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Big partnership in the context of the game. If they can add another 20-odd, the lead becomes noteworthy in a low scoring slug fest. As is Jansen showing he may well become a #7, while Keshav is playing with the poise of a man who has 3 Test 50s. Very organised. He probably has done himself a disservice, especially in a South African side both devoid of batsmen and obsessed with pace, in not working a little harder on his batting to be a #7.

Could be a boring Test as it's so one sided, rather than a flat track bore draw!

408 run lead and no follow on enforced. Pat Cummins should know how that will be received on here!

Cummins may well regret not enforcing the follow on. Honestly I don't really know if it was worth saving his bowlers an hour's bowling. It's Australia's to lose still, but if this was the third innings, even if the equation was the same (Pakistan 190/2), Pakistan would still be going into day five without a snowball's chance of winning. Enforcing the follow on for an extra 100 runs seems so low reward/medium risk.

I thought Australia would at least get to 200 to give a truly hopeless position to Pakistan then declare. What on earth was the point of scoring 97/2. Baffling

I've never rated Lyon, which is certainly odd given he's taken more than 400 Test wickets.

But I wonder how many times he's failed to bowl sides out in the 4th innings? Now he could run thru Pakistan on the last day and make me eat my words.

But despite his huge number of Test scalps, Lyon, for me, is not the match winner that some of those with far fewer Test wickets are/were.

Good effort by Pakistan today. Gosh, they are mercurial. You never know which Pakistan will turn up. Still going to be an uphill task to bat out the final day, though.

Pakistan's first innings collapse was shocking. I understand Australia batting on, but as VTR says it was baffling in the way they did it. They didn't entirely shut the door on a Pakistan win, they didn't give their bowlers much of a rest, they didn't really deteriorate the pitch substantially. They just batted a curious interval of time and didn't achieve anything.

Can Pakistan save it? Perhaps. The biggest danger comes from the seamers with the new ball. Swepson has been poor so far, Lyon not much better. There's low bounce, cracks on the pitch, lots of rough, so one wicket can easily bring a swift collapse. But Australia may be feeling some fatigue after 82 overs in the field today, and 240 overs in the field in the recent first test.

Can Pakistan win it? Almost certainly not, but if these two bat through to the middle of the afternoon, Australia may be on the defensive.

Cummins' choices in this match wouldn't have been mine and that should be no surprise to regulars here. However, he's got enough credit in my bank for me to hold fire for one more day.

sirfredperry wrote:I've never rated Lyon, which is certainly odd given he's taken more than 400 Test wickets.

But I wonder how many times he's failed to bowl sides out in the 4th innings? Now he could run thru Pakistan on the last day and make me eat my words.

But despite his huge number of Test scalps, Lyon, for me, is not the match winner that some of those with far fewer Test wickets are/were.

Good effort by Pakistan today. Gosh, they are mercurial. You never know which Pakistan will turn up. Still going to be an uphill task to bat out the final day, though.

Lyon's over spin heavy stock delivery is very effective compared with many spinners in the 1st innings and in Australia but has always been weaker than many spinners in the 2nd innings and subcontinent where side spin causes more damage.

Whilst not a conventional spinner he has often performed precisely the role Australia have needed from him at home for over a decade now to be fair. By no means a great but he has been fantastic for the Aussies. In recent times when Leach has looked lost bowling to lefties or on flat wickets England would've traded a lot for Lyon's control.

Halfway through the day and Pakistan still have six in hand. Not going to get another 207 but they are making Austrakia really work for their win.
Both scalps today gone to Cummins : commentators praising Swepson but he's wicket less still here after 38 overs ...and Lyon has just 1/67 from 37.
Pakistan tail looks a bit dodgy so if Babar goes things might still happen in a hurry - but this is no procession to victory for the tourists. Even as I type Labuschagne fails to grab a low catch close in so way too early to call this...

A couple of unlucky reviews; both Umpire's call... but it's a very hard slog out there for the bowlers.

They'll need to get Babar out soon and then one or two more for there to be any chance of a miracle but that doesn't seem like happening. 180 runs needed for the Pakistan win with that last 6 - will they go for it?

Pal Joey wrote:A couple of unlucky reviews; both Umpire's call... but it's a very hard slog out there for the bowlers.

They'll need to get Babar out soon and then one or two more for there to be any chance of a miracle but that doesn't seem like happening. 180 runs needed for the Pakistan win with that last 6 - will they go for it?

Hi Joey - very much doubt they'll go for it even though 20 were added in the first 2 overs after tea from Swepson and Lyon. A draw will still seem like a win for Pakistan given the deep hole they were in and surely won't want to fall back in.

Agree with one of the comms (don't know who) who suggested a few minutes ago that Australia mix up the bowling now and put one seamer on. My call would unsurprisingly be for Starc - haven't heard him mentioned in the short time I've been watching, assume he's out there?

Also, particularly for Joey and Alfie - has anything been said by Cummins or in the Australian media as to why he didn't enforce the follow on and instead chose to bat on for such few extra runs? Seemed a sort of nothing half-way house call and even more so now.

I said yesterday I would until today before raising doubts about Cummins' decision.  I suspect others will be doing so more vehemently if that '4' in the wickets column doesn't increase soon.

Travelling last few days so not seen much comment in local media. But seems to me Cummins wanted (a) a -brief - break for his bowlers; (b) give the Pakistan openers no time to reset after time in the field and (c) just a short bowl before lunch . And perhaps the notion that the third new ball would be due late on day five if needed.

All a bit flimsy I would concede. Enforcing the follow on would have been simpler - and I generally like simple as a method


I don't think he was seriously bothered at the prospect of Pakistan getting a lead and pressuring Australia late on ! If this does end up a draw as now seems quite likely , the question will I suppose be asked whether bowling on might have brought a different result...but , as always , we will never know ...

Still twenty overs to go. Spinners might be getting a bit weary. Marnus for an over or two ? Or Smith ?

guildfordbat wrote:Also, particularly for Joey and Alfie - has anything been said by Cummins or in the Australian media as to why he didn't enforce the follow on and instead chose to bat on for such few extra runs? Seemed a sort of nothing half-way house call and even more so now.

I said yesterday I would until today before raising doubts about Cummins' decision.  I suspect others will be doing so more vehemently if that '4' in the wickets column doesn't increase soon.

I heard some meek explanation from Brett Lee at the time and it didn't sound convincing at all. Something about having a 'bit of a rest' but Isha Gua quickly jumped on Lee by saying 'but they've only bowled 53 overs!'. She didn't miss!  They quickly cut back to the live action after that.

So I'm just as confounded as you are, Guildford. Seems to be more of this tentative practice going on in recent years. I would have thought you'd keep the foot on the throat; force the openers back on quickly and keep the intensity up if possible.

Even if they were wicket-less at the close of play, there was still the best part of 2 days ahead with the knowledge of batting last, if need be, looming over the Pakistan team. That to me is a significant advantage to have up your sleeve.

And if they had eked out a wicket or two by enforcing the follow on on Day 3; Australia would have slept better overnight and would have been rip-raring to go on Day 4.

Anyway, it's easier to say the above given the current situation now - but it probably would have been better to keep the pressure up. Australia was on a bit of a roll. If things had then gone our way on Day 4, it would have been a nice way to say 'thank you' to those who prepared the pitch... but unfortunately now that opportunity has been lost.

Incredible innings by Babar whatever the situation. Not enforcing the follow on is looking really poor, it's not in hindsight either as you can even scroll on here to see baffled reactions from around 2 days ago. Australia at the point of the decision had absolutely zero chance of defeat, so it wasn't even taking that out of the equation. Leads of 250 or so, I can see its not as easy to make that choice

And I claim a huge jinx there, this one is not over!

Not over yet...

Two gone in a flash - including Babar the Rock ; and twelve overs left to take another four.

Just Rizwan and a hutch full of rabbits to hold on...maybe ?

And I was just about to call it quits and get an early night too ...

Same here, alfie. I'd switched channels (given up) and even closed the cricinfo page.
Might go back to the NHK World channel for a bit... for say the next 10 overs. Ukiyoe Edo Life!

Decent run out attempt by Lyon off his own bowling but he isn't Roger Harper, eh Alfie?

Rizwan has 100% been more interested in his hundred than saving the game in these last few overs. Some of the shots and runs he has attempted have been bizarre.

Slight rush of blood there for Rizwan

But he's got his deserved hundred...and saved his team...in tow more balls...

Yes. Drawn game. Pitch the winner...

Goodnight all.

alfie wrote:Pitch the winner...

Isn't this what we want from Test cricket? Going into the last day, all 3 results possible. Team batting last requiring some outstanding test match innings to survive or chase, having been skittled for 150 in the first dig. Bowling team having to time their declaration, deciding whether they enforce the follow on and then ending up 3 wickets away from a famous win. Wickets having to be earned. I love it.

Give me that over some raging turner that explodes through the surface before lunch on day one and a test that finishes inside 2.5 days. We've got white ball cricket for all that fun and games.

I am not a fan of roads like this. Think the all 4 results still possible was a bit artificial. Pakistan had only taken 11 wickets in total, so am glad they didn't get near or actually win, it wouldn't have been deserved

Tremendous effort by Pakistan. Probably feels like a win for them. They made well over 400 with only three guys getting into double figures!

There will no doubt be endless arguments about the follow-on but even on a complete road of a pitch you would expect a side to bowl out the opposition in the fourth innings if they had 172 overs to do it in.

Aus only bowled for 53 overs in the first P innings so really they SHOULD have enforced the f-on. It seems that Aus skippers are all haunted by the Dravid-Laxman match all those years ago.

It was really up to the Aussie spinners to win the match. But they could only manage four wickets in more than 100 overs.

Swepson was very poor. Good effort from Pakistan, but they shouldn't have put themselves into that position.

Will we see something more exciting for the third test? The Pakistanis must surely back their spinners as simply the best vs. Australia's on a turner.

Nathan Lyon failing to bowl his team to a 4th innings victory, is it?

I don't mind the odd really flat wicket - batsmen are entitled to have it easy occasionally ; and a game like this where one side has to battle against the odds to survive the last day isn't all bad. But I certainly don't want to see roads trotted out as regularly as in the two series currently in progress (haven't actually seen the Barbados pitch yet but I'm hearing negative comments on it ?). Test Cricket needs a bit of variety , no ?

Probably a draw was the "right" result for this one. Pakistan apparently are determined to produce roads to negate the Aussie pace attack , which seems overly defensive ; and Australia batting into day three - and then batting again (albeit briefly) arguably didn't go directly enough for the win.

I hope the third match is played on something a bit livelier , so we don't have a totally no result series.

Babar was excellent and really did save his team from what appeared to be a hopeless position. And Cummins (possibly dubious tactics apart) did his best with the ball on an unhelpful pitch. Would love to see them go head to head on a "good" pitch !

Didn't see a huge number of Swepson's fifty plus overs ; but what I saw was a bit disappointing . He spun the ball (when it actually bounced) ; but all too often seemed to be way too short to bother anyone. First game so should cut him some slack ; but didn't look much like the new Warne Not that Lyon was a wrecking ball - but he did eventually grab some late wickets to keep the game alive ... Probably better than his usual fourth innings record on benign pitches. Wonder if it might have paid to try a bit more of Marnus earlier ?

alfie wrote:I don't mind the odd really flat wicket - batsmen are entitled to have it easy occasionally ; and a game like this where one side has to battle against the odds to survive the last day isn't all bad. But I certainly don't want to see roads trotted out as regularly as in the two series currently in progress (haven't actually seen the Barbados pitch yet but I'm hearing negative comments on it ?). Test Cricket needs a bit of variety , no ?

Probably a draw was the "right" result for this one. Pakistan apparently are determined to produce roads to negate the Aussie pace attack , which seems overly defensive ; and Australia batting into day three - and then batting again (albeit briefly) arguably didn't go directly enough for the win.

I hope the third match is played on something a bit livelier , so we don't have a totally no result series.

Babar was excellent and really did save his team from what appeared to be a hopeless position. And Cummins (possibly dubious tactics apart) did his best with the ball on an unhelpful pitch. Would love to see them go head to head on a "good" pitch !

Didn't see a huge number of Swepson's fifty plus overs ; but what I saw was a bit disappointing . He spun the ball (when it actually bounced) ; but all too often seemed to be way too short to bother anyone. First game so should cut him some slack ; but didn't look much like the new Warne   Not that Lyon was a wrecking ball - but he did eventually grab some late wickets to keep the game alive ... Probably better than his usual fourth innings record on benign pitches.  Wonder if it might have paid to try a bit more of Marnus earlier ?

I was only playing Devils Advocate really, alfie. Or a gentle wind up, whatever you prefer.

Just don't come on here moaning when the first test of the summer ends by lunch on day 3 with total of 600 runs across 4 innings!

Mind the windows Tino. wrote:

alfie wrote:I don't mind the odd really flat wicket - batsmen are entitled to have it easy occasionally ; and a game like this where one side has to battle against the odds to survive the last day isn't all bad. But I certainly don't want to see roads trotted out as regularly as in the two series currently in progress (haven't actually seen the Barbados pitch yet but I'm hearing negative comments on it ?). Test Cricket needs a bit of variety , no ?

Probably a draw was the "right" result for this one. Pakistan apparently are determined to produce roads to negate the Aussie pace attack , which seems overly defensive ; and Australia batting into day three - and then batting again (albeit briefly) arguably didn't go directly enough for the win.

I hope the third match is played on something a bit livelier , so we don't have a totally no result series.

Babar was excellent and really did save his team from what appeared to be a hopeless position. And Cummins (possibly dubious tactics apart) did his best with the ball on an unhelpful pitch. Would love to see them go head to head on a "good" pitch !

Didn't see a huge number of Swepson's fifty plus overs ; but what I saw was a bit disappointing . He spun the ball (when it actually bounced) ; but all too often seemed to be way too short to bother anyone. First game so should cut him some slack ; but didn't look much like the new Warne   Not that Lyon was a wrecking ball - but he did eventually grab some late wickets to keep the game alive ... Probably better than his usual fourth innings record on benign pitches.  Wonder if it might have paid to try a bit more of Marnus earlier ?

I was only playing Devils Advocate really, alfie. Or a gentle wind up, whatever you prefer.

Just don't come on here moaning when the first test of the summer ends by lunch on day 3 with total of 600 runs across 4 innings!

You are the master of "gentle wind ups , Tino

But seriously , I don't disagree with you. My summary statement was a little ... Generic ?

alfie wrote:

Mind the windows Tino. wrote:

alfie wrote:I don't mind the odd really flat wicket - batsmen are entitled to have it easy occasionally ; and a game like this where one side has to battle against the odds to survive the last day isn't all bad. But I certainly don't want to see roads trotted out as regularly as in the two series currently in progress (haven't actually seen the Barbados pitch yet but I'm hearing negative comments on it ?). Test Cricket needs a bit of variety , no ?

Probably a draw was the "right" result for this one. Pakistan apparently are determined to produce roads to negate the Aussie pace attack , which seems overly defensive ; and Australia batting into day three - and then batting again (albeit briefly) arguably didn't go directly enough for the win.

I hope the third match is played on something a bit livelier , so we don't have a totally no result series.

Babar was excellent and really did save his team from what appeared to be a hopeless position. And Cummins (possibly dubious tactics apart) did his best with the ball on an unhelpful pitch. Would love to see them go head to head on a "good" pitch !

Didn't see a huge number of Swepson's fifty plus overs ; but what I saw was a bit disappointing . He spun the ball (when it actually bounced) ; but all too often seemed to be way too short to bother anyone. First game so should cut him some slack ; but didn't look much like the new Warne   Not that Lyon was a wrecking ball - but he did eventually grab some late wickets to keep the game alive ... Probably better than his usual fourth innings record on benign pitches.  Wonder if it might have paid to try a bit more of Marnus earlier ?

I was only playing Devils Advocate really, alfie. Or a gentle wind up, whatever you prefer.

Just don't come on here moaning when the first test of the summer ends by lunch on day 3 with total of 600 runs across 4 innings!

You are the master of "gentle wind ups , Tino

But seriously , I don't disagree with you. My summary statement was a little ... Generic ?

Your summary was excellent and far more erudite than I can ever muster.

But yes, I agree. Pitches need to contribute to a fair contest between bat and ball. The problem is, from my limited knowledge gained entirely from talking to our groundsman (I've never talked to someone who can get so excited and animated about soil and grass), it is far easier to produce pitches at either extreme, either dead like we've seen here or way too spicy like we saw in India with a surface destroyed before lunch on day one. Getting one in "the middle" is actually more difficult. Would make for better games but harder to prepare and I'm sure the groundsman come under huge amounts of pressure from captains, coaches and officials with interest in a certain result.

Home pitches and conditions should absolutely be in favour of the home side. It should be really, really hard to win an away test series but there clearly has to be a balance and quite often we see that balance skewed too far.

Have had only a brief experience with attempting to prepare pitches : many years ago , my club was basically told by the local council "we don't really care about your pitch : if you don't like what we're doing , try it yourself."

So we did. All very part time civil servants with not a lot of experience in the area. I think we improved it a bit at least. But I also got the impression that pitch preparation was more an art than a science...and owed a bit to luck and weather...

Bangladesh scored an ODI win over South Africa in South Africa today. A highly impressive 314 from Bangladesh was enough. Good on 'em.

Duty281 wrote:Bangladesh scored an ODI win over South Africa in South Africa today. A highly impressive 314 from Bangladesh was enough. Good on 'em.

South Africa need to be careful in the ODI World Cup qualifying league - another loss or two here, and suddenly they’re going to need to be picking up wins against the best sides. They’re languishing in the current table a fair bit (Bangladesh by contrast are flying!)

Next Batsman's Benefit Test due to start in Lahore in half an hour...not holding my breath for a lively pitch as word is this will be similar to the previous two.  So will the Australian XI - and just one change for the home side with Naseem Shah in for Faheem Ashraf.

Australia winning the toss and unsurprisingly choosing to bat.

We can but hope for some more early action...

Shaheen is truly electric with the new ball

Was a great start for Pakistan...Shaheen on fire. But Smith and Khawaja have steadied the ship to 70/2 at lunch .

Could have been very different mind , with both these bats being dropped in the same over from Nauman - Khawaja at slip and Smith with a return catch next ball. That was at 41/2 ...and Khawaja in particular has blossomed since the let off. Think Pakistan might end up regretting those misses !

162/3 now. Very surprised as it looked as though Smith was going to bat all day.

Out of form (in this series at least) Head at the crease, followed by Green and Carey. so a chance for Pakistan and their five bowlers to go on a roll.

Smith again falls between 50 and 100. Since his double 100 in his tremendous series away to England in 2019 he has only got one century in 29 innings.

Similarly, Kohli has not hit a Test hundred in 30 innings. In contrast, Root, criticised at times for failing to push on to a century, has registered eight 100s in his last 37 innings.

Khawaja and Head follow Smith back to the hutch in this final session...have caught the last 20 overs or so, can't see many demons in the pitch but Pakistan do have this old ball reversing now, Naseem is bowling superbly.

Another wicket or two before close and you'd fancy Pakistan are really on top. About 6-8 overs left today

Calling Smith "out of form " seems a little OTT

Averaging about 70 in this series , isn't he ? We should all be so afflicted... But yes , he's having a run of not quite converting good starts : almost like he's human.

Ha ! My bad ....sorry Duty , I see you meant Head is out of form. Misreading , oops


Pakistan rather grabbed the upper hand in this last session , after Australia were seemingly set for a good day's work. Babar caught Khawaja rather nicely only about eighty runs after he was missed in the first session ; and Naseem has done for Head since . With 2/34 off 18 he's more than justified his inclusion here.

Green and Carey with a big job now as you'd think they'd want 400 after winning the toss. And that new ball is due too...and they've taken it now with 20 minutes left...

211/5

Green and Carey safely to the close at 232/5. So probably Pakistan's day : but not quite as definitively as it might have been if those two early chances had been taken.

Australia could still score well if these two can get started again in the morning. Important first hour tomorrow...

232/5 at stumps. Certainly Pakistan's day, inspired call to bring back Naseem Shah. The fielding wasn't always the best, but the bowling was a proper all-round team effort, lots of discipline, not too many freebies, though a disappointing number of no-balls.

The pitch seems excellent for batting, so if Pakistan can wrap up these five early tomorrow and keep Australia below 300, they'll have a big advantage. Even below 350 would still be decent. The second new ball didn't seem to be doing too much, but they're only one away from exposing the tail.

The other factor is that Australia's bowling attack is unchanged, and they may be going back into the field tomorrow afternoon or earlier after recently putting themselves through 172 overs of exertion in the fourth innings of the second test. Could be a tired effort from Australia, though Pakistan have very little batting from 7 down.

sirfredperry wrote:Smith again falls between 50 and 100. Since his double 100 in his tremendous series away to England in 2019 he has only got one century in 29 innings.

Similarly, Kohli has not hit a Test hundred in 30 innings. In contrast, Root, criticised at times for failing to push on to a century, has registered eight 100s in his last 37 innings.

Interesting piece by Dan Brettig in The Age where he says Smith’s SR has dropped from 55 at his absolute peak to just above 40 since late 2019. Is this him changing his method and becoming too defensive or have teams found a way to quieten him a bit? He’s definitely less fluent than he used to be.

Think it is probably true that teams have become a bit smarter in bowling to Smith. Heaven knows they've had enough time to study how he plays and what not to give him

Has he actually changed his game ? He has always tinkered with it to get the best results so perhaps trying to combat different bowling approaches has made him a little more focused on his defence...but I'd suspect the main cause is just that his best scoring areas have been rendered a little less productive for him by a combination of bowling tactics and field settings.

The downside for opponents is they still aren't often getting him out early and he - and Australia as a whole - are scoring rather big , if not as rapidly as before...

Meanwhile the hot favourite Aussie team is under some pressure in the Women's WC match against also undefeated SA.  
SA made a challenging 271/5 (Laura Wolvaartd making 90) and they are 72/2 after 15 in reply with a bit left to do.

Meg Lanning looking good though on 42 at present and I reckon they'll do enough to run this down. Their batting is very deep and strong.

Hundred now for Lanning and Aussies cruising at 197/3 after 32.  SA have some good bowlers , but they haven't been able to unlock or restrain this batting lineup.

Aussies going to be very tough to stop.

Even as I type , McGrath falls to the excellent Ismail...and Gardner is dropped first ball at slip ! So maybe not quite over yet...but you really can't afford to drop these Aussie batters...

Or waste reviews , as SA has just done with a silly fishing expedition against Lanning. 207/4 . Need 65 off 102 balls

Easy in the end for Australia. SA should still make the semis but they've had a reality check. India well on top against Bangladesh in the later game.

Back in Lahore , a brilliant first session for Australia : completely taking away the apparent advantage Pakistan held overnight.

Near lunch and Green and Carey have dominated , scoring at a good clip with hardly any alarms , 88 added from 28 overs.

That is lunch with the partnership at 114. At 320/5 , both bats over fifty , they look on course for well over 400. Pakistan need something to happen quickly after the break or this is going to get right away from them.

Whether that will end up producing a result is another matter

Pakistan striking back well after lunch , dismissing both set batsmen and stifling the runs now. 356/7 so Australia will want some tail wagging from the bowlers.
Seven wickets in four and a bit sessions seems an advance on the first two games

A good effort by Green/Carey to save the Aussies from a perilous position late last night, but a nice fightback to clean up the tail by Shaheen/Naseem and keep the Aussies just under 400.

Think Pakistan will be the happier of the two sides, but hardly defining either way at this point, especially as Duty pointed out, Pakistan have a very long tail in this one (Alfie if you are worried about England's potential 8 down, Pakistan's from 7 down here would have you talking to the walls )