Australia turn the screws on Pakistan

Mitchell Marsh plundered a majestic unbeaten 90 as Australia turned the screw on Pakistan on Friday to build a commanding lead on day two of the first Test in Perth.

At lunch the hosts were 476-7 with Marsh racing towards a fourth Test century, alongside skipper Pat Cummins on nine.

Fired-up speedster Aamer Jamal was the only bright light for Pakistan, bowling Alex Carey (34) and Mitchell Starc (12) to have figures of 4-108.

Australia resumed on 346-5, having dominated the opening day with veteran opener David Warner hitting a defiant 164 to silence his critics.

Marsh began on 16 and Carey 15 with Pakistan desperate for an early breakthrough as they strive to win their first Test in Australia since 1995.

But on another scorching day the tourists struggled to make an impact with some pedestrian bowling before Jamal was introduced.

Hometown hero Marsh, Australia’s T20 captain, smacked consecutive boundaries off the first over he faced from debutant Khurram Shahzad to set the tone.

Preferred to Cameron Green as the team’s all-rounder, he continued in the same vein, crunching 14 runs from one Faheem Ashraf over as he steered the hosts past 400.

Marsh brought up a 66-ball 50 — his fifth in 36 Tests — with a classy pull to the ropes for a 10th boundary.

At the other end, wicketkeeper-batsman Carey was eager to make runs to cement his Test spot after losing his place in Australia’s one-day team to Josh Inglis.

He survived a big lbw call from Shaheen Shah Afridi on just the second ball of the day, before a beautiful drive through extra-cover for four settled his nerves.

But he had no answer when Jamal was brought on, the impressive debutant producing a lightning-quick delivery that clattered into his off stump to snap a dangerous 90-run partnership.

Starc crunched two fours before he too fell victim to Jamal, getting an edge to another pacy ball that removed his stumps.

mp/pst

AFP

(NAMPA / AFP)