Pakistan started the day well enough. In fact, with Australia at 5-78, just after lunch and Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Sami bowling very well, they were doing famously. Having put Australia in, they had them on the ropes.

But over the next two hours, through the two locals, Gilchrist and Langer, Australia first consolidated and then started to take the game away. This wasn’t a partnership of the proportions or gravity of Hobart 4-5 years ago, as Langer and Gilchrist miraculously and famously won a Test match, but nonetheless was significant. When Gilchrist fell for 69, the pair had added 152 and the score was 6-230. Not a commanding score, but anyone would take that after being 5-78.

The Australian top and middle order was undone by some good bowling and a couple of ordinary shots. Ponting was beaten by a good in ducker, having been feed a few away swingers, but it was a very careless shot. And Lehman’s dismissal was once again a disgrace. I’m afraid to say it was a typical Lehman dismissal as he walked right across his stumps and saw his leg stump knocked back. With Katich in the wings he Lehmann would do well to start playing more responsibly.

But the day belonged to Langer. He had just passed his hundred when Gilchrist went. With Gillespie, he built an 80 run partnership that really took the gain away from Pakistan and with his score at 181 overnight, he has the chance of back-to-back double hundreds.

And one final comment: The great Pakistani fast bowler and former captain (three times, I think, or was that four) is in the commentary box. And perhaps surprisingly (to me) he is beautifully and thoughtfully spoken. He says the Pakistani names very correctly and offers some interesting insights as a bowler and a Pakistani cricketer.

Oh, the score is 8/357. Pakistan bowled only 85 hours even though they went the full 30 minutes over. Run rate = 4.20