Hazlewood's moment in the sun comes in golden 10-minute burst

Josh Hazlewood joked he might not have bowled at all in the final minutes of play of day three had he kept his gaze forward, but Australia's under-the-radar quick got his moment in the sun on a golden evening at the SCG.

"Originally I was trying to avoid eye contact with the skipper at ten to six on day three," Hazlewood said on Fox Cricket after an astonishing over that looks to have decimated Pakistan's hopes of claiming their first Test win down under in 28 years.

The 32-year-old wowed both the crowd and the scorebook, which read WOWOWO for his triple-wicket maiden, as he finished with figures of 4-9 from five overs at stumps.

His astonishing burst drew arguably the loudest roar of the entire summer from the SCG’s biggest crowd for a Test day in six years.

"That's why Test cricket is so exciting. You have six hours of play, and then the last five minutes you get the crowd going like that," Alex Carey said with Pakistan reeling at 7-68 leading by just 82.

"Growing up as a youngster, you play a bit of backyard cricket and you come in, you watch the last little bit (of play) and it's just so exciting to see an over like that, but a session like that as well."

Hazlewood had Shan Masood edging behind with the new ball, but presumed Pat Cummins would give another over to part-timer Travis Head after the captain’s masterstroke decision to bowl the part-timer snagged the prized scalp of Babar Azam.

But Cummins swung another change that brought immediate reward as Hazlewood continued his hold over Saud Shakeel, dismissing the left-hander for the fourth time in this series, before knocking over nightwatchman Sajid Khan and allrounder Salman Agha Ali, both for ducks.

Of the big three quicks, Hazlewood has gotten the fewest plaudits in recent times despite reclaiming his standing in the Test side over the past 12 months after injury and tours in unfavourable subcontinental conditions limited his appearances in Baggy Green.

The right-armer missed out on playing in the World Test Championship final in July due to fitness concerns, but then played four of the five Ashes Tests and every match of the ODI World Cup.

He was immense especially during Australia's unlikely 50-over title run, yet the fact he had taken more than two wickets in an innings just twice in his last 23 innings across all formats in international cricket before his stunning SCG spell on Friday meant he has received little fanfare.

That all changed on Friday.

"It was amazing actually," said Hazlewood. "It was loud through at the start of the over with those wickets, then the last couple of overs, it was amazing."

The lack of a standout haul of course belied Hazlewood having been a constant threat over that period; he delivered several telling World Cup spells, while his working over of Babar in Pakistan's second innings in Melbourne was an example of his quality.

And his teammates are not blind to it.

"I thought he bowled quite well last week without getting too many rewards," Steve Smith told ABC radio.

"He certainly got them today. He was getting the ball in the right areas. It just felt like one of those afternoons when the nicks going to the fielders or the balls were hitting the stumps. It was a nice afternoon to be a part of." 

After Nathan Lyon removed debutant opener Saim Ayub and Head found Babar's outside edge following Cummins' speculative introduction of the secondary off-spinner, Hazlewood ensured Pakistan had lost 5-10.

It effectively cancelled out Australia suffering the exact same collapse to finish their first innings a little more than an hour earlier, and has them on track to wrap up a 3-0 series whitewash on Saturday.

"It means a lot for this playing group to win games of cricket, to stay in contests, to never feel like we're out of it," said Carey.

"That bowling attack is … the quartet with the most amount of dismissals (in Tests when all four of Hazlewood, Cummins, Nathan Lyon and Mitchell Starc have played together). They work beautifully together.

"(Hazlewood) was in the contest, he certainly didn't start that last over with a warm-up ball, he was straight into it and it was a pretty crucial over for us."

NRMA Insurance Test series v Pakistan

First Test: Australia won by 360 runs

Second Test: Australia won by 79 runs

Third Test: January 3-7, SCG (10.30am AEDT)

Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitch Marsh, Steve Smith, Mitch Starc, David Warner

Pakistan squad: Shan Masood (c), Aamir Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Sarfaraz Ahmed (wk), Saud Shakeel and Shaheen Shah Afridi