The Aussie charge continues
Wednesday, January 5 2005Australia continued to power past Pakistan through the majority of day three of the third Test match, until the batsmen showed a little fight in the final session to finish at 67/1. Starting the day on 340/4, Australia charged to 568 all out to grab a lead of 264 runs on first inning.
Ricky Ponting moved from an overnight 155 to his third career double century, 207 off 332 balls. He struck 7 more fours in addition to his 23 from the day before. At the other end, Adam Gilchrist was far more relentless, hitting 14 fours and 5 sixes in a devastating innings of 113 off 120 balls.
All this after the first session was lost to rain. Australia was aggressive from the outset.
The spinners, particularly Kaneria, were getting turn, so Gilchrist decided the best route was to attack rather than defend. He struck the same legspinner for three consecutive boundaries with all the power he epitomizes. He also took his case up with the steady debutant seamer, Mohammad Asif, by smashing consecutive sixes over midwicket. His century came up with a lofted straight shot off Shahid Afridi and Gilchrist passed Andy Flower for the most centuries by a wicketkeeper.
He was finally out stumped off the bowling of Kaneria, beaten by the flight and turn.
Upon the dismissal of Gilchrist at 471/5, Shane Watson took guard for the first time in Test cricket. He scored an assured 31 off 62 balls and was caught attempting to hit Danish Kaneria. Kaneria ended with 7/188, by far the Pakistani pick with the ball. The haul included his celebrations at reaching 100 Test wickets. The other wickets were among Naved-ul-Hasan's 3/107.
Having bowled just 10 overs on the first day, Shoaib Akhtar managed 5 more for 23 more runs and no wicket. He finished 15-2-69-0. Mohammad Asif was 0/79 and legspinning allrounder Shahid Afridi 0/113.
Facing the huge deficit with so much time left in the game, Pakistan was far from cautious. Instead the openers took the positive route and added 46 runs in 9 overs, then Salman Butt (21) was caught by Warne off MacGill with the first ball of the 10th over. The dismissal was a downfall due the positive approach, as Butt attempted to drive a ball out of the rough and Warne took a sharp slip catch off the edge.
Younis Khan (5 not out) joined Yasir Hameed (40 not out) and they put on a further 21 runs to stumps. Pakistan will begin the fourth day needing 197 more runs to make the hosts bat again.
Score Summary:
Pakistan 1st innings 304 ao (86.4 overs)
Salman Butt 108, Yasir Hameed 58, Kamran Akmal 47, Younis Khan 46
SCG MacGill 5/87, GD McGrath 4/50
Australia 1st innings 568 ao (133.3 overs)
RT Ponting 207, AC Gilchrist 113, DR Martyn 67
Danish Kaneria 7/188, Naved-ul-Hasan 3/107
Pakistan 2nd innings 67/1 (14.4 overs)
Yasir Hameed 40 not out, Salman Butt 21
SCG MacGill 1/14
Posted by Liam