Australia took a gamble on day three of the final Test in Hobart as it bowled Pakistan out cheaply but chose not to enforce the follow-on in Hobart. Three wickets by Simon Katich, including that of top scorer Salman Butt (102), saw Pakistan all out for 301, a first innings deficit of 218. But despite rain being forecast for days four and five, Australia captain Ricky Ponting chose to bat again. Australia ended the day 59-1, an overall lead of 277 runs. If Australia manages to win the match, it would equal the world record of 12 successive Test wins against the same opponent, which is held by Sri Lanka against Bangladesh. Butt's century was the mainstay of the Pakistan innings and made up for having cost his side two wickets on day two when his refusal to run saw Mohammad Yousuf and Umar Akmal both run out. Having resumed at 94-4, former captain Shoaib Malik (58) provided great support for Butt as Pakistan advanced to 213-4, before Katich intervened. Ponting only used him as Australia sought to get through the final overs before the new ball was due, but he produced unexpected results, taking the wickets of Butt, Sarfraz Ahmed (1) and Mohammad Aamer (4) in quick succession. Malik, caught by Doug Bollinger off the bowling of Nathan Hauritz, was the other victim in a mini-collapse as Pakistan lost four wickets for 14 in the space of eight overs. Danish Kaneria scored only eight before giving Ponting a simple catch off Hauritz, but a dogged final-wicket stand of 53 between bowlers Umar Gul and Mohammad Asif kept the innings alive. They took the score from 248-9 to 301 all out when Asif was caught out by Mike Hussey off the bowling of Hauritz, leaving Australia with 18 overs to face. Watson scored one run before being caught off Yousuf, leaving Katich (33) and Ponting (25) unbeaten at the close. Afterwards, surprise bowling hero Katich admitted Australia still had some work to do as it aims to record its fifth home Test win in six matches, but he said time was on its side. “It's still a very good wicket and that is going to be our biggest challenge - leaving ourselves enough time to bowl them out again,” he said. “I think if we had knocked that last wicket over quickly and had a lead of 270 or 280 there might have been a good chance that we were going to be back out there bowling again. “But the way it's panning out, I think there is still plenty of time in the game with two days left and hopefully the weather will hold.” Scores: Australia 519-8 dec. and 59
