Pakistan bowlers extend dominance

Pakistan 570 for 6 declared and 61 for 2 lead Australia 261 (Marsh 87, Imran 3-60) by 370 runs
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

Sometime in the next two days, Australian ineptitude on slow wickets will very likely have delivered Pakistan a richly deserved series victory after the visitors' first innings melted away in Abu Dhabi.

Mitchell Marsh offered the only resistance in an innings that more or less sealed the series for Misbah-ul-Haq's men, moreover the most convincing since a 3-0 hiding in 1982 - the selector on duty Rod Marsh will remember it all too well.

Misbah chose not to enforce the follow on despite a lead of 309, and two early wickets to Mitchell Johnson were too little, too late.

More pivotal was the fact that Rahat Ali, Imran Khan, Zulfiqar Babar and Yasir Shah all delivered vexing spells, on a surface that seemed far more lively in Pakistani hands than it ever did when Australia's bowlers allowed their opponents to run up to 570 for 6 declared.

The gambit of placing Glenn Maxwell in the top order worked only briefly, his rapid 37 ended with an unsightly ran down the wicket to Babar, who once again showed the wiles of a high class left-arm spinner by also defeating Steven Smith.

David Warner began the day's wickets with a spendthrift swish at Rahat, who placed Australia's pacemen in the shade by gaining movement both ways. Imran followed suit after lunch to swerve through Michael Clarke, and Yasir Shah's beguilement of Brad Haddin and Mitchell Johnson left Marsh alone with the tail.

Lyon and Warner began the day well and truly behind in the match but with the hope of establishing a foothold on Australia's first innings. Lyon played commendably straight, though he was fortunate to escape an lbw appeal from Babar.

Warner needed to reprise his Dubai hundred, but the subtle movement being gained by Rahat drew him into chasing a wide delivery that was caught at backward point - Warner himself having missed a similar chance from the bat of Younis Khan the previous morning.

Maxwell thus went out to bat to join a nightwatchman rather than a batsman, but quickly demonstrated that his hurtling method would not change in any circumstances. Briefly it worked, as he advanced the scoreboard more rapidly than Australia have managed at any time in the series.

But Misbah and his bowlers remained patient, reasoning that this could not last. Logically and almost inevitably it did not, as Maxwell danced down the wicket to Babar, lifted his head as he did so, and was beaten by a little turn that diverted the ball to hit off stump. A tally of 37 from 28 balls can win a Twenty20 match; in a Test it is barely a cameo.

Rahat was continuing to move the ball both ways, and an inswinger burst through Lyon's defences after 85 stubborn balls. Smith was the token batsman dismissed before getting settled as can happen, beaten by another lovely delivery from Babar that struck the top of his back pad and was, according to Hawkeye, going on to hit enough of the stumps.

Clarke played with energy and intent to the interval, but when play resumed he was bewitched and then dismissed by Imran, who gained sharp reverse swing that Clarke seemed unable to adjust to. After twice miscuing balls that bended in to him, he missed a third completely, and middle stump was knocked flat on the ground.

Haddin was inconvenienced by the AC joint problem he suffered on day two, but was dismissed rather simply by Yasir, who spun one leg break past his outside edge before bowling the wicketkeeper via inside edge with a flatter ball that did not turn. Johnson skied a slog at Yasir the ball after being dropped by Sarfraz Ahmed behind the stumps, and Marsh fell short of a century by falling on Australia's devil's number - 87.

The closing passage of the day saw Ahmed Shahzad and Mohammad Hafeez defeated, but it mattered little. The series is decided.