Mighty Marnus and late wickets put Aussies on top

The confirmation of Marnus Labuschagne as Australia's long-sought Test No.3 was immediately followed by reaffirmation his team boasts the world's foremost fast bowling attack as Pakistan lurched towards heavy defeat in Brisbane.

Labuschagne's inaugural Test hundred, which he turned into a career-high first-class score of 185, effectively completed his remarkable year-long evolution from fringe top-order batter to first-drop specialist.

In posting the highest maiden Test ton by an Australia batter since Jason Gillespie's aberrant 201 against Bangladesh in 2006, Labuschagne helped lift his side to a hefty first innings of 580, which was 340 runs superior to Pakistan's day one effort at the Gabba.

Then, with 17 overs in which to let loose their feared pace battery, Australia reduced the visitors to 3-64 and still 276 runs adrift by stumps on day three, with the possibility the summer's opening Domain Series Test will be completed a day ahead of schedule on Sunday.

Not even a rare failure from batting wizard Steve Smith (bowled for four) could slow Australia's charge, as Pakistan lost captain Azhar Ali (5), Haris Sohail (8) and Asad Shafiq (0) in a disastrous start to their second innings which slumped to 3-25.

When Pakistan last toured Australia three years ago, they came within 40 runs of an historic win chasing 490 in the fourth innings at the Gabba.

But with the hero of that effort, Asad (who scored 137), already back in the sheds and with little batting experience to follow not-out pair Shaan Masood (27) and Babar Azam (20), Pakistan's lamentable Test record in Australia – four wins from 35 previous starts – seems set to become worse.

If Australia's highest Test score since they posted 7-649 in the final Ashes Test against England of the 2017-18 home summer wasn't sufficiently daunting, the fact it was achieved without a meaningful contribution from the prolific Smith sends a clear message to their Test Championship rivals.

Today's score was underpinned by David Warner's return to dominance, and crowned by Labuschagne who blossomed during the recent British summer to seize the coveted first-drop batting berth having debuted barely a year ago as a middle-order batter and part-time leg-spinner.

That dual role was previously filled by Smith before he became the game's best batter, and on his current form it would be brave to suggest the 25-year-old Queenslander is not eyeing a similarly heady career trajectory.

At day's beginning, it was Warner who was surely contemplating a Test-best score given he resumed on 151 and his benchmark was 253 scored against New Zealand at the WACA Ground in Perth four years earlier.

But like so many discover after celebrating a major life milestone, the 33-year-old found it difficult to get going the next morning and added just three runs to his overnight tally.

The fact those three runs occupied almost an hour of batting this morning, during which the usually free-scoring opener faced 31 deliveries, illustrates the scale of the struggle he endured.

That battle ended through an act of belated justice when teenage fast bowler Naseem Shah, who had been denied his maiden Test wicket a day earlier after Warner (then on 56) had his caught-behind dismissal overruled because of a clear no-ball, finally got his man.

Sensing Warner's unease at the crease after his physically and emotionally draining century on Friday, Naseem targeted the left-hander from around the wicket, the ploy that had paid off so handsomely and regularly for England's seamers throughout the Ashes.

In the course of a single over, the teenager appealed unsuccessfully for a catch behind, saw Warner play and miss at the next delivery and then withdraw his bat hurriedly from the third, prompting Naseem to follow-through almost the length of the pitch and fix his rival with a cold stare.

Joy soon followed when Warner copped a brutish bouncer that he tried to evade, but was unable to remove his bat fully from the ball's trajectory and keeper Muhammad Rizwan's catch brought a much-needed breakthrough for Pakistan and a moment in history for the adolescent quick.

The applause that accompanied Warner back to the Gabba dressing room remained at a constant volume as Smith passed the century-maker on his way to the middle, with Australia's score already bulging at 2-351.

The cheers evolved into muffled confusion 17 minutes later when Smith, having flagged his intent by skipping down the pitch and lifting leg-spinner Yasir Shah over mid-wicket for four, tried an even more ambitious flick through the leg side next ball and was clean bowled.

Yasir crowned his triumph with an extravagant fist pump, then held up seven fingers to remind everyone present – except Smith, who had already turned his back and was marching off the arena – of his strike rate against the world's top-ranked Test batter.

That record was made all the more remarkable by the reality that Yasir, to that point, had claimed 29 wickets in his eighth match against Australia, of which almost a quarter were the increasingly immovable Smith.

However, if the tourists imagined the removal of Smith would open a path through the remainder of the home team's batting, they were quickly and painfully set straight.

Matthew Wade joined Labuschagne and immediately found the fluency that Warner and Smith had struggled to capture.

Wade swept and drove with deft placement, while Labuschagne timed the ball sweetly and passed his previous highest Test score (81, against Sri Lanka at the Gabba last summer) and moved within touching distance of a maiden century.

Watched by his Brisbane-based family and a crowd of parochially proud Queenslanders, the South Africa-born batter reached his boyhood dream from the 161st delivery he faced, from which he sliced a thick-edge through a gap in the Pakistan slips cordon to the third-man fence.

Labuschagne let out a thunderous roar of conquest and punched the air in jubilation, before being embraced by Wade in a lingering hug.

The pair's celebration continued after lunch when Wade posted a half-century from just 79 balls faced, and their partnership pushed on beyond 100 as Australia crested 450 and their lead took on a distinctly unassailable proportion.

It took a moment of inspired luck to break that stand, as Wade edged a delivery from occasional spinner Haris into the left thigh of Rizwan, only for the ball to bobble into the gloves of the keeper who instinctively clutched the chance.

But the rate of scoring only increased upon Wade's departure, as Travis Head rattled along at almost a run-per-ball before he also fell to smart glovework by Rizwan, who snared a faint edge off Haris who had dragged a delivery down the leg-side.

The removal of Australia's last specialist batter provided Labuschagne with licence to improvise, and he began lofting the exhausted Pakistan attack into the vast expanses of the Gabba outfield as the hosts' lead passed 300 in the wake of tea.

Speculation that skipper Tim Paine might consider a declaration during the break was proved needless as Australia surrendered a clatter of wickets at the start of the evening session, their final five batters falling for the addition of 35 runs inside nine overs.

Among them was Labuschagne, who fell in anticlimactic fashion within sight of a deserved double-hundred when he hung his bat at a wide, full delivery from teenaged quick Shaheen Shah Afridi and guided it directly into the hands of gully.

But the game had already effectively moved into its next phase, and the celebration that bubbled around Labuschagne's achievement soon turned to the expectation of an incisive final hour as the Australia bowlers let loose.

Domain Test Series v Pakistan

Australia squad: Tim Paine (c), Cameron Bancroft, Joe Burns, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Michael Neser, James Pattinson, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Matthew Wade, David Warner

Pakistan squad: Azhar Ali (c), Abid Ali, Asad Shafiq, Babar Azam, Haris Sohail, Imam-ul-Haq, Imran Khan Snr, Iftikhar Ahmed, Kashif Bhatti, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Musa Khan, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shan Masood, Yasir Shah.

First Test: November 21-25, Gabba (Seven, Fox & Kayo)

Second Test: November 29 – December 3, Adelaide (d/n) (Seven, Fox & Kayo)