A marathon century from Mitch Marsh in his first innings as Test vice-captain highlighted a commanding third day from the Australians in their tour match in Dubai. Marsh struck a chanceless 160 from 298 balls and batted for nearly five hours alongside his older brother Shaun Marsh (94), as the visitors made the most of Pakistan A's lack of a frontline spinner at the ICC Academy. Having batted through the previous day's final session together, the Marsh siblings did the same through the first two hours of play on Monday as Travis Head (90 not out at stumps) then became the fourth Australian batsman to pass fifty in their first innings.

Australia lost just two wickets on the game's penultimate day and were 4-494 at the close, holding a lead of 216 runs. There was a solid showing too from Marnus Labuschagne (39 not out at stumps), who has made the most of his late call-up after being substituted into this match on day two due to Matthew Renshaw being struck in the helmet while fielding at short leg. Resuming the day with their side 2-207, the Marshes picked up where they left off as Pakistan A took the second new ball in cooler but more humid weather than the initial two days of the clash.

Pakistan's left-arm pace trio were again solid though found little assistance on an increasingly dusty surface, as the Western Australian pair breezed through the morning session. Only twice in the opening two hours, their second straight session of batting together, did they look troubled.

The first saw both Marshes stranded in the middle of the pitch as they hesitated over a run on a misfield at gully, before a poor throw spared them. The other was when a steaming Wahab Riaz struck Shaun in the helmet with a vicious bouncer that ran away for four leg byes. After a thumbs-up to Wahab, the elder sibling waved away the doctor and continued his charge. The brothers went run for run, but a square driven boundary that had neither batsman nor fielder move an inch saw Mitch take the lead in the race towards triple-figures. He spent the lunch break one run away from the milestone and reached it in the first over back, acknowledging it with a subdued bat raise and a firm handshake from Shaun. The left-hander looked certain to follow Mitch's lead but a momentary diversion from the along-the-ground mantra that defined their partnership saw him bowled six runs short as he tried to loft off-spinner Iftikhar Ahmed down the ground. His replacement Travis Head looked equally assured however, adding a further 116 for the fourth wicket to push the Australian score beyond 400. Head reached his half-century shortly before Mitch Marsh's marathon knock came to an end. His booming drives through the off-side were a feature of his 104-over stay but the shot proved his undoing as Asad Shafiq took a smart catch at cover to hand Waqas Masqood a second wicket. That brought Labuschagne to join the man he's seemingly battling for a first Test berth, though Head only advanced his own case, as the pair continued the visitors' watchful and commanding batting effort. Iftikhar, ticking his over tally past 60, got the odd ball to rear and spin extravagantly but Head expertly handled the increasingly tricky conditions, following up three plays-and-misses with a charging on-drive for four down the ground. Labuschagne too used his feet well, with the right-hander also employing the sweep shot to good effect, as their stand reached 77 at stumps with no declaration forthcoming.