Aamir leads Pakistan rearguard that keeps Warner waiting

A near-record last-wicket stand by unlikely pair Aamir Jamal and Mir Hamza not only pushed Pakistan to a first innings total that seemed beyond after a horrific early collapse, but ensured David Warner's farewell was reduced to a three-minute end-of-day cameo.

Aamir contributed all but seven to the pair's 86-run last-gasp stand, ending a stunning counter-punch with 82 from 97 balls which represented his highest score in any format of senior cricket after another stellar five-wicket haul from Australia skipper Pat Cummins threatened a one-sided contest.

Cummins' 5-61 was his third five-wicket haul in as many innings, the first Australia bowler to claim that feat since Nathan Lyon in Bangladesh in 2017 with the late Shane Warne the most recent to record four such hauls in a row (in his comeback from suspension in Sri Lanka 20 years ago).

But the captain's heroics were almost overshadowed by the audacious fightback from Pakistan's last pair who came within a run of Pakistan's best last-wicket effort against Australia which was Asif Iqbal and Iqbal Qasim's 87 at Adelaide in 1976.

The final-wicket defiance meant Australia's opening pair needed to face just one over prior to stumps – sent down by off-spinner Sajid Khan – from which Warner struck a sweetly timed cover drive for four before almost squeezing the penultimate delivery on to his stumps.

Warner remained unbeaten on six and will resume his eagerly awaited innings tomorrow with his team 307 in arrears and facing more of a challenge than seemed likely midway through today.

A defiant 88 from Mohammed Rizwan provided the first plank of Pakistan's fightback, before Aamir – whose previous first-class best in a five-year career was 80no – took to Australia's shellshocked bowlers with a boundary blitz late in the day.

The 27-year-old clubbed eight boundaries in addition to five sixes, the most impressive of which was a reverse sweep from Lyon's bowling that cleared the fence in front of the SCG's Brewongle Stand.

It was one of two late-innings rallies staged by Pakistan the other coming when Rizwan and Salman Ali Agha helped themselves to 94 from just 101 balls faced for the sixth-wicket, a union that forced Australia to drastically revise their strategy.

As that pair piled on runs at more than five an over between lunch and tea, as the ball became softer and the SCG pitch revealed itself to be the slowest of the Test summer to date, it became clear there was little value in the seamers looking for assistance from the surface.

As a result, Australia entered the final session deploying the bouncer blueprint that had brought them success on the final day at the MCG where they secured victory late on day four amid a clatter of wickets.

The plan brought the prized scalp of Rizwan who had seemed set to become the first Pakistan keeper-batter to post a Test century in Australia until he fell for the trap on 88.

Having started his innings with a rush – his first boundary was an audacious swipe that sent Josh Hazlewood beyond the backward square leg boundary – Rizwan was then slowed to a crawl before he and Salman found their stride after lunch.

But just as history beckoned, he attempted to paddle a Cummins bouncer behind square with the resultant top edge neatly taken by Hazlewood tumbling forward at fine leg.

With Pakistan 6-190 and their tail having showed little willingness to dig in during their Melbourne collapse where they coughed up 4-18 in the final half hour, the departure of Rizwan surely meant the arrival of Warner in the gathering gloom.

But Aamir's belligerent ball-striking coupled with Hamza's dutiful defence not only frustrated Australia for an hour and a half, it subdued the fans who had grown in expectation of an evening Warner cameo.

The crowd of more than 20,000 in place for the game's start – which grew to almost 34,000 as the day progressed – might have initially been hoping to see the opener bat in his farewell Test, but any disappointment did not linger long.

Within eight deliveries, Pakistan lost both openers as Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood started 2024 in the most ruthlessly effective manner.

Starc remarkable ability to strike in the opening over of whatever format he's playing did for Abdullah Shafique who pushed unnecessarily at a full ball angled across the right-hander that was obligingly edged to slip.

If the loss of their experienced opener to a self-inflicted wound was a setback, Hazlewood's removal of debutant Saim Ayub next over represented a calamity.

Saim's international experience prior to today was the eight T20 Internationals he's played over the past 10 months, but the 21-year-old could point to a first-class average of almost 50 as proof of his red-ball credentials.

He can also cite the textbook forward defence he offered to Hazlewood's opening delivery as further evidence of his Test potential, and it's safe to say batters of far greater experience would have found the Australia seamer's follow-up ball tough to negotiate.

Hazlewood landed his second offering slightly fuller and had it nip away off the scrambled seam and the young left-hander was leaden-footed as he leaned towards the ball and nicked low to keeper Alex Carey.

It was the first time since 1981-82 that both openers had fallen for ducks at a Test in Australia, and the previous occurrence also involved Pakistan when Mudassar Nazar and Rizwan-ur-Zaman fell to Dennis Lillee and Terry Alderman at the WACA Ground.

More worryingly for Saim who replaced Imam-ul-Haq at the top of the batting order for this match, the last Pakistan opener to record a duck in his maiden innings was Naved Latif against the West Indies at Sharjah in 2001 in what proved his final Test.

Following the comprehensive failure of their new-look opening duo, Pakistan's hopes again fell to their best batting hopes, skipper Shan Masood and his captaincy predecessor Babar Azam.

But that union also proved shortlived when Cummins slipped his increasingly lethal inswinger through Babar's defence and his canny review of umpire Michael Gough's decision saw the Australians' confident lbw shout belatedly upheld.

Saud Shakeel entered this series holding a record run of consistent Test scores that yielded an average above 80 and no score below 22 in 13 consecutive knocks from debut on the spin-friendly surfaces of Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

On the fast, bouncy tracks of Australia Shakeel has been found wanting with his shortcoming never more evident than during his 20-minute stay today.

The left-hander's troubles started when struck a stinging blow on the right shoulder after he ducked into a brutish bouncer from Cummins, and required medical attention that further dented the glacial over rate of the opening session.

His obvious discomfort against short-pitched bowling saw Cummins deploy fielders either side of the square-leg umpire in an obvious signal more bouncers were forthcoming, and then suckered Shakeel into pushing limply at a full delivery that took the edge.

At 4-47 barely an hour into the day, organisers of the annual Jane McGrath Day that begins on the third morning were quietly hoping for a Pakistan fightback that would ensure the game extended that far.

The resistance came initially from Shan, his team's most impressive batter on this tour having started with a double century at Manuka Oval, before being taken up at a far more urgent pace by Rizwan.

Shan's innings should have ended immediately after lunch when Cummins turned to allrounder Mitch Marsh who – with his fourth delivery of the match – induced a lazy late cut from the Pakistan captain that was guided neatly to Steve Smith at second slip.

However, Marsh's celebrations at his growing skills as a partnership[ breaker were quelled when it was revealed he had overstepped thereby allowing Shan to continue his innings on 32.

The lesson he leaned from that reprieve clearly didn't sink in because just three runs later he again pushed forward to Marsh and once more edged to Smith at slip and this time the wicket stood.

Without the enterprising sixth-wicket stand between Rizwan and Salman, the scoreline for Pakistan after they opted to bat first would have been decidedly abject on a pitch that proved surprisingly sluggish.

However, after both batters fell for the loudly-telegraphed short-bowling ploy, the tail succumbed in a manner hauntingly similar to last week's chaotic final hour at the MCG until Aamir found willing support from No.11 Mir Hamza.

The short-pitch ploy had put paid to recalled spinner Sajid Khan who was dropped on six when Khawaja failed to grasp a low chance at gully off Marsh shortly before tea but went soon after when he tamely pulled Cummins to mid-wicket.

It proved a carbon copy of Salman's wicket, with the allrounder tugging a catch to the leg side off Starc in the over after he posted his second consecutive half-century with this one arriving off a breezy 64 balls that were laced with eight boundaries.

When Cummins induced a fourth successive wicket from short-pitched bowling – Hasan Ali helping a bouncer into the hands of Starc on the fine leg fence – his latest five-wicket bag seemed the prelude to another definitive Australia bowling effort.

But Aamir's stoic last hurrah with Hamza in dogged, if almost silent support added a late twist that ensured Warner's arrival on centre stage came against a suitably dramatic backdrop.

NRMA Insurance Test series v Pakistan

First Test: Australia won by 360 runs

Second Test: Australia won by 79 runs

Third Test: January 3-7, SCG (10.30am AEDT)

Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitch Marsh, Steve Smith, Mitch Starc, David Warner

Pakistan squad: Shan Masood (c), Aamir Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Sarfaraz Ahmed (wk), Saud Shakeel and Shaheen Shah Afridi