Smith half-century steadies Australia in middle session

Dinner Australia 3 for 182 (Renshaw 71, Smith 54*) v PakistanLive scorecard and ball-by-ball details

Australia’s middle order have the chance to capitalise on a platform set for them by the young opener Matt Renshaw on the first evening of the Gabba day-night Test match in Brisbane.

Renshaw’s discipline in early stands with David Warner and the captain Steven Smith blunted the new ball in the hands of Pakistan’s pace attack and also compelled Yasir Shah to bowl a high volume of overs early in the match.

While Wahab Riaz was able to find Renshaw’s outside edge before he could go on to three figures, Smith and Pete Handscomb then fought their way through to the dinner interval with hope for more runs on resumption. Smith was dropped by Sarfraz Ahmed from the part-time leg breaks of Azhar Ali on the stroke of dinner.

Mohammad Amir and Yasir had struck in the last half-hour of the first session to open up opportunities for Pakistan after Australia’s openers had safely negotiated the early passages. David Warner fell victim to a marginal LBW decision by the umpire Ian Gould to end an opening stand of 70 and hand Amir his first wicket, before Usman Khawaja flicked Yasir Shah directly to Misbah-ul-Haq in the very next over.

These wickets left the match delicately poised and Smith accompanying Renshaw at …

continue reading in source www.espncricinfo.com