HOBART: Ricky Ponting on Thursday made Pakistan pay dearly for spilling a sitter when he returned to form with his 39th century here at the Bellerive Oval — his home ground — to guide Australia to a solid 302-3 on the first day of the third and final Test.

Ponting, who has been struggling for runs all this summer, was floored by Mohammad Aamer when he had not yet opened his account. The bowler to suffer was Mohammad Asif . It allowed the Australian captain to score his first Test century in 17 innings. His unbeaten 134 came of 240 balls and was studded with 17 boundaries.

His deputy Michael Clarke also joined the fun under pleasant conditions to score his 13th Test hundred. Clarke is batting on a 223-ball 111 that includes 11 fours.

Together, the duo shared a record fourth-wicket stand of 231 in 59.4 overs after Pakistan had made a promising start to the dead rubber by reducing Australia to 71-3 before lunch on a flat track.

But they committed the cardinal mistake of letting Ponting off the hook in front of his home fans on what is a batting paradise. The Tasmanian maestro tried to hook just the fourth ball he faced only to miscue it towards deep fine leg where Aamer dropped a sitter. It was the 14th catch dropped by the butter-fingered Pakistanis in the series which they trail 0-2.

Ponting continued to struggle but refused to shelve the pull shot and was later struck on the side of the helmet by an Umar Gul bouncer. Another attempt came off the toe of the bat and landed at his feet and later he bottom-edged one into his hip.

But once the 35-year-old, who was named as the Player of the Decade on Thursday, settled down he was a treat to watch. He started timing the ball well and even the pull shot, which had previously caused his downfall this summer, was hit to perfection. He was back at his brilliant best. His first ton of the season came off 152 balls and was laced with 13 boundaries.

Clarke’s was quite an effortless ton. While Ponting had to fight hard for his century, Clarke just cruised to his first ton since the summer of 2009.

The only times when Clarke seemed to be a bit uncomfortable were when Asif bowled with a probing length and beat him outside the off-stump on several occasions. He batted for 242 minutes, faced 188 balls and hit 11 fours to reach his hundred.

Ponting and Clarke made Pakistan chase leather all day though things looked good for the tourists in the morning session.

Pakistan were unable to carry on the momentum created by three early wickets as their bowlers, especially Danish Kaneria, failed to put pressure on the Ponting-Clarke partnership during the last two sessions.

Kaneria finished with unimpressive figures of 0-93 from 26 overs. Asif was once again the pick of the bowlers but was unlucky to finish the day with 1-68 in 25 overs.

Earlier, Mohammad Yousuf, the Pakistan captain, lost his third consecutive toss of the series as Ponting didn’t hesitate to bat first on a wicket that promised plenty of runs.

Pakistan came close to scalping the in-form Shane Watson in the fifth over when the opener, playing at 11, went for a hook only to edge it behind the square on the offside but neither Imran Farhat nor Khurram Manzoor could get a hand to it.

Two overs later, Asif gave Pakistan their first success when he bowled a good length delivery that struck Katich on the knee-roll. But Asoka de Silva turned down a confident appeal forcing Yousuf to opt for a referral which showed the ball was hitting middle and leg and the opener was asked to head back to the pavilion.

Pakistan then removed Shane Watson and Mike Hussey to have a good first session with Australia reeling at 80-3.

Watson, Australia’s most successful batsman of the series, was caught by Imran Farhat off Umar Gul at point. His 29 came of 52 balls and included five fours.

Sarfraz Ahmed, making his Test debut, took his first catch when he gloved Hussey (6) comfortably after he had edged an Aamer delivery in the 21st over.

The 22-year-old was one of the four changes Pakistan made to the line-up that lost the Sydney Test. Sarfraz came in for fumbling wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal, Khurram, Manzoor replaced Faisal Iqbal, Shoaib Malik was brought in for Misbah-ul-Haq while Aamer came in for Mohammad Sami. Australia made just one change, recalling Katich at the expense of Phillip Hughes.