LIVE: Pakistan vs Australia Latest Cricket Scores, 1st Test Day 5 – Australia’s batsmen reduced a flourishing Pakistan’s lead to 27 runs on a flat wicket on Monday as the first Test headed for a draw.
Australia, playing their first Test in Pakistan since 1998, reached 449-7 at stumps in their first innings on a grassless wicket on the fourth day with half-centuries from Marnus Labuschagne (90) and Steve Smith (78). Cameron Green (48) showed himself to be a Test all-rounder by spending more than two hours at the crease facing 109 balls.
LIVE: Pakistan vs Australia Latest Cricket Scores, 1st Test Day 5
8 batsman Mitchell Starc nearly spent the last hour and remained unbeaten on 12 with skipper Pat Cummins as the stumps were drawn three overs before the scheduled time due to bad light.
Pakistan declared their first innings at 476-4 late on the second day on the back of big centuries from Azhar Ali (185) and Imam-ul-Haq (157).
“There isn’t a lot of pace and bounce in (the wicket) for the seamer, that’s for sure,” Smith said. “I thought it would break down a little more and maybe get a little overdone from the start, but it probably hasn’t.”
Opener Usman Khawaja missed a century in the country of his birth on Sunday when he was dismissed for 97 but shared a quick 156-run opening wicket partnership with David Warner, who scored 68.
On a humble wicket where there was no appreciable turn for the spinners, left-arm spinner Nauman Ali mainly scored 4-107 as Australia’s batsmen went for exceptional shots.
Labuschagne was the second Australian batsman to fall in the 90s when he was caught at new ball slip in the third over by Shaheen Afridi (1-80) after overnight rain stopped any play in the first session. After that the outfield was wet.
Labuschagne hit 12 boundaries in his innings but attempted to drive off a wide delivery from Afridi as Abdullah Shafiq took a well-determined low catch at loan slip.
Travis Head (8) was a rare batsman to fail in a batsman-dominated Test match when he dismissed Nauman for a cut shot to wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan as Pakistan took two wickets mid-season.
Green showed great determination in his 81-run stand with Smith, before Nauman gave false strokes to both batsmen in the previous session by consistently bowling outside the leg-stump line.
Green broke two of his three fours in an over from Nauman but sweeps over short fine leg. Smith also went for a similar shot and Rizwan caught it down the leg side.
Smith, who has not scored a Test century since the 2019 Ashes, batted for nearly five hours, hitting eight boundaries during his 196-ball innings, before he was well enough to go for an ambitious shot by Nauman. was setup.
“Very annoying, I got a little greedy with the area he had set,” Smith said on missing his 100. “Disappointed to work hard and found myself in a good position to move on and score big.”
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