Carey is taken aback by a “from nowhere” wicket, while Marsh chastises Pakistan for a slip

Day three of the third Test between Australia and Pakistan gets under way at the SCG. The Sydney match was thrust back into the public eye on Thursday due to inclement weather.

Batting second on 2-116 and down by 197 runs, Australia returned to the game with Steve Smith (6) and Marnus Labuschagne (23) at the wicket.

Following a slow start by Australia and an odd delay, Pakistan struck twice in the final seven balls of the first session to remove the two set batsmen and leave Australia at 4-187.

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Following lunch, Saim Ayub, making his Test match debut for Pakistan, lost his second catch of the game, giving Mitch Marsh a second life on just seven runs, and shortly after that, Travis Head fell.

However, Carey and Marsh combined for a 50-run partnership. Marsh, who is 31 years old, did have another fright when he was able to successfully challenge Hasan Ali’s LBW decision despite it seemed like the ball was going over the stumps.

After hitting his maiden boundary after 52 balls, Marsh and Carey quickly picked up the tempo, scoring 84 runs at a rate of more than 4 runs per over.

“It’s incredible, considering his strike rate (Marsh) was 30 at the beginning of the innings,” Isa Guha said. Proves he can invent things.

Sajid Khan, however, bowled Alex Carey (38) between his bat and legs at the crack of tea, clipping the top of the leg-stump bail.

“That dismissal came out of nowhere,” remarked Mark Howard.

With Marsh on 50*, Australia is 6-289 at tea, behind by just 24 runs.

TEAMS

AUSTRALIA: Pat Cummins (capt), Usman Khawaja, David Warner, Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith, Alex Carey (wk), Mitchell Starc,  Nathan Lyon, and Josh Hazlewood

PAKISTAN:Shan Masood (captain), Abdullah Shafique, Saim Ayub,  Agha Salman, Sajid Khan, Hasan Ali, Mir Hamza, and Aamer Jamal; Babar Azam, Saud Shakeel, and Mohammad Rizwan (wk).