Mitchell Marsh slams 96 against Pakistan in Boxing Day Test

Australian all-rounder Mitchell Marsh scored 96 off 130 balls in the third innings of the ongoing Boxing Day Test in Melbourne against Pakistan. He missed out on his maiden Test century. Marsh returned with twin half-centuries in the series opener in Perth.

A Fine Knock from Marsh -

Australia struggled at 16/4 in their second innings when Marsh arrived in the middle. He joined sides with Steve Smith and took the team out of trouble with a 153-run partnership. Marsh was the aggressor in the partnership as he gave a tough time to the deliveries of Aamer Jamal and Shaheen Afridi. Unfortunately, he eventually fell to Mir Hamza.

He edges to the first slip and Salman dives to his right to take an absolute screamer.

Australia leads by 225 with Smith on 50 and Carey yet to score.

50 Test wickets loading for Marsh -

Besides being an excellent batsman, he is also a fabulous right-arm fast bowler. Overall, he has taken 46 wickets in test matches and he also took a fifer against England in Ashes 2019. The 32-year-old got Babar Azam in the series opener in Perth, in Pakistan's first innings.

How has the match proceeded?

Australia posted 318 after being asked to bat first as Marnus Labuschagne scored 63. Usman Khwaja (42) and Mitchell Marsh (41) also played a decent knock. Pakistan made 264 in response thanks to fifties from Abdullah Shafique (62) and skipper Shan Masood (54).

While Pat Cummins claimed five wickets, Nathan Lyon claimed a four-fer. Marsh and Smith have extended Australia's lead past 200 runs.