Broad and Henriques lead fightback

Australia A 230 and 6 for 368 (Broad 85, Henriques 82*, White 67) lead Pakistan A 333 by 265 runs
Scorecard

There were no centuries, but a clutch of handy contributions from Australia A's batsmen helped them ease to a position of dominance by stumps on day three in Townsville. Pakistan struck first thing in the morning to hurt Australia before they had scored a run, and then gained ground through Abdur Rehman's double-strike, but were made to work hard thereafter. Leading Australia's march towards safety was the opener Ryan Broad and rounding off the day in contrasting manner was Moises Henriques, whose perky innings left the hosts in a good position to push for victory.

When Australia came out to bat their lead was 58. They owed much to the opener Broad, who steadily built on an overnight 22 to 85 from 217 balls. Broad lost Michael Klinger without scoring and looked on as Rehman's spin accounted for Callum Ferguson and George Bailey in the span of six runs, but refused to budge. With his captain Cameron White he added 115 for the fourth wicket until he was bowled by Azhar Ali.

"It was good fun actually, it was a good challenge, they bowled well in patches and I think that the partnership Cam White and I put on was quite an enjoyable one," said Broad. "I feel like I'm seeing the ball pretty well, sometimes it's more frustrating to get a start and not go on with it, than to nick one early and from that point of view it was good to go on with it a little bit further, but a little bit further again might have been nice."

White was the next to go, bowled for 67 by Fahad Masood. Instead of tightening their grip Pakistan were put on the back foot as Henriques led two counter-offensives in aggressive fashion. With Tim Paine (46) he added 101 and then with Jason Krejza an unbeaten 38 that took Australia to 6 for 358 by the close. Henriques' unbeaten 82 from just 89 balls, with six fours and a pair of sixes, has set up an intriguing final day.