Australia v Pakistan: third Test, day three – live | Australia cricket team

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Key events

25th over: Pakistan 67-7 (Rizwan 5, Jamal 0) Last ball of the over goes just by the off stump as the new man leaves it alone. So it is Rizwan and Jamal, together again, in one desperate last chance to salvage this match.

WICKET! Salman c Warner b Hazlewood 0, Pakistan 67-7

Three in the over! Hazlewood has not just turned the match on its head, he has suplexed it into the canvas! Wicket, dot, wicket, dot, wicket. A push with hard hands, an edge to first slip, and Warner snaffles what will probably be the last catch of his career.

WICKET! Sajid b Hazlewood 0, Pakistan 67-6

Pakistan shuffle the order in an attempt to protect Salman Agha, but it doesn’t work. Sajid lasts two deliveries before missing a straight ball at off stump, playing right across it. Hazlewood pegs it back and responds with a furious fist pump. Two in three balls for the giant.

WICKET! Shakeel c Smith b Hazlewood 2, Pakistan 67-5

The game tilts sharply Australia’s way. Horrible shot from Shakeel, whose returns have declined sharply over this series. Wide from Hazlewood, and Shakeel drives on the up, all hands, no feet, no balance. Thick edge into the breadbasket of Smith at slip, who hops but takes the catch.

24th over: Pakistan 67-4 (Shakeel 2, Rizwan 5) One more for Shakeel, through cover. Edged over short leg again! Rizwan plunges forward and gets some luck, big inside edge as Lyon turns it large. The lead is 81.

23rd over: Pakistan 66-4 (Shakeel 1, Rizwan 5) Shakeel is turning Head into a world-beater. Prodding, poking. And finally off the mark! Turned to square leg. The duckless run continues, 19 innings now. Rizwan charges and doesn’t get to the pitch but manages to lift the ball over Head for two.

22nd over: Pakistan 63-4 (Shakeel 0, Rizwan 3) Pakistan lead by 77. Another ball from Lyon keeps low, over the wicket to the right-hander this time, and Rizwan has to jam down on it. Three out on the leg side but a big gap at deep midwicket to tempt Rizwan to go over the top. Slip, leg slip, short leg. Can’t beat the midwicket fielder with a wristy whip. Scoreless over.

21st over: Pakistan 63-4 (Shakeel 0, Rizwan 3) Can Rizwan conjure another innings? Gets into it right away, crouching to sweep Head powerfully behind point, but a brilliant dash from Lyon at deep midwicket gets there to tap the ball back and keep him to two. Nudges a single to follow. Shakeel plays out a couple, still can’t get off the mark. Has yet to make a Test duck in his career but he has rarely struggled to find his first runs. Stuck in gumboots again dual spin here. A dozen balls faced.

WICKET! Babar c Carey b Head 23, Pakistan 60-4

That’s what Head can do! Not many runs in this Test but takes a huge wicket, a ball that doesn’t turn much. Babar driving outside off, it kisses the edge through to Carey. Pakistan had control two wickets ago, now teetering…

20th over: Pakistan 60-3 (Babar 23, Shakeel 0) The sightscreen cover doesn’t come down properly, so Lyon runs all the way from his bowling mark to help, only for Starc to sort it out from long on. Lyon trots all the way back. Longest run-up he’ll ever have. Wheels away to Babar, a leg slip in place now alongside the conventional slip and short leg. Babar edges to backward point but Hazlewood is loping around there. The batter goes back and punches one to long on. Saud Shakeel fends suspiciously at a rising ball, to cover.

19th over: Pakistan 59-3 (Babar 22, Shakeel 0) That wicket ball from Lyon kept very low from a normal length, and it was on the stumps. So maybe even 200 would be tricky to chase here. Pakistan lead by 72. Babar moves it on by one, cutting Head square. Another mighty appeal is turned down, Head on his haunches on the pitch. Probably angling down leg against the left-hander from around the wicket? They don’t review.

18th over: Pakistan 58-3 (Babar 21, Shakeel 0) Well, the youngster has given his team a start after the dismal double-wicket opening stages. Can the rest of the side make something of it rather than falling away? They are in this game but they’ve had the habit of losing wickets in clusters. Another left-hander comes out, Saud Shakeel, who blocks his first couple of balls.

WICKET! Saim lbw Lyon 33, Pakistan 58-3

Lyon breaks through! A partnership of 57 ends with another left-hander for Lyon’s collection. Natural variation as the ball goes on almost straight from around the wicket, turning slightly down the line, beats the inside edge and hits low on the pad. Pakistan review but it’s cannoning into the stumps.

Nathan Lyon appeals successfully for the wicket of Saim Ayub out lbw in the third Test
Nathan Lyon picks up the vital wicket of Saim Ayub to slow Pakistan’s momentum in the third Test. Photograph: Rick Rycroft/AP

17th over: Pakistan 56-2 (Saim 31, Babar 21) An early jam roll for Travis Head, who can bowl some ripping off breaks among some occasional gifts. Wide and slammed by Babar but straight to cover. One slip and a short leg. Flicks to midwicket where Warner is donning the Double Hat for the final time in Test cricket. All these final moments, they will be lost like tears in rain. Head wearing the servo shades as he bowls. Six dotties.

16th over: Pakistan 56-2 (Saim 31, Babar 21) Huge appeal from Australia for caught behind! Marnus cock-a-hoop as he gallops backwards down the pitch from short leg. Not out says the umpire, and… the review says flat line. Like the end of a dramatic episode of ER. Babar continues and drives a run through cover. Round the wicket to Saim, bright sunshine now at the SCG. Deep backward square, mid off set quite deep, two slips still, Saim dead-bats.

15th over: Pakistan 55-2 (Saim 31, Babar 20) The singles keep coming, Babar off a deflection, Saim off a pull shot, taking on Cummins.

14th over: Pakistan 52-2 (Saim 30, Babar 18) Still looks a good batting pitch, aside from the inconsistent bounce now and then. Pakistan would want to set at least 250. They currently lead by 63, and that grows as Babar tucks away two runs from Lyon behind square, then another in front of square. Two slips and a short leg for the left-hander, Lyon around the wicket and Saim defends back down to the bowler. Then edges just over short leg! Pretty sure there was some bat on that as it squeezed out off the pad. Travis Head spins and dives back but can’t nab it.

13th over: Pakistan 48-2 (Saim 29, Babar 15) Back after the Official Gazetted Hydration Interval. Saim scrubs a little pull shot away for a run. Babar plays Cummins beautifully, gliding three behind square. Saim pushes two runs past mid off, then plays another awkward pull, the Spinning Crouching Flamingo, on one heel as he comes around and gets the bat down lower than he anticipates needing to do as the ball heads towards his waist on the line of leg stump. Gets it out to deep square anyway. His knock has been super impressive given how down we expected him to be after that fielding effort.

Saim Ayub plays a shot for Pakistan against Australia in the third Test at the SCG
Saim Ayub builds nicely for Pakistan against Australia in the third Test at the SCG. Photograph: Dan Himbrechts/EPA

12th over: Pakistan 41-2 (Saim 25, Babar 12) Brilliant batting from Babar. Gets back to turn two runs square from Lyon, then gets forward to the slightly fuller ball to follow and drives it through cover for four. Top drawer. Big appeal from Lyon fifth ball of the over, Babar thrusting one pad down the pitch and the ball bouncing up to short leg, but no support from the umpire. Too high, turning down? Time for drinks. The lead is 55.

11th over: Pakistan 35-2 (Saim 25, Babar 6) Off strike goes Babar, dropping a single away to midwicket. Saim is showing good temperament, not trying to repeat his hit against Cummins, defending and leaving in equal measure through the over.

10th over: Pakistan 34-2 (Saim 25, Babar 5) Time for Lyon, from the Randwick End. Slip and a short leg as he bowls to Babar. Pakistan’s batters went after him hard in the first innings, 1 for 74 from his 17 overs, and that wicket was last man out held on the fence. Only a leg bye from his first over here.

9th over: Pakistan 33-2 (Saim 25, Babar 5) Cummins into the attack, three five-fors on the trot, Captain Fabulous, the man who delivers wickets, and Saim Ayub pumps his first ball for four! The audacity. The veracity. The perspicacity. Leans back and picks up a pull shot, from a length, and dumps it over mid on. Unorthodox batting. Then unorthodox fielding, as Saim drops a ball to cover and Babar has wandered out of his ground at the far end. Labuschagne spies it but doesn’t want to give the game away. So he treads softly softly, like someone sneaking up on a flock of pigeons, looking towards midwicket rather than at the far end of the pitch then essays a no-look scoop throw, off the ground and in underarm fashion back at those stumps.

Misses. Nobody backing up. Gives away two runs. Cummins just looks at him and spreads his arms out in a questioning posture.

8th over: Pakistan 27-2 (Saim 19, Babar 5) One ball keeps really low from Hazlewood, outside the line of off stump. Things to keep an eye on. It is late on the third day. Babar plays out a maiden over.

7th over: Pakistan 27-2 (Saim 19, Babar 5) Oh my, that is slotted! Width again from Starc and the left-handed tyro cuts him for six! Shades of Shubman Gill at the Gabba, but this one went ever squarer than that one, just behind point. Magnificent shot. He’s got 19 runs, 19 balls, 21 years. That’s the first ball of the over, and as a point of contrast he leaves most of the rest alone outside off stump. Aside from a little poke at one of them. Forgivable, when you don’t nick it.

6th over: Pakistan 21-2 (Saim 13, Babar 5) Saim walks at Hazlewood and then lets the ball hit his pad, angled across, prompting one of the more specious lbw appeals you’ll see in your life. Nowhere near, it was already outside the line of off when it hit him, and that was metres down the pitch. Gets another drop-and-run to cover. He’s playing well.

5th over: Pakistan 20-2 (Saim 12, Babar 5) Saim gets into his work! He is an attacking T20-style player, and he shows it by carving Starc over the cordon for a boundary. Very nicely done. Then drops away a single and races through. Into double figures already.

Saim Ayub plays a shot for a boundary for Pakistan in the third Test
Saim Ayub looks comfortable with a boundary for Pakistan in the third Test. Photograph: Dan Himbrechts/AAP

4th over: Pakistan 15-2 (Saim 7, Babar 5) An update: I have checked with the official scorers (who are sitting a few desks over) and that initial leg bye was rescinded and given as a run. So Saim Ayub formally scored his first Test run from that scramble to fine leg. He’s on five now. Babar reaches the same score in the over, knocking Hazlewood through square leg for a couple before driving through mid off for three. Saim adds a couple more of his own, then a leg bye. They can release a tightly held breath – the tension of those first two wickets and the nerves for a debutant on a pair all eases slightly with a few runs scored.

Pakistan lead by 29.

3rd over: Pakistan 7-2 (Saim 4, Babar 0) First runs for Saim Ayub! Thank god, the kid has had a miserable Test match. Second-ball duck and then dropped two catches. But he sees Starc’s searching length and clips the full ball away behind square leg. Two slips, gully, for the young left-hander, as well as a somewhat funky field with a long leg set quite square, a conventional square leg by the umpire, and a forward square leg. Letting Starc attack the stumps, presumably.

2nd over: Pakistan 3-2 (Saim 0, Babar 0) Two more extras for Pakistan, byes this time as Hazlewood goes down the wrong side of the street and Carey fumbles to fine leg. That score means two wickets, three runs, if you’re of the Australian persuasion. We work on Greenwich Mean Scoring here.

WICKET! Masood c Carey b Hazlewood 0, Pakistan 1-2

Another one goes! Poor shot from Masood, reaches for a ball angled across him. You had no business with that line, Shan, we told you to not to play with those kids. But he does, a thick edge behind. Two wickets, one run, and that was a leg bye off Saim Ayub’s thigh.

Josh Hazlewood and Australia celebrate dismissing Shan Masood in Pakistan’s second innings of the third Test
Josh Hazlewood dismisses Shan Masood with his first ball of Pakistan’s second innings of the third Test. Photograph: Dan Himbrechts/AAP

1st over: Pakistan 0-1 (Saim 0) Shafique walks off to end the over, the captain Shan Masood comes out.

WICKET! Shafique b Starc 0, Pakistan 0-1

Starc starts with a bang! Abdullah Shafique improves on his first-innings effort, which was a duck second ball, because this time he lasts six balls. The last of them is one that I don’t know how he was supposed to play. Left-armer, serious swing into the right-hander. It starts going across, curves a little, pitches on a length, then darts in. Shafique’s feet are going nowhere and he has no chance to stop that ball swinging back through the gate and hitting the top of middle. Supreme bowling, and another for Starc’s first-over wicket collection.

Abdullah Shafique is bowled for a duck in Pakistan’s second innings of the third Test at the SCG
Mitchell Starc bowls Abdullah Shafique for a duck in the first over of Pakistan’s second innings. Photograph: Dan Himbrechts/EPA

Here we go…

Three weeks ago in Perth, a slightly shy Aamer Jamal had been pushed by his teammates to get the ball from the umpire after his 6th wicket. Today, he just stormed towards umpire Illingworth after his 6th wicket & walked off holding it aloft. What a brilliant debut series #AusvPak pic.twitter.com/xbaNcY8Sl9

— Bharat Sundaresan (@beastieboy07) January 5, 2024

Australia all out 299, Pakistan lead by 14 runs on the first innings

Pakistan lead! That looked a certainty to vanish a moment ago, when Marsh was still there, but thing innings has evaporated. It’s not quite the six wickets for zero runs that India managed in South Africa yesterday, but it is five wickets for 10 runs.

Before Carey got out it was 289 for 5. Then in 20 balls the innings has ended. Remarkable, truly. Pakistan have a lead. The sun has come out in Sydney. Game on.

Aamer Jamal raises the ball to acknowledge the crowd after taking a six-wicket haul for Pakistan against Australia
Aamer Jamal claimed a six-wicket haul to hand Pakistan a first-innings lead over Australia in the third Test. Photograph: Dan Himbrechts/EPA

WICKET! Hazlewood c Salman b Jamal 0, Australia 299-10

And that’s the innings! Hazlewood second ball edges into the cordon, where remarkably the catch is held, and Jamal has six wickets in an innings for the second time in this series. What a remarkable series he has played, especially this final match.

WICKET! Lyon c Shakeel b Jamal 4, Austtalia 299-9

That is a turn-up for the books. A highly unusual example of the rare testicle catch, in the gully. Lyon smacks a short wide ball for four, then edges the next. Shakeel takes it low down and it bounces off the heels of his hands and up, into his groin. He clamps his legs together like a true Puritan but keeps one hand in there, also like a Puritan, and manages to fish out the cricket ball from the others as he rolls over onto his side. Uncomfortable, but nothing touched the ground that should not have.

Aamer Jamal reacts after taking the wicket of Nathan Lyon in the third Test
Aamer Jamal makes it five with the wicket of Nathan Lyon in the third Test. Photograph: Dan Himbrechts/AAP

109th over: Australia 295-8 (Starc 1, Lyon 1) Sajid bowls to Starc and Lyon, who each get a single. Beats Starc’s edge with the last ball of the over.

108th over: Australia 293-8 (Starc 0, Lyon 0) A wicket, the tea break, then two wickets in an over. Into the lower order, and Australia still 20 behind.

WICKET! Cummins lbw Jamal 0, Australia 293-8

And another one! A correct review for Pakistan. Jamal doesn’t get it right but the error works for him. One ball after startling Cummins with a sharp bouncer, he looks for the yorker. Instead bowls a full toss, but it is swinging towards leg stump. Cummins misses the movement and it crashes into his pad below the knee roll, on the full, then ricochets in and hits his back pad. The umpire picks the first point of contact and says it’s swinging down leg. Ball-tracking says it’s hitting the base of leg stump. Jamal has four.

Pat Cummins and Aamer Jamal look on while waiting for DRS outcome in the third Test
Pat Cummins was out lbw to a fired-up Aamer Jamal after a successful DRS appeal from Pakistan. Photograph: Dan Himbrechts/EPA

WICKET! Marsh c Masood b Jamal 54, Australia 293-7

This is Jamal’s Ashes! The shiny new talisman strikes again. Two balls after Marsh hammers him through cover for four, Jamal pitches up once again. Some slight shape into the bat, and Marsh steps into a big straight drive. But the ball does a fraction off the pitch perhaps, away from the middle of the bat, catching the outside half and twisting the bat in Marsh’s hands. The ball lobs to mid off where the captain takes the catch.

Mitch Marsh plays a shot but is caught off the bowling of Aamer Jamal in the third Test.
Pakistan break through as Mitch Marsh is caught off the bowling of Aamer Jamal in the third Test. Photograph: Dan Himbrechts/EPA

107th over: Australia 287-6 (Marsh 50, Starc 0) Sajid finishes his over and almost gets another wicket, this one smashing Starc in front of leg stump, but it’s going down. The umpire picks it correctly and Pakistan don’t review.

Tea – Day 3, Australia 287-6 trail Pakistan by 24 in the second innings

That will bring about the break, two balls into Sajid’s over. Down to Marsh and the lower order now to obtain a lead, and Pakistan to suppress it.

WICKET! Carey b Sajid 38, Australia 287-6

What a piece of bowling! The moustachioed off-spinner really pings this delivery through, fizzes it off his finger but spears it, almost an arm-ball. Carey gets forward but is beaten by the lack of turn, the line from around the wicket angling past his inside edge. He still looks safe, it’s bouncing too high, it’s going leg side, but it just clips the outer spigot of the leg bail! And knocks it off! Incredibly fine margins. Sajid is mobbed, his teammates drumming his bald head like a bongo.

Sajid Khan and Pakistan teammates celebrate the wicket of Alex Carey during the third Test
Sajid Khan picks up a critical wicket of Alex Carey during the third Test. Photograph: Dan Himbrechts/AAP

Half century! Mitchell Marsh 50 from 107 balls

106th over: Australia 287-5 (Marsh 48, Carey 38) Streaky again, a big top edge off Jamal’s short ball that goes high over the wicketkeeper, and dropping steeply enough that it stops on the turf and is tapped back from the fine leg boundary. But it gets Marsh two more runs and a half-century. Player of the series, for sure. He’s taken Australia almost to parity from a tricky situation.

105th over: Australia 287-5 (Marsh 48, Carey 37) Reverse sweep from Carey, and Sajid bounces it over his gloves and into his bicep. That makes Carey cagey, and he spends the rest of the over keeping the bowler out.

104th over: Australia 287-5 (Marsh 48, Carey 37) Time for Aamer Jamal again. Time and again in this series, he has been the one to make things happen for Pakistan. Despite being a modest-looking right-arm seamer. Marsh clips through square leg, and Carey hustles to be ready for a third run but Marsh walks the second. Is he tiring already? It’s a cool and overcast day, he shouldn’t be too taxed. Pokes a run to point, Carey steers away with elan for two more. Runs flowing without major risk. Two slips and a gully, as Carey glances one more. Only 26 between the teams.

103rd over: Australia 281-5 (Marsh 45, Carey 35) Having kept strike against Sajid Khan, Carey cuts a couple more runs through cover. Marsh has a rest at the spectator’s end. Australian only 32 behind now, this pair looking comfortable.

102nd over: Australia 279-5 (Marsh 45, Carey 33) Meanwhile Carey is doing that thing he does, ghostlike in ticking over runs at a fast rate while barely being noticed. Two more off the pads behind square. One more to point. He’s faced only 42 balls for his 33.