th over: Pakistan 95-4 (Masood 34, Rizwan 28) Almost chops on! Rizwan stabbed at a straight third delivery from Cummins’ seventh over and almost chopped it onto his leg stump. He gets a single before Masood doers likewise and Rizwan pinches two from the last.
26th over: Pakistan 90-4 (Masood 32, Rizwan 25) Wicket for Marsh?! Rizwan greeted the big allrounder with a thick edge over gully. Game on! After three more runs Masood went big at the fifth delivery and edged truly to second slip. Wicket! No, a no ball. Marsh throws back his head and grins ruefully at the overstep and captain Masood does similarly, albeit sheepishly.
25th over: Pakistan 80-4 (Masood 32, Rizwan 17) Cummins crunched by Rizwan! A hearty lunch breeds a hearty shot as the ‘keeper-batter bashes the Australian skipper backward of point. A single to follow says Australia might have their hands full in this second session.
That rough and ready footage of the great Allan Border claiming 11-for at the SCG with what he humbly described as his “left-arm nothings” has jarred a lot of memories loose for readers.
“I was there when Border took his 8 for at the SCG,” writes Adrian Kinslor. “He was as surprised as anyone, though that West Indian team of greats was always susceptible to spun. A great day.”
Adrian recalls it was a turning point for Border’s young side. “Australia had already lost the first three of a five-Test series in December, but had unexpectedly won the 50 over B&H tri-series and went into the game with some confidence. They won this and the subsequent Test and trotted off to England in May with self-belief. Widely derided by the Poms in the press as ‘the worst team to tour England’, they smashed England 4-0 in that 1989 series and did not look back.”
Ah happy days they were too, particularly after the lean years of the early-to-mid 80s.
The AB clip reminded Brand King “of the time at the Gabba back in the early 90s when, following a day’s play in the Test, me and a few mates got ourselves onto the hallowed turf and started playing a game in front of the player’s pavilion. A handful of youngsters joined in as the players watched on. Suspecting these might be children of the Baggy Green elite, I asked one his name. ‘Dene Border’ he replied innocently, before puffing out his chest with pride and telling me his claim to fame: “My Dad knows Merv Hughes!”
LUNCH: Pakistan are 75 for 4 after winning the toss at the SCG
It took two deliveries for Australia to land the first blow of the third Test, and another six before the 1-2 combination came together in glorious style. Two wickets – one to Mitchell Starc, the other to Josh Hazlewood – within two overs kicked off the first session of this Pink Test and another two scalps shortly afterward to captain Pat Cummins sent Pakistan to lunch in deep trouble. Even then, the visitors showed courage to land some counter punches, fighting back through Babar Azam and Shan Masood. Now, with the feisty Mohammad Rizwan on his captain’s hip, the fightback is on!
Will Pakistan continue to rally after lunch to keep alive their hopes of a first Test win in Australia since 1995? Or will the home side’s bowlers blast them out to give Man of the Moment David Warner a bat on day one of his final Test before retirement? We’ll find out in a hot half hour.
24th over: Pakistan 75-4 (Masood 32, Rizwan 12) As Nathan Lyon wheels in for a final over before the break, David Warner has two baggy greens on his head to sub for the two he’s lost. One is his replacement cap for this Test, and other is Nathan Lyon’s. After a tidy over, Rizwan works the last fizzer off his hip to sneak a run and retain strike after lunch. Here endeth the session.
23rd over: Pakistan 73-4 (Masood 31, Rizwan 11) Starc gets another over before lunch and with Rizwan’s recent six and his propensity for chancing his hand no matter the scoreline, why not? Sure enough, having survived a peach on the third, Rizwan opens up lavishly to whack a wide one down the ground. But the contact isn’t flush and the field is tight so it’s a maiden.
