Seamer Aamer Jamal bowled with pace and confidence on Friday to claim a six-wicket haul on his debut and help Pakistan bowl Australia out for 487 on day two of the first test in Perth.
"We were expecting from Aamer Jamal that he can bowl for us a long spell and good pace," Pakistan bowling coach Umar Gul said in post-day presser. "I think he did his job and we are quite happy with him."
Gul also opened up about Shaheen Afridi, who could only sceure one wicket and seemed down on pace.
“Shaheen used to bowl at 140 kph in [white-bal cricket]. However, when you switch from white-ball cricket to red-ball cricket, you search for your rythym first. Since they are playing red ball cricket after a long time, their body gets tired fast and they are not used to bowling long spells. It will take time for our bowlers to get in rhythm and bowl at good pace. Hopefully, in second innings you will see them bowl with more pace,” Gul said.
Ravi Shastri, during commentary, pinpointed the significant pressure on Shaheen Afridi as the spearhead of Pakistan's bowling attack. Shastri observed that the lack of support in terms of pace from the other end puts immense stress on Afridi.
"I think the real problem for Shaheen is the pressure of being the spearhead of this Pakistan attack and without much support at the other end when it comes to pace. You don't have one bowler here who is even close to 140, so that puts immense pressure on someone like Shaheen," Shastri said.
Resuming on 15, Marsh dominated the first session by bludgeoning Pakistan's inexperienced bowling attack to all parts of the vast Perth Stadium in an attacking knock of 15 fours and a glorious six eased over deep midwicket.
Unafraid to vary his lengths, Jamal (6-111) bowled at an expensive economy rate of over five but demonstrated he was worth persevering with having accounted for Warner and Travis Head on day one. The 27-year-old produced some excellent deliveries, however, when he pitched the ball full, uprooting the stumps of keeper Alex Carey (34) and Mitchell Starc (12) in the morning session.
Fellow debutant Khurram Shahzad (2-83) clean-bowled Marsh on the first ball after lunch, allowing Jamal to mop up the tail. Both skipper Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon edged Jamal to Agha Salman in the slips for single digits.
Pakistan openers Shafique and Imam-ul-Haq (38 not out) replied with an abundance of caution and added 74 runs at two-an-over to see off the new ball and frustrate the home side. Returning from a calf injury sustained at Lord's during the Ashes series in June, spinner Nathan Lyon (1-40) broke the stalemate -- and moved to 497 test wickets -- when Shafique tickled the ball to Warner at leg-slip.
New captain Shan Masood made an entertaining 30 before edging Starc (1-24) to Carey, leaving nightwatchman Shahzad (seven not out) to bat out the day with Imam.
"(We) would have liked a couple more wickets on the board but we've got a total there which I guess we'd have been happy with at the start of play yesterday," Carey said.