Australia will resume their first innings at a strong position of 278 for 2, and they will look to post a big total against Pakistan’s 443 for 9 declared.
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“It wasn’t tactic to go out there and blast them out of the park, it was just a tactic to go out there and try and bat time and see where we are at the (end of) the day’s play”.
The breakthrough lifted the home side’s bowlers, and Josh Hazlewood soon had wicketkeeper Sarfraz Ahmed caught by Peter Handscomb in the slips for 10.
An unbeaten score of 139 put Pakistan in the driver’s seat as rain wiped out most of the second day in Melbourne.
Light rain forced players to an early tea break and continued before umpires Ian Gould and Sundaram Ravi called off play leaving the day 39.1 overs short.
He scored back-to-back centuries in the Abu Dhabi test in 2014 to help Pakistan blank Australia 2-0 in the series.
Wednesday was no different at Melbourne, as the left-handed dynamo hammered his way to yet another century against Pakistan on the third day of the second Test.
Lyon dismissed opener Sami Aslam for nine just before the drinks break of the first session after Pakistan captain Misbah won the toss and elected to bat.
Showers truncated the morning session and then re-emerged shortly after 5 pm to prevent any further play, meaning at least 78 scheduled overs were lost over the first two days.
The sunny conditions could be short-lived, with the chance of thunderstorms on Thursday.
Smith has confirmed he will miss the T20 series, and the likes of David Warner and Starc are also likely to be unavailable.
The opener’s 12th Test century came up off 218 balls, including seven boundaries, and he hit five more fours before the close.
“I think the red ball out here is going to be a lot different to the pink ball” used in the Gabba Test, he said.
“It’s freaky people are mentioning things about the way he went about the game with his field placements, his bowling changes, the way he used Gazza (Nathan Lyon)”, Warner told reporters ahead of the second test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
In his exclusive blog, Bret Lee appreciated the Australian bowling attack comprising of Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Jackson Bird who held on to their nerves while Pakistan was inching towards victory.
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“Had they been there, things could have been slightly different”, Smith said.
