Australia is in control of the first Test in Perth, but a rally with the ball and resolute start with the bat has Pakistan well and truly in the fight after day two.
Pakistan reached 2-132 at stumps on Friday, leaving the visitors 355 runs behind Australia, whose total was boosted by Mitchell Marsh’s 90.
Marsh’s brilliant innings will be bittersweet for fellow West Australian Cameron Green, whose path back into Australia’s Test XI became that bit narrower.
Meanwhile, a realisation from century-maker David Warner said it all about how Pakistan erred with the ball early to hand Australia control.
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REPORT: Review cracks Aussie rivals in late day two twist as historic Lyon moment looms
‘ABSOLUTELY NOT’: Emphatic Marsh reply leaves more questions than answers
LEGENDARY LYON EDGES CLOSER TO MASSIVE MILESTONE MOMENT
Nathan Lyon roared in delight and pumped his fist in celebration when his first Test wicket in six months secured Australia its opening breakthrough against Pakistan in the final session of a frustrating day for the hosts on Friday at Perth Stadium.
He moved to within three wickets of becoming just the third Australian bowler to take 500 Test wickets when he had Abdullah Shafique caught at leg slip by David Warner for 42.
Lyon backing Warner for Tests | 05:51
The exuberance of his celebration is understandable given the despair the 35-year-old felt after badly injuring his calf muscle at Lords in July during the infamous second Test of the Ashes, which ruled him out for the remainder of the series.
In an extended interview with foxsports.com.au prior to the opening Test of the summer, which will be published in coming days, Lyon said scans revealed he was 1cm away from tearing the calf muscle off the bone.
With the champion off-spinner on the sidelines, Australia was able to retain the Urn but proved unable to finish off the Ashes tour with a series win, with the loss of Lyon disrupting the rhythm and potency of the attack.
“I was not a very good person to be around. I wasn’t very good at watching at home at all,” he said.
The 35-year-old, who believes he can continue on for several years to come, almost claimed the wicket of the stubborn Shafique when introduced into the attack before tea.
On a day where the Australian attack bowled extremely well without luck against the plucky Pakistan top order, Lyon looked particularly threatening as shade started to cover the oval.
He said that he will be “pretty proud” to join Shane Warne (708 wickets) and Glenn McGrath (563 wickets) in rarefied air once he reaches the milestone, which could come as soon as Saturday.
“It is always the next wicket (that is my motivation). That will always be the case,” he said.
“But you look at the greats of Australian cricket and Warne and McGrath are the only two blokes to have taken over 500 wickets.
“For me to be within four (now three) of that, and to be edging my way closer to those guys, it is pretty amazing.”
Keep an eye out for more from Fox Cricket’s extended chat with Nathan Lyon on foxsports.com.au once the star reaches the milestone.
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THE PERILS OF SHORT-PITCHED BOWLING IN PERTH
On the eve of the opening Test of the summer, Pakistan legend Wasim Akram predicted the national side was about to fall into a common trap for teams touring Perth.
Akram told Fox Cricket podcast The Follow On that Shaheen Shah Afridi was extremely talented but had a significant challenge ahead spearheading an inexperienced pace attack.
The key to bowling in Australia was not to get seduced by the green tinges on the pitch, nor the added bounce and carry. This would play into the Australians hands.
“Australia is a different ballgame. The Kookaburra ball after 15 overs, it doesn’t do anything,” Akram told The Follow On.
“I remember when I came to Australia and played at the WACA, I saw the grass and I got so excited. And then that’s what Australians want. They want you to bowl short.
“They get the hang of the bounce. They can pull well. They can hook well. I think my advice to all the Pakistani bowlers is that length is the key.
“The minute you get the length right, that’s where you trouble the batters, not with the short balls. Don’t get excited by the bounce here at Optus Cricket Ground.”
Akram’s worst fears came true, especially in the opening session on both Day One and Day Two when Australia threatened to take the game completely away from the tourists.
David Warner hammered the attack on Thursday and Mitch Marsh enjoyed a Friday feast.
A review was also wasted on an LBW appeal where the ball rapped Australians above the pads in an indication the Pakistan bowlers were not reading the pitch well and Warner noted on Thursday night that the tourists got their lengths wrong for much of the day.
“Sometimes opposition teams come to Australia and they pitch one or two up and get driven back down the ground, then they get off that length,” Warner said.
“Whereas if you look at our bowlers, they try and consistently hit that length and they want you to (it) straight past them.
“I don’t think I scored one run down the ground today, and that’s when you know you’ve got them off their length. I just don’t think they bowled enough balls in the right area to make us play.”
What makes this more mystifying is that, when the Pakistan attack did find a good length after lunch on the first day, the rewards started to flow.
Usman Khawaja was caught edging behind, Marnus Labuschagne was trapped on the crease LBW and Steve Smith flashed away outside off stump.
On the second day, after Marsh had flogged the short-pitched bowling for the first hour, Aamer Jamal hit the right length with a ripper that knocked Alex Carey’s off-stump over. He was the pick of the pacemen when finishing with 6-111 from 20.2 overs.
BITTERSWEET EMOTIONS FOR GREEN
Watching Mitchell Marsh smack Pakistan’s bowlers all around the park on Friday would have been a bittersweet feeling for West Australian teammate Cameron Green.
It’s no secret the duo are both vying for the No. 6 role in Australia’s Test side, with Marsh getting the nod for this week’s season opener in Perth.
However, the 32-year-old well and truly cemented his place in the Test XI for the remainder of the summer by thumping a rapid-fire 90 from 107 balls in front of an adoring home crowd.
Marsh, playing his first Test match in Perth since 2017, treated Pakistan’s seamers with disdain in the morning, feasting on short-pitched bowling and driving forcefully down the ground.
He plundered 15 boundaries and one mighty six during his onslaught, which all but ensured Australia was in an insurmountable position at stumps on day two.
Green, looking on from the dugout, has nothing but admiration for Marsh, who has served as his mentor during the early stages of his professional career.
However, the 24-year-old would also be aware that breaking back into the Test side has become far more difficult following Marsh’s best innings against a nation other than England.
The No. 6 position had been Green’s from his Test debut in 2020 to this year’s Ashes series, but Marsh leapfrogged him in the pecking order following his heroic Headingley hundred.
With Marsh now occupying the middle-order slot, there are no vacancies for Green’s return, at least until the West Indies arrive in January.
Usman Khawaja will need a new opening partner following David Warner’s looming retirement, and Green has been touted as a potential replacement.
However, the right-hander has never opened at first-class level and his vulnerability to the swinging new ball could be a problem.
Unfortunately for Green, his quickest path back to the Test side appears to be injury or a drastic drop in form from one of the incumbents.
A DEBUT TO REMEMBER FOR AAMER JAMAL
Aamer Jamal became Pakistan’s 254th men’s Test cricketer on Thursday morning when handed his debut cap before day one of the series opener in Perth.
Beset by nerves early on, the right-armed seamer’s first spell at Test level didn’t go according to plan. Jamal hardly posed a threat in the morning session, possessing figures of 0-41 after eight expensive overs.
But the 27-year-old bounced back in the evening session, knocking over centurion David Warner and the dangerous Travis Head to keep Pakistan in the contest.
“I wasn’t struggling, I just couldn’t find my rhythm,” Jamal told reporters at stumps on day one.
“In the second spell I felt better.”
The following morning, with the second new ball at his disposal, Jamal pitched the ball up and produced a couple of seeds to knock over Alex Carey and Mitchell Starc.
The debutant’s dismissal of Carey was an early contender for ball of the summer, nipping away from the left-hander on a good length and clipping the top of off stump. It proved a decisive moment in the match, with Australia losing 5-76 after Carey’s departure.
Jamal, who was bowling noticeably quicker on Friday morning, secured his maiden five-wicket haul when rival captain Pat Cummins edged behind to first slip, with tailender Nathan Lyon falling in similar fashion.
To celebrate his five-fa, Jamal knelt over and bowed in honour of Allah while his teammates applauded in appreciation. He is Pakistan’s first Test debutant to take a five-wicket haul in Australia since 1964.
Jamal, who leaked more than five runs per over across the innings, was also the first Pakistan bowler to record a five-wicket haul on Australia soil since 2010, breaking a 13-year drought.
Debutant impresses with two SEEDS | 01:21
‘SLOW BALL’ THE SOLUTION AS PAKISTAN BATTEN DOWN THE HATCHES
Following on from Wasim Akram’s appearance on The Follow On, ahead of the first Test he hoped talk from Pakistan about an increase in tempo at the crease would prove just that.
The legend feared that if they adopted a similar approach to “Bazball”, they risked the prospect of being forced into following on given the sustained quality of the Australian attack.
“Upping the tempo means that you are giving away your wickets against this bowling attack on this type of surface,” Akram said.
“I’m all for upping the tempo, but it is easier said than done. You don’t want to be sitting there (and batting) at 10 for three.
“Get settled in. And once you are settled in and have the knack of the bounce and the bowlers, then you up the tempo. Not straight away.”
The former skipper would have been delighted by the approach of Abdullah Shafique and Imam-ul-Haq in the infancy of the Pakistan first innings, with the pair extremely watchful.
In the first 17 overs they faced from Australia’s fast-bowling trio of Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummings, they batted with prudence, scoring just 20 runs.
Pakistan captain Shan Masood is said to be a convert of ‘Bazball’.
But he showed patience when scoring a double-century in Canberra against the PM XI last week and said on the eve of the series that he would urge his batters “to play the way that suits you”.
“We are not talking about going gung-ho. It is picking your battles. It is being sensible. It is about seeing the requirements of the game. For us it is about the bigger picture,” he said.
Masood’s resistance ended when he was caught behind by Alex Carey off the bowling of Mitchell Starc for 30. At stumps on day two, Pakistan was 2 for 132, compiled at a run rate of 2.49 runs per over, still trailing Australia’s first-innings total of 487 by 355 runs.