Fast bowler Aamer Jamal took six wickets to help Pakistan take a slender first-innings lead over Australia on Friday before the home team’s bowlers regained the advantage in the third Test.
The Australians took seven wickets in the session before stumps on Day 3 to leave Pakistan facing the prospect of losing yet another Test match Down Under.
Aamer was instrumental in Australia losing their last four first-innings wickets for 10 runs to be all out for 299, trailing Pakistan by 14 runs.
It was the first time since December 2020 that Australia had been behind in a home Test match ahead of the second innings.
But then, the Australian bowlers took over. Josh Hazlewood snared four wickets and Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon and Travis Head took one each as Pakistan slumped to 68/7 at stumps, an overall lead of 82. Pakistan’s last Test match win in Australia was in 1995, at the SCG.
After almost an early domination by the batters, the afternoon belonged to the bowling attacks.
Aamer finished with figures of 6/69, his second six-wicket haul in just three Tests. His 18 wickets are the most for any rookie Pakistan bowler in a three-Test series.
“I’m over the moon now,” Aamer told local broadcaster Fox Cricket.
Warner’s baggy green comes back
Sydney: David Warner’s impassioned appeal for the return of his missing baggy green cap for his final Test has been successful with the rucksack containing the Australia opener’s iconic headwear discovered at the team hotel here.
The rucksack went missing in transit from Melbourne to Warner’s hometown after the second Test against Pakistan and the 37-year-old had to wear a replacement on the field on the opening day of the third Test.
“I am very pleased and relieved that I have got my baggy back in my hands,” Warner, playing his 112th Test, said in a post on Instagram on Friday, Day III of the match. “Any cricketer knows how special their cap is and I’ll cherish this for the rest of my life.
“I’m very grateful to all those involved in locating it... it’s a load off my shoulders going into the last couple of days.”
Australian internationals receive the baggy green cap, usually from a former player, on the morning of their Test debut and wear it with pride even as it deteriorates over the length of their career.
The opener made 34 in Australia’s first innings but should have another chance to bat at his home ground over the next few days.
Reuters
