Marsh closes in on his 4th test century as Australia reaches 476-7 vs Pakistan at lunch on Day 2

PERTH, Australia (AP) — Allrounder Mitchell Marsh closed in on his fourth test century and was 90 not out to place Australia in a strong position at lunch on Day 2 of the first cricket test against Pakistan.

Marsh’s total came from 106 balls on his home Perth Stadium ground in the Western Australian state capital as Australia reached an imposing 476-7 after resuming on 346-5 after captain Pat Cummins won the toss Thursday and decided to bat.

Cummins was on 9 with Marsh at the first break.

All of Marsh’s three previous test hundreds came against England — one each in 2017, 2018 and earlier this year. A total of 66 of Marsh’s 90 runs in Perth have come from boundaries — 15 fours and one six.

Pakistan went into the test match without a specialist spinner and handed debuts to fast bowlers Aamer Jamal (4-108), including both Australian wickets Friday, and Khurram Shahzad (1-75).

Jamal bowled Alex Carey for 34 and Mitchell Starc for 12.

On Thursday’s first day of the three-match series, David Warner hit a commanding 164 off 211 balls in his farewell test series as Australia reached 346-5. Warner’s first test century in a year vindicated Cummins’ decision to bat first on a hard bouncy pitch.

The 37-year-old Warner, who will be retiring after the last test in his Sydney hometown early next month, made Pakistan toil in the first two sessions before he holed out at deep square leg in the last hour. He hit 16 fours and four sixes.

Warner had endured a lean patch in test cricket since his double hundred against South Africa at Melbourne last year. He was heavily criticized by former Australia fast bowler Mitchell Johnson in the days leading up to the first test, who said Warner had become a liability to the team and didn’t deserve to have a big farewell when he retires from test cricket.

“People make comments but you get on with it and you know you’ve got to go out there and score runs, and today I did that.” Warner said Thursday. “If people are out to get you or make a headline from your name, then so be it. I can’t worry about that. I’ve got to worry about what I’ve got to do for the team — keep scoring runs and putting the team in a great position.”

The Australians are the world test champions. Pakistan hasn’t won a test match in Australia since 1995.

AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket