SYDNEY- Pakistan’s 16-year-old pace bowler Naseem Shah finally removed David Warner for 154 on the third morning of the first test in Brisbane on Saturday but Marnus Labuschagne’s maiden century helped Australia to a commanding 395 for three at lunch.
While more effective bowling from the tourists also saw the cheap dismissal of the world’s best batsman in Australia’s Steve Smith, the hosts still went into the break with a healthy 155-run first-innings lead.
Naseem thought he had made Warner his first test victim when the Australian was on 56 on Friday but the dismissal was reversed after TV pictures showed the teenager had overstepped the mark.
The schoolboy finally got his man after an hour’s play at the Gabba on Saturday when, bowling around the wicket, he fired down a snorter of a bouncer that the opener caught with a bottom edge that Mohammad Rizwan took well behind the stumps.
Naseem, who stayed on tour despite the death of his mother last week, was mobbed immediately by his team mates as he celebrated his maiden test wicket.
Smith lasted just 10 balls before he was bowled by leg-spinner Yasir Shah for four runs, by far his lowest test score in eight innings since he and Warner returned from their one-year bans for the 2018 ball-tampering incident.
It was the seventh time in six tests that Yasir had dismissed the former Australia captain.
While Warner looked out of sorts as he added just three runs to his overnight tally of 151, Labuschagne took the lion’s share of the strike and cantered away on another sunny morning at the Gabba.
The Queenslander had a scare when he was given out lbw to Yasir on 93 but reviewed immediately and was rewarded when the TV pictures showed a clear inside edge.
After a morning of clean-striking he reached the hundred in fortuitous fashion with a thick outside edge for his 12th four. The 25-year-old will resume on 102 not out alongside Matthew Wade, who was unbeaten on 29.
(Content and photos syndicated via Reuters)
