HOBART: Pakistan were left with a mountain to climb after Ricky Ponting struck his fifth double century and Michael Clarke hit a career-best 166 to propel Australia to 519-8 declared on the second day of the third and final Test here at the Bellerive Oval on Friday.
As if a record 352-run stand between Ponting and Clarke was not enough, Pakistan scored a couple of own goals at the closing staged of the game to shoot themselves down from 63-0 to 94-4.
Salman Butt ended the day unbeaten at 34 from 99 balls but he emerged as the villain for Pakistan after getting involved in the run-outs of his captain Mohammad Yousuf (7) and the in-form Umar Akmal (8).
At stumps, the tourists were 425 runs behind and facing a tough challenge of saving this Test over the next few days and avoid their 12th consecutive defeat at the hands of the Aussies.
It was the same old story for Pakistan, who have no one else but themselves to blame.
If Mohammad Aamer made the mistake of the day on Thursday by dropping Ricky Ponting on naught, Yousuf’s run-out came as second day’s lowest point for the visitors.
Yousuf, Pakistan’s key man in this Test and perhaps the only one capable of saving it, seemed to be settling down for a big knock on what is a flat wicket.
He had taken 23 balls to reach seven when he drove Doug Bollinger through mid-off and thought he could get three. But Butt said no to his call for the third run even as Yousuf kept running for it and was halfway down the pitch before finally deciding to retreat. But a good throw from Mitchell Johnson from deep mid-off went straight to Haddin and the ‘keeper made no mistake.
That was not all. Butt had a role in another run-out just four overs later when Umar went back in similar fashion.
Umar, who had warmed up with two fours in a Johnson over, pushed Nathan Hauritz to mid-off and raced for a single only to see Butt glued at the other end. The youngster tried to dash back but Haddin converted a Peter Siddle throw into yet another dismissal. Pakistan were gasping at 84-4 and hoping for a miracle to avoid yet another 3-0 whitewash against the Aussies.
They could have been better off after racing to 63-0 in the 23 overs but Imran Farhat and Khurram Manzoor just threw away their wickets, both falling to Siddle while playing poor shots.
Farhat, who seemed in fine nick as he cruised to 38 off 68 balls, nicked one to Haddin while Khurram (0) survived just fours balls before flashing at a delivery outside his off stump only to edge it straight to Ponting in the second slip.
Butt and Shoaib (Malik) then batted out the last 15 balls as Pakistan ended yet another day on a frustrating note.
Earlier, Ponting and Clarke almost batted Pakistan out of the Test by sharing a 352-run stand for the fourth wicket.
The duo did it with an enviable ease. It is the biggest fourth-wicket partnership by an Australian pair on home soil and eclipses the 336-run stand between Bill Lawry and Doug Walters against the West Indies in Sydney in 1968-69. The highest fourth-wicket stand for Australia anywhere in the world is the 388 put on by Bill Ponsford and Don Bradman at Headingley on the 1934 Ashes tour.
Resuming their innings at 302-3, the hosts just cruised to 393 at lunch with both Ponting and Clarke in sublime form.
The only time the visitors came close to breaking the partnership in the first session was when Clarke survived an anxious moment on 113 when Umar Gul was convinced of an edge and used the Pakistan’s last referral for the innings by challenging Rudi Koertzen’s not-out decision. The TV umpire upheld Koertzen’s call when Hot Spot presented no evidence of a bottom edge even though there was a noise.
Ponting, meanwhile, was back to his brilliant best. He cut, drove and pulled with supreme confidence and was particularly harsh on Danish Kaneria. But the leggie did come close to scalping the Aussie skipper, who drove him through the covers where Imran Farhat was unable to catch it.
Ponting, who was then at 167, raced to his first double hundred in five years with a superb cover drive off Kaneria and then raised his bat to an adoring home crowd that included his father, mother and sister. It was his first double hundred at the Bellerive Oval and came off 342 balls with 25 fours.
But before that, Pakistan took their first wicket in almost 102 overs when Kaneria bowled Clarke but only after the Australian vice-captain had reached a career-best 166. It surpassed his previous best of 151 on debut back in 2004 in Bangalore.
Ponting was the next man to go when he spooned a catch to Yousuf off the bowling of Aamer.
Brad Haddin then smashed a whirlwind 41 off just 34 balls with five fours and a six, adding 55 off 56 balls for the sixth wicket with Marcus North (21). Haddin miscued an attempted big hit off the bowling of Kaneria to Gul at deep mid-on before North fell to Asif, edging him to gloveman Sarfraz Ahmed.
Johnson and Nathan Hauritz added 20 more runs in three overs as the Aussies tried to step up on the gas. The fall of Johnson, who gave debutant Sarfraz his third catch of the innings, forced Ponting to declare at the stroke of tea.
Kaneria was Pakistan’s most successful bowler though his figures of 3-189 from 15.2 overs hardly look impressive. The tall leg-spinner was unable to trouble the Aussies much and got his first wicket after having conceded 124 runs from 33 overs.
