AUSTRALIA took firm control of the second Test by bundling out Pakistan for 148 and holding a lead of 489 at the end of third day’s play of the second Test at the National Stadium in Karachi on Monday. The visitors went to stumps at 81 for 1 in the second innings after having declared their first essay on 556 for nine earlier in the day.

Australia, who had dominated the first two days’ play, scoring 505 for eight, continued to keep the Pakistani bowlers at bay early morning even as Shaheen Afridi dismissed Mitchell Starc for his overnight score of 28 and bagged his first wicket of the match in the process. However, number 11 Mitchell Swepson and Pat Cummins kept the Pakistanis on the field for 52 more balls thereafter, stitching an unbeaten 51-run stand.

On a slow pitch, the task for the Pakistani batters shouldn’t have been as difficult, and the openers – Abdullah Shafique and Imam ul Haq – displayed that with their slow but assured performance. However, the former ran himself out in an attempt to pinch a quick single. He ran towards the striker’s end after Imam had the ball to the short third man fielder, but Swepson’s direct hit found him short.

The collapse though, began post Lunch when Starc and Cummins troubled the Pakistani batters with reverse swing at pace and tight channels. But even before they could find themselves in that position, Imam brought about his downfall. Attempting to come down the ground and hit Nathan Lyon over the infield, he ended up giving the mid on fielder an easy catch.

Starc then struck twice in two balls – dismissing Azhar Ali and Fawad Alam – to trigger Pakistan’s collapse. Azhar, after being discomforted by moving deliveries on the line of the stumps, went chasing at one when Starc strayed a bit wide, and ended up offering the slip fielder an easy catch. Fawad, on the other hand, was trapped legbefore.

Rizwan never looked comfortable in the middle, often getting beaten and even dropped once by Steve Smith at first slip. His stay was eventually ended on six when Cummins had him edging to the ‘keeper.

In a space of 21 overs, Pakistan slid from 60 for two to 118 for nine. Through this, Babar Azam seemed the only batter in control, but he fell after miscuing a lofted drive to long off and handing Swepson his maiden Test wicket. The last pair stretched Australia’s stay in the middle and added 30 runs, but it only delayed the inevitable and put Australia in a strong position in a contest where wickets will be hard to get going ahead.

Australia didn’t enforce a follow on and returned to bat despite taking a massive lead. In their second essay, they seemed as untroubled as they were in the first. As the day wore on, Usman Khawaja and Marnus Labuschange picked up pace. They lost the wicket of David Warner on 7, but it wasn’t to give Pakistan any consolation. (Cricbuzz)

AUSTRALIA 1st innings
David Warner c Mohammad Rizwan b Faheem Ashraf 36
Usman Khawaja b Sajid Khan 160
Marnus Labuschagne Run Out Sajid Khan 0
Steven Smith c Faheem Ashraf b Hasan Ali 72
Nathan Lyon b Faheem Ashraf 38
Travis Head lbw Sajid Khan 23
Cameron Green b Nauman Ali 28
Alex Carey b Babar Azam 93
Mitchell Starc c Azhar Ali b Shaheen Afridi 28
Pat Cummins Not Out 34
Mitchell Swepson Not Out 15
Extras 10b 7lb 7nb 0pen 5w 29
Total (189.0 overs) 556-9 decl
Fall of Wickets : 1-82 Warner, 2-91 Labuschagne, 3-250 Smith, 4-304 Lyon, 5-347 Head, 6-360 Khawaja, 7-405 Green, 8-503 Carey, 9-505 Starc
Bowling : Shaheen Afridi 32 – 8 – 95 – 1 (4nb), Hasan Ali 25 – 7 – 71 – 1 ( 2nb),
Faheem Ashraf 21 – 4 – 55 – 2, Sajid Khan 57 – 10 – 167 – 2 (3w),
Nauman Ali 48 – 6 – 134 – 1 (2w), Babar Azam 4 – 0 – 7 – 1

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PAKISTAN 1st innings
Abdullah Shafique Run Out Mitchell Swepson 13
Imam ul-Haq c Pat Cummins b Nathan Lyon 20
Azhar Ali c Cameron Green b Mitchell Starc 14
Babar Azam c Usman Khawaja b Mitchell Swepson 36
Fawad Alam lbw Mitchell Starc 0
Mohammad Rizwan c Alex Carey b Pat Cummins 6
Faheem Ashraf lbw Cameron Green 4
Sajid Khan c Alex Carey b Mitchell Starc 5
Hasan Ali Run Out Marnus Labuschagne 0
Nauman Ali Not Out 20
Shaheen Afridi lbw Mitchell Swepson 19
Extras 6b 2lb 3nb 0pen 0w 11
Total (53.0 overs) 148 all out
Fall of Wickets : 1-26 Shafique, 2-45 ul-Haq, 3-60 Ali, 4-60 Alam, 5-76 Rizwan, 6-81 Ashraf, 7-97 Khan, 8-102 Ali, 9-118 Azam, 10-148 Afridi
Bowling : Mitchell Starc 13 – 5 – 29 – 3 (2nb), Pat Cummins 13 – 2 – 39 – 1, Nathan Lyon 9 – 5- 13 – 1, Mitchell Swepson 9 – 1 – 32 – 2, Cameron Green 8 – 1 – 23 – 1 (1nb)

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AUSTRALIA 2nd innings
Usman Khawaja Not Out 35
David Warner c Fawad Alam b Hasan Ali 7
Marnus Labuschagne Not Out 37
Extras 0b 2lb 0nb 0pen 0w 2
Total (17.0 overs) 81-1
Fall of Wickets : 1-20 Warner
To Bat : Smith, Head, Green, Carey, Cummins, Starc, Lyon, Swepson
Bowling : Shaheen Afridi 4 – 0 – 14 – 0, Hasan Ali 4 – 0 – 14 – 1,
Sajid Khan 5- 0 – 31 – 0 ,Faheem Ashraf 3 – 0 – 13 – 0 .