HOBART: Salman Butt almost redeemed himself on Saturday with his first ton in more than fours years but Pakistan were still praying for rain to save them from yet another whitewash at the hands of Australia.

The left-handed opener, who was involved in two calamitous run-outs on the second day, fought hard for a 234-ball 102 — his third Test ton and second in Australia — and shared a 129-run stand for the fifth wicket with Shoaib Malik (58) to lift hopes of a Pakistan fightback on the third day of their final Test here at the Bellerive Oval.

But the duo’s failure to convert what was a good partnership into a match-saving one once again left Pakistan on the verge of yet another defeat. Pakistan suffered a collapse after the fall of Butt, losing 5-35 before a last-wicket stand of 53 between Umar Gul and Mohammad Asif gave their total of 301 some respectability.

Simon Katich, the little-used wrist-spinner, was the man responsible for bringing Australia back in control on a benign Hobart wicket with 3-34 while Nathan Hauritz finished with 3-96.

Ricky Ponting, the Australia captain, decided against enforcing the follow-on and instead opted to chase a big lead in search of a 3-0 whitewash over the tourists following wins in Melbourne and Sydney.

The hosts lost opener Shane Watson early but Ponting (25) and Simon Katich (33) took them to 59-1 at stumps for a grand lead of 277 with nine wickets in hand.

Watson fell for one in just the second over of the innings, trying to slash a Mohammad Aamer delivery only to spoon it to mid-on where Mohammad Yousuf took a comfortable catch.

But Ponting, who smashed 209 in the first innings, seemed to be in top gear and with Katich also in fine nick, the Aussies seem set to bat Pakistan out of the match on Sunday.

With two days still left, Pakistan desperately needs the showers, which have been forecasted for Sunday and Monday to save the Test.

Earlier, Pakistan made a good start to the day when Butt and Malik batted out the first session and added 64 runs to take the total to 158-4 from 64 overs at lunch.

The only time the Aussies came close to breaking the partnership before lunch was when Siddle had a confident lbw appeal against Malik, which was turned down. Hot spot later proved that it was a good decision by the umpire. Butt also gave a half-chance to Marcus North, who spilt it at slips off the bowling of Watson in the 56th over.

From then on, Butt showed a lot of composure and cruised to his century after almost a five-and-a-half-hour stay on the wicket when he took a double off Hauritz on the off side. His 100 took 230 balls and included 17 fours. It was the 25-year-old’s first century since hitting a career-best 122 against England in Multan in November 2005.

But he lasted for just four more balls, falling to Katich in the very next over, edging one to Michael Clarke in the slips. It ended a dogged 234-ball stay that included two disastrous mix-ups, which saw his skipper Yousuf and Umar Akmal needlessly run out on Friday afternoon. Yousuf later blamed Butt for being selfish and lazy.

Butt’s fall began a dramatic collapse for Pakistan, who lost five wickets within a span of 35 runs to slip to 248-9, still 271 runs behind Australia’s 519-8 declared.

Debutant Sarfraz Ahmed (1) lasted for just six balls as he edged Katich with a lazy drive and was caught comfortably by Clarke.

The responsibility of taking the innings forward was now rested on Malik’s shoulders but the former Pakistan captain fell to Hauritz playing a poor shot and was pocketed by Bollinger at mid-on.

Katich just eight runs scalped Aamer later and Pakistan was reeling at 227-8. Kaneria added 21 runs with Gul before hitting Hauritz uppishly and Ponting took a superb catch at cover.

Just when it seemed it was game over for Pakistan, Gul and Asif displayed nerves of steel in a gutsy last-wicket stand of 53 that took Pakistan past the 300-run mark and forced Ponting against enforcing the follow-on.

Gul was in fine nick as he hoisted Hauritz for two consecutive sixes and hit another big one off Katich for an unbeaten 38 off 56 balls. Asif was equally impressive as he surpassed his previous career-best score of 12 (not out) with a 52-ball 29 that included five boundaries. They held fort for more than 14 overs but Asif finally became Hauritz’s third victim trying to go for the maximum only to be caught by Mike Hussey at mid-on.