David Warner was at the vanguard in his final Test innings with an unbeaten half-century Saturday as Australia closed in on victory over Pakistan on the fourth day of the third Test in Sydney.
Set 130 runs to complete a series clean sweep, Australia went to lunch at 91 for one and 39 runs from victory, with Warner in typical aggressive form on 52 off 61 balls and Marnus Labuschagne 34.
Warner relished the opportunity to take it to the Pakistani bowlers and unleashed his array of fearless shot-making to put his team on the cusp of victory on the wearing Sydney Cricket Ground pitch.
Australia had an early setback when Warner’s childhood friend and fellow opener Usman Khawaja was out in the second over, lbw to Sajid Khan for a duck.
It only set center stage for Warner as he sought to put pressure on the bowlers and fielders with his intimidating approach.
His 37th Test half-century came off just 56 balls with seven fours.
He had a near miss on 23 when he skied Sajid over mid-on but Aaamer Jamal could not get his outstretched hand to the ball before it hit the ground and the chance went begging.
Earlier, Mohammad Rizwan and Jamal defied the Australian attack for almost the first hour, adding 41 runs to the overnight score before Nathan Lyon struck.
Lyon switched to bowling around the wicket and Rizwan played across the line edging a catch to Warner at leg slip for 28.
Jamal followed three balls later in Pat Cummins following over, top-edging a pull shot straight to Travis’s head at deep backward square leg for 18.
The end of the innings came three overs later when Lyon claimed his third wicket of the innings bowling Hasan Ali for five. Lyon finished with three for 36 and has 509 Test wickets.
Australia were chasing their 17th consecutive Test win against Pakistan after securing the current series in Melbourne over Christmas.
