Lyon, top order put Australia in driver's seat against Pakistan A
Australia trail Pakistan 71 runs with the Marsh brothers – Shaun Marsh (54*) and Mitchell Marsh (53*) – showing no signs of weakness.
Australia dominated proceedings on day 2 of their four-day first-class match against Pakistan A by reaching 207 for two in reply to the hosts 278 all out.
Australia trail Pakistan 71 runs with the Marsh brothers – Shaun Marsh (54*) and Mitchell Marsh (53*) – showing no signs of weakness.
Opening the batting for the first time in whites for Australia, Aaron Finch proved his mettle with a solid 54 off 91 balls which included 7 fours. He put on an 84-run opening stand with Khawaja (36) to give Australia a perfect start.
The Marsh brothers then put on an unbeaten stand of 103 to take Australia to stumps safely.
Earlier, Nathan Lyon picked up eight wickets to bowl Pakistan out for 278. Resuming the day at 247 for six, Pakistan lost their last four wickets for 31 runs, three of those belonged to the off-spin of Lyon, who finished with figures of 8 for 103, warming up nicely for two-match Test series starting on October 7.
The GOAT gets eight! 🐐
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) September 30, 2018
Good signs for Australia ahead of their Test series against Pakistan #PAKAvAUS pic.twitter.com/FzJ80oCpqq
The only cause of concern for Australia was the head injury to opener Matt Renshaw, who was hit on the helmet while fielding. It was decided that he would not take any further part in the match mainly as a precautionary measure. Pakistan A agreed to the visitors replacing Renshaw with Marnus Labuschagne for the rest of the match.