Damien Martyn completed a century while Justin Langer and Ricky Ponting both narrowly missed out as Australia took complete control of the first Test against Pakistan in Perth on Saturday.
When play ended on the third day, Pakistan were struggling on 18 for one in their second innings, chasing a near-impossible 564 to win after Australia declared their second innings at 361 for five.
Ponting called his players in about half an hour before the close as soon as Martyn had scampered through for a single to finish on exactly 100 not out.
"I wanted to make some runs in Australia, I've made a lot of runs in the winter away and hadn't made a hundred in Australia for a while so it was great (to make one) on home soil," Martyn said.
Ponting and Langer had also seemed certain to reach their hundreds earlier in the day but both fell agonisingly short.
Langer, who made 191 in the first innings, was poised to become the first player to score twin hundreds in a Test at Perth when he fell for 97 while Ponting, who has yet to make a Test hundred this year, departed for 98.
Langer was racing towards triple figures when he drove Abdul Razzaq to the ropes for his 14th boundary to reach 97.
However, the paceman got his revenge next ball when he found the inside edge and Langer dragged the ball back onto his stumps.
ATTEMPTED SWEEP
Ponting, who turns 30 on Sunday, had struck 13 boundaries to get within two runs of his first hundred since taking over the Test captaincy from Steve Waugh.
He missed out when he failed to connect with an attempted sweep from spinner Danish Kaneria and was stumped by Kamran Akmal.
Langer and Ponting had put on 163 for the second wicket to stamp Australia's authority on the match after Matthew Hayden was dismissed for 10 shortly after play began.
Fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar, who was fined by the match referee for his antics after removing Hayden in the first innings, once again made the breakthrough for Pakistan but his celebration was more subdued.
Shoaib, who took 5-99 in the first innings, sent Hayden packing with a vicious inswinger that crashed into the off stump after the left-hander mistakenly let the ball go.
Shoaib also gave Ponting and Langer a torrid time in the morning session but injured his left shoulder while fielding after lunch and did not bowl again.
Martyn hardly played a false shot as he blasted his way to his fifth century this year in a little over two hours. He lost Darren Lehmann for five and Michael Clarke for 27 when he was on 99 but calmly reached his milestone off 121 balls.
Ponting immediately aborted the innings and sent the Pakistan back in for six overs and was rewarded with an early wicket.
Glenn McGrath trapped Imran Farhat leg before wicket when the opener padded up to a ball that straightened. Salman Butt was eight not out at stumps with Younis Khan unbeaten on seven.
Scoreboard:
Australia first innings 381 (Justin Langer 191, Adam Gilchrist 69; Shoaib Akhtar 5-99)
Pakistan first innings 179 (Michael Kasprowicz 5-30)
Australia second innings (overnight 15-0)
J.Langer b Abdul Razzaq 97
M.Hayden b Shoaib Akhtar 10
R.Ponting st Kamran Akmal b Danish Kaneria 98
D.Martyn not out 100
D.Lehmann b Danish Kaneria 5
M.Clarke c Inzamam-ul-Haq b Mohammad Sami 27
A.Gilchrist not out 0
Extras (lb-15 w-2 nb-7) 24
Total (for five wickets, declared, 85.2 overs) 361
Fall of wickets: 1-28 2-191 3-271 4-281 5-360
Did not bat: S.Warne, J.Gillespie, M.Kasprowicz, G.McGrath
Bowling: Shoaib Akhtar 6.3-1-22-1, Mohammad Sami 14-1-55-1 (w-2 nb-4), Abdul Razzaq 12.3-1-48-1 (nb-3), Mohammad Khalil 9.2-0-38-0, Danish Kaneria 32-3-130-2, Imran Farhat 11-0-53-0
Pakistan second innings
Imran Farhat lbw b McGrath 1
Salman Butt not out 8
Younis Khan not out 7
Extras (lb-2) 2
Total (for one wicket, 6 overs) 18
Fall of wickets: 1-5.
To bat: Inzamam-ul-Haq, Yousuf Youhana, Abdul Razzaq, Kamran Akmal, Mohammad Sami, Mohammad Khalil, Shoaib Akhtar, Danish Kaneria
Bowling: McGrath 3-0-6-1, Gillespie 3-1-10-0.
