Head and Smith centuries rally Australia after top order collapse against India on 2nd day, 3rd test

BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — India's seamers triggered another top order batting collapse but a second successive century for Travis Head and a long overdue hundred for Steven Smith gave Australia the ascendancy after the second day of the third cricket test.

At stumps, Australia was 405-7 after Head made a characteristic sparkling 152, while Smith completed a much more circumspect 101 in a 241-run partnership which rallied the hosts after they had been in a precarious position earlier Sunday.

Jasprit Bumrah took 5-72 and again underlined his stature as the current top-ranked bowler in tests as he tormented Australia’s top-order batters on a Gabba pitch that was offering plenty of assistance for bowlers under patchy cloud-covered skies early on Sunday.

Australia resumed at 28 without loss after rain curtailed the opening day to just 13.2 overs, and it didn’t take long for Bumrah to make his mark as, like the first innings in both opening two tests, the seamer’s relentless accuracy and ability to move the ball off the pitch led to early breakthroughs.

First, he removed Usman Khawaja caught behind for 21 with a ball that moved late on the veteran opener to have Australia at 31-1.

Nathan McSweeney made a patient 9 runs off 49 balls but could do little more than to edge another sharp delivery from Bumrah to Virat Kohli at second slip as Australia slipped to 38-2 in the 19th over.

It was the fourth time in the series that Bumrah has claimed McSweeney’s wicket.

Smith and Marnus Labuschagne steadily put Australia back on track but Nitish Kumar Reddy teased a wild swipe from Labuschagne (12) which was well caught by Kohli in the slips as India captain Rohit Sharma's decision to bowl first seemed to be paying off.

Smith and Head came together with Australia at 75-3 but a combination of Head's attacking mindset and Smith's belligerence steered the hosts safely to lunch.

After the break, Head raised an enterprising half century off 71 balls but accelerated as he got closer to three figures and completed his second consecutive hundred with a whip through mid-wicket off Mohammed Siraj.

Head's ninth test century came off 115 balls with 13 fours and continues his rich vein of form against India that includes centuries in the World Test Championship final at Lords, the one-day World Cup final in India in 2023 and his match-turning 140 in his hometown of Adelaide in the second test last week.

Smith, who has had a wretched run of outs over the past 12 months and has not made a century since the Ashes in mid-2023, played himself back into form here.

His first fifty came off a watchful 128 balls in 210 minutes, but after the tea break Australia's best batter of a generation found some long-missing confidence and flow as he began to appear at ease against India's tiring bowling attack.

The milestone ton duly came just after India had taken the second new ball to try and find a much-needed breakthrough. Smith moved from 95 to 99 with a sublime straight drive for his 11th boundary and next ball flicked Akash Deep to fine leg to complete his 33rd test hundred, but his first in 26 innings off 185 balls.

Next over, Smith made his first mistake and was caught by Sharma at slip off Bumrah on 101 and walked off to a standing ovation from the 34,000 Gabba crowd.

Mitch Marsh (5) edged through to Kohli for Bumrah's fourth wicket and three balls later Bumrah finally got Head also caught behind the wicket to complete his 12th five-wicket haul in tests.

Head's 152 came from 160 balls with 18 fours and equaled his best innings at the Gabba.

A flurry of hitting late in the day by Alex Carey (45 not out) and Pat Cummins (20) capped a dominant two sessions for the hosts as they passed 400.

On the first day Saturday, rain first halted play for about 30 minutes in the sixth over. The showers returned about a half-hour later and washed out the remainder of the opening day.

India won the first test by 295 runs at Perth, while Australia came back to win the second day-night test in Adelaide by 10 wickets.

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

Australia's Steve Smith walks off the field after losing his wicket during play on day two of the third cricket test between India and Australia at the Gabba in Brisbane, Australia, Sunday, Dec.15, 2024. (AP Photo/Pat Hoelscher)

Australia's Steve Smith, right, walks off the field as Indian players celebrate his wicket during play on day two of the third cricket test between India and Australia at the Gabba in Brisbane, Australia, Sunday, Dec.15, 2024. (AP Photo/Pat Hoelscher)

Australia's Travis Head watches the ball after playing a shot during play on day two of the third cricket test between India and Australia at the Gabba in Brisbane, Australia, Sunday, Dec.15, 2024. (AP Photo/Pat Hoelscher)

India's Virat Kohli looks on during play on day two of the third cricket test between India and Australia at the Gabba in Brisbane, Australia, Sunday, Dec.15, 2024. (AP Photo/Pat Hoelscher)

Australia's Steve Smith run between the wickets to score during play on day two of the third cricket test between India and Australia at the Gabba in Brisbane, Australia, Sunday, Dec.15, 2024. (AP Photo/Pat Hoelscher)

Australia's Steve Smith leaves a ball during play on day two of the third cricket test between India and Australia at the Gabba in Brisbane, Australia, Sunday, Dec.15, 2024. (AP Photo/Pat Hoelscher)

Australia's Steve Smith shouts to his teammate Marnus Labuschagne not to run during play on day two of the third cricket test between India and Australia at the Gabba in Brisbane, Australia, Sunday, Dec. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Pat Hoelscher)

India's Jasprit Bumrah, left, celebrates with teammates after taking the wicket of Australia's Nathan McSweeney during play on day two of the third cricket test between India and Australia at the Gabba in Brisbane, Australia, Sunday, Dec. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Pat Hoelscher)

Australia's Usman Khawaja walks from the field after he was dismissed during play on day two of the third cricket test between India and Australia at the Gabba in Brisbane, Australia, Sunday, Dec. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Pat Hoelscher)

India's Jasprit Bumrah, left, reacts as he bowls while Australia's Nathan McSweeney watches during play on day two of the third cricket test between India and Australia at the Gabba in Brisbane, Australia, Sunday, Dec. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Pat Hoelscher)

India's Jasprit Bumrah celebrates after taking the wicket off Australia's Usman Khawaja during play on day two of the third cricket test between India and Australia at the Gabba in Brisbane, Australia, Sunday, Dec. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Pat Hoelscher)

Australia's Travis Head raises his bat after scoring a 150 runs during play on day two of the third cricket test between India and Australia at the Gabba in Brisbane, Australia, Sunday, Dec.15, 2024. (AP Photo/Pat Hoelscher)

Australia's Steve Smith kisses his helmet after scoring century during play on day two of the third cricket test between India and Australia at the Gabba in Brisbane, Australia, Sunday, Dec.15, 2024. (AP Photo/Pat Hoelscher)

Australia's Steve Smith bats during play on day two of the third cricket test between India and Australia at the Gabba in Brisbane, Australia, Sunday, Dec.15, 2024. (AP Photo/Pat Hoelscher)

Australia's Travis Head celebrates after scoring a century during play on day two of the third cricket test between India and Australia at the Gabba in Brisbane, Australia, Sunday, Dec.15, 2024. (AP Photo/Pat Hoelscher)

Australia's Travis Head, left, fist bumps with batting partner Steve Smith after scoring runs during play on day two of the third cricket test between India and Australia at the Gabba in Brisbane, Australia, Sunday, Dec.15, 2024. (AP Photo/Pat Hoelscher)

AJACCIO, Corsica (AP) — Pope Francis’ one-day visit to the French island of Corsica on Sunday, two days before his 88th birthday, puts a dual focus on the Mediterranean, highlighting local traditions of popular piety on the one hand and migrant deaths and wars on the other.

The visit to Corsica’s capital Ajaccio, birthplace of Napoleon, will be one of the briefest of his papacy beyond Italy’s borders, just about nine hours on the ground, including a 40-minute visit with French President Emmanuel Macron.

It is the first papal visit to the island, which Genoa ceded to France in 1768 and is located closer to the Italian mainland than France.

Corsica stands out from the rest of secularized France as a particularly devout region, with 92 confraternities, or lay associations dedicated to works of charity or piety, with over 4,000 members.

“It means that there is a beautiful, mature, adult and responsible collaboration between civil authorities, mayors, deputies, senators, officials and religious authorities,’’ Ajaccio Cardinal François Bustillo told The Associated Press. “There is no hostility between the two. And that is a very positive aspect because in Corsica there is no ideological hostility.”

Papa Francescu, the pope’s name in Corsican, will address more than 400 participants at the Conference on Popular Religiosity in the Mediterranean, organized by the bishop of Ajaccio, Cardinal Francois-Xavier Bustillo.

The pope’s remarks will include reflections on local religious traditions, especially strongly held in Corsica, including the cult of the Virgin Mary, known locally as the Madunnuccia, which protected the island from the plague in 1656 when it was still under Genoa.

“The Mediterranean is the backdrop of this trip, surrounded by situations of crisis and conflict,’’ which is expected to be echoed in the pope’s address, Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said. The pope has often referred to the tragedy of migration, which he has said has turned the Mediterranean into "Europe's largest cemetery.''

After the conference address, he will travel to the 17th-century cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta to meet with clergy, stopping along the way at the statue of the Madunnuccia. Francis will celebrate Mass at the Place d’Austerlitz park, where it is said Napoleon played as a child. Around 7,000 faithful are expected. He will meet privately with Macron at the airport before departing for the 50-minute flight back to Rome.

The pontiff pointedly did not make the trip to Paris earlier this month for the pomp surrounding the reopening of the Notre Dame Cathedral following the devastating 2019 fire. The visit to Corsica seems far more suited to Francis’ priorities than a grand cathedral reopening, emphasizing the “church of the peripheries.”

It is Francis’ third trip to France, each time avoiding Paris and the protocols that a state visit entails. He visited the port of Marseille in 2023, on an overnight visit to participate in an annual summit of Mediterranean bishops, and went to Strasbourg in 2014 to address the European Parliament and Council of Europe.

Corsica is home to more than 340,000 people and has been part of France since 1768. But the island has also seen pro-independence violence and has an influential nationalist movement, and last year Macron proposed granting it limited autonomy.

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

Workers set up the altar prior to Pope Francis' visit, in Ajaccio, in the southern French island of Corsica, Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

A woman carries bags bearing the Pope Franci' image prior to Pope's visit, in Ajaccio, in the southern French island of Corsica, Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

A man sits in the chair that the Pope Francis will use to celebrate a mass on Sunday, for a photo souvenir, in Ajaccio, in the southern French island of Corsica, Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

People walk near the seafront of Ajaccio prior to Pope Francis' visit, in the southern French island of Corsica, Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

People walk past a mural featuring Pope Francis prior to the Pope's visit, in Ajaccio, in the southern French island of Corsica, Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

People walk past a mural featuring Pope Francis prior to the Pope's visit, in Ajaccio, in the southern French island of Corsica, Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

People walk past a mural featuring Pope Francis prior to the Pope's visit, in Ajaccio, in the southern French island of Corsica, Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

Pope Francis boards an airplane at Rome's Fiumicino, airport as he leaves for his one-day visit to Ajaccio in he French island of Corsica, Sunday, Dec.15, 2024. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Pope Francis boards an airplane at Rome's Fiumicino, airport as he leaves for his one-day visit to Ajaccio in he French island of Corsica, Sunday, Dec.15, 2024. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Pope Francis boards an airplane at Rome's Fiumicino, airport as he leaves for his one-day visit to Ajaccio in he French island of Corsica, Sunday, Dec.15, 2024. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)