A look back at the final stages of the contest for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy and a photo gallery.
Early this morning UK time, midway through the afternoon session of day three in Sydney, Australia completed a six-wicket win over India which gave them a 3-1 series victory with one match drawn, and for the first time in a decade possession of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. This post looks at the developments of days two and three of the final match.
DAY TWO
Day two started well for India but in the end left them poorly placed. They secured a small first innings lead, dismissing Australia for 181. Their own second innings however was a poor show with the shining exception of Rishabh Pant. Pant, justly criticized for his two dismissals in the previous match at the MCG, played a magnificent knock on a pitch that always helped the bowlers. He scored 61 off 33 balls, hitting some gorgeous shots. In the circumstances, with wickets falling regularly it was the right way to approach things, and it was an unforgettable display. Even with these pyrotechnics India were still 141-6 at the close of day two, 145 runs ahead overall, and with Bumrah in hospital for scans on an injury.
DAY THREE AND WRAP UP
Ravindra Jadeja was out early, and the tail offered little further resistance. Cummins claimed two of the last four wickets and Boland the other two, his fifth and sixth of the innings and ninth and tenth of the match. Australia lost four wickets en route to victory, but Travis Head and Beau Webster, who had an excellent test debut, scoring 57 and 39 not out, as well as bowling 13 overs for 29 in the first Indian innings and taking 1-24 from four overs in the second, saw through such danger as there was, putting on an unbeaten 58 for the fifth wicket to take Australia over the winning line. Crucially for Australia, although he had batted Jasprit Bumrah did not bowl – their task would have been exponentially tougher had he been able to do so.
Scott Boland’s match haul of 10-76 (4-31 and 6-45) saw him named Player of the Match, while Jasprit Bumrah’s 32 wickets across the five matches saw him named Player of the Series. India came into this match still with a chance to retain the BGT, and that was almost solely due to Bumrah. Without him the only question at the SCG would likely have been whether or not the Aussies could make it 5-0. Full scorecard here.
A look at day one of the fifth and final test match in the Austyralia v India series and a photo gallery.
The fifth and final test of the Border-Gavaskar trophy series between Australia and India is underway in Sydney. This post looks at the events of day one.
THE PRELIMINARIES
India were captained by Jasprit Bumrah as Rohit Sharma had been ‘rested’. Prasidh Krishna was a like for like replacement for Akash Deep further down the order. For Australia Mitchell Marsh made way for Beau Webster to make his test debut. Webster is principally a batter, but does have a first-class six-for, taken earlier this season, to his name. Bumrah won the toss and elected to bat first.
INDIA UNABLE TO GET GOING
India needed to bat well, and sadly did not do so. The Australians did bowl well, especially Scott Boland. Mitchell Starc, whose fitness was uncertain coming into this match, took three wickets with his pace, but even he was second fiddle to Boland, who emerged with 4-31. Cummins had two wickets, Lyon one, and Webster on the first day of his test career was economical, sending down 13 overs for 29 runs. India mustered 185 from 72.2 overs in the end. Australia’s openers, Konstas and Khawaja, seemed to be surviving a mini-session of batting with little difficulty, much to the relief of Lyon, padded up to go in as nightwatch if needed, when karma struck. Konstas and Khawaja indulged in some time wasting to ensure there was no possibility of an extra over being sneaked in by India before stumps were drawn, words were exchanged between Konstas and some of the Indian fielders, Khawaja intervened to defuse the situation, and then the remaining delivery could finally be bowled. Karma, using Jasprit Bumrah’s arm as its agent now punished the Aussie openers – that sole remaining delivery took the edge of Khawaja’s bat and was caught by Rahul behind the stumps. Australia thus ended the day 9-1 after three overs in reply to India’s 185. If 14.4 overs seems considerably more than can be accounted for by a mere innings break you are spot on – over rates were disgracefully slow all through the day, and even if there had not been the innings break a good dozen of those 14.4 overs would have gone unbowled.
PHOTOGRAPHS
I lost some of my photographs when the memory card I had been using malfunctioned yesterday. Fortunately I have a spare, and though it has been cold, especially when the wind blows, the last couple of days have been bright and sunny, so I do still have my usual sign off…
The first seven pictures have appeared before – there were plenty of others from that day as well.Yesterday afternoon, post work in Fakenham.The first picture from today.I acquired these cigarette cards a while back, but have not got them on display – I was looking through them today and photographed some on a whim.
A look back at the ending to the test match between Australia and India at the MCG and a large photo gallery.
This post is a few days late – between the Christmas Panto and work I have been busy in the early part of this week. In it I look back at the final day of the Australia v India test match at the MCG.
A RASH SHOT AND A DRS CONTROVERSY
When India reached tea on day five only three wickets down in their second innings, and with Yashavsi Jaiswal and Rishabh Pant having batted through the afternoon session without too many signs of difficulty a draw looked likely. Immediately on the resumption Pant was tempted into a rash shot against a short ball and was caught in the deep, the second time he had tossed his wicket away in the course of this match. This dismissal was not quite as appalling as his first innings one, but he should have taken care to play the ball down in to the ground – India were looking to bat through for a draw, so safety first should have been the guiding thoughts. That opened the door for Australia, and when Ravindra Jadeja and first innings centurion Nitish Kumar Reddy both fell cheaply the door was practically off its hinges. The moment that effectively sealed India’s doom came via the Decision Review System (DRS). Yashavsi Jaiswal, on 84 and playing beautifully was given not out in response to an appeal for a catch. The Australians sent it upstairs. The replay appeared to show a deflection from either bat or glove, but the snickometer did not pick up any sound. Nevertheless, knowing that it was effectively handing the match to Australia, the third umpire, faced with conflicting evidence decided to go with the visual clue rather than the lack of a noise and told the on-field umpire to reverse his decision and give it out. That left Washington Sundar and three tail enders with a long time still to bat, and they did not come close.
Over the five days some 373,000 spectators watched at the ground, a record for a test in Australia, beating one that had stood since the 1936-7 Ashes when the star attraction was a certain DG Bradman.
Pat Cummins, with 90 runs across the two Australian innings and six wickets across the two Indian ones, was awarded the Mullagh Medal for Player of the Match (Johnny Mullagh was part of the all-aboriginal party that toured England in 1868, and showed himself to be a fine all rounder on that tour).
Australia won by 184 runs in the end, and as well as Pant’s two batting errors, the second of which opened the way for India’s final collapse, India were poor in the field, at least four clear cut chances being dropped. Australia now lead the series 2-1, meaning that so long as they do not lose in Sydney they regain the Border-Gavaskar trophy, which has been in Indian hands for a decade. Full scorecard here.
PHOTOGRAPHS
Most of these are from the back end of 2024, but I have included some from today…
The venue for the Pantomime.The first 2025 picture I have posted.
A look at developments in the Boxing Day test match so far and large photo gallery.
At 11:30PM on Christmas Day UK time the Boxing Day test match at the MCG (between India and Australia – the fourth match of a five match series for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy – on this occasion) got underway.
DAY ONE
Australia won the toss and elected to bat first. This meant that debutant Sam Konstas, at the age of 19, would not have long to wait for his first bat at the highest level, since he would be opening the innings alongside Usman Khawaja, precisely twice his age, and the biggest age gap between Australian openers since Syd Gregory, induced out of retirement at the age of 42 by a dispute that left Australia without six of its leading players, and Charlie Kellaway padded up together way back in 1912. Konstas selection also meant two other things: he was only the third ever test player known to be of Greek heritage after Xenophon Constantine Balaskas (South Africa) and Athanasios John Traicos (South Africa, and, after a record mid-career hiatus at that level of 22 years, Zimbabwe). Marcus Stoinis, also of Greek ancestry, has played limited overs cricket for Australia, but not test cricket, and Ari Karvelas has played for the land of his ancestors but not as yet for that of his birth, South Africa; and Australia had a top three all born abroad – Konstas (Greece), Khawaja (Pakistan) and Labuschagne (South Africa).
Konstas played a magnificent innings, showing no sign of any nerves. His use of ramp and scoop shots forced India to deploy run-saving fielders directly behind the wicket, which also meant reducing the slip cordon so as not to leave gaps in front of the wicket. Left arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja got him, with, as is so often the case with this bowler, a ball that didn’t actually do anything – it just went straight through and hit a pad in line with the stumps, for a 65 ball 60, which came out of an opening stand of 89. Khawaja completed a much more pedestrian 50, as did Labuschagne, and by the close of day one Steve Smith had also exceeded 50, and it was still there. Bumrah claimed three wickets in the course of the day, and without him Australia would have been well and truly out of sight by the end of this day. A score of 311-6 was still a good effort. Khawaja did not make my all time Ks XI, but his stocks have risen since August 2022, and he would merit consideration now, although I might still stick with Karunaratne. If Konstas’ debut knock was any sort of clue to his future career then he will displace Majid Khan as the right handed opener in that XI before he is done.
DAY TWO
I missed a fair amount of this day’s action due to the inconvenient time of its happening, but I did get to see both India’s best and worst moments of a day that ended with Australia in total control. Australia reached 474, Steve Smith reaching 140, and Pat Cummins boosting the score with a late 49. India lost two wickets fairly early, but then a fine third wicket stand developed between Yashavsi Jaiswal and Virat Kohli. Half an hour before the end of the day it looked fairly evenly poised, and Jaiswal looked set for a century. Then Jaiswal played one towards Cummins, not a fielder whose arm should be challenged, set off for the single, only for Kohli, ball watching, to ignore his partner’s call, which resulted in the end of Jaiswal for 82. Kohli himself then edged Boland to Carey, and nightwatch Akash Deep also failed to survive until the close. Rishabh Pant and Ravindra Jadeja were thus together at the end of the day, with India 167-5, still over 100 runs short of avoiding the follow-on. India will have their work cut out to emerge from this with anything other than a defeat, which will mean that only a win in Sydney will see them retain the BGT.
PHOTOGRAPHS
My usual sign off…
There are a lot more pictures from Fakenham than usual in this gallery – I had misread a notice about library opening hours and had a lot of time to kill after work on Tuesday and did so doing a lot of walking.For all that it has Fakenham in its name this defunct train station is actually just into the adjoining village of Hempton.The last picture from Fakenham.This picture and the next were taken on Christmas Day morning – the rest of that gallery will appear in my next post.
A look at developments in the two test matches that are currently in the play, both of which have progressed at a rapid rate. Also a large photo gallery.
There are two test matches currently in progress, which is part of the explanation for the title of this post – the other part should become clear through the post. In Adelaide Australia anbd India are playing the second match of a five-match series for the Border-Gavaskar trophy, while in Wellington New Zealand and England are playing a day game. Most of this post will deal with the BGT game, which I have been able to follow live via test match special, but before I get to that I will briefly present…
WELLINGTON WONDERS
The Basin Reserve ground at Wellington is effectively a gigantic roundabout, and England have certainly been in fifth gear this match. After two days play England are 533 runs ahead with five second innings wickets standing, and I know courtesy of an interview that I head that Gus Atkinson was padded up in the closing stages of play, which suggests that a declaration is not immediately planned. Atkinson continued what has been a magnificent start to his international career by wrapping up the New Zealand first innings with a hat trick (Maurice Allom, of Atkinson’s own county Surrey, actually achieved this feat against New Zealand in his debut test many years ago). New Zealand, being made to look very ordinary by this England side, are fresh off whitewashing India in India.
AUSTRALIAN AVENGERS
India won the series opener in Perth comprehensively. This match in Adelaide has gone very differently so far. India won the toss and decided to bat. That was about the last thing that went right for them. Yashavsi Jaiswal was dismissed by the first ball of the match, and that set the tone for their first innings. Mitchell Starc has a particularly impressive record in pink ball test matches (nb for England fans looking ahead to next winter, the Adelaide test in that series, also in early December, is a day game with a red ball), and he further enhanced it by taking 6-48 as India reached 180 all out, lasting under 45 overs in total. India needed wickets in what was left of the opening day, but they did not get them. Bumrah under-used himself, and by the close of day one Australia were 86-1 and sitting pretty with two session of daylight batting ahead of them. A Travis Head century was the centrepiece of day two, as Australia amassed a lead of 157 on first innings. India faced a tricky period of batting in which they should have looked to avoid losing early wickets. Instead a frenetic performance saw them five down by the close, and although the runs came rapidly, they were still 29 in arrears when stumps were drawn. Bumrah’s 4-61 meant that he ended the Australian innings with his test bowling average below 20 per wicket – 185 wickets at 19.95. Mohammed Siraj also had four wickets, more expensively, and accompanied by an official warning for the send-off he gave Travis Head.
PHOTOGRAPHS
My usual sign off…
Pictures from the walk to the West Norfolk eye centre (was full dark by the time of the return journey).A Christmas tree alternative at the West Norfolk eye centre.Thursday pics either side of work start here.Friday picture start here.Todays pictures start here.
A look back at the first three days of the first test of a five match series between Australia and India, taking place in Perth.
The opening test of a five match series between the Australia and India men’s teams is under way in Perth, contested for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. This post looks back at the action from the first three days of that match.
THE PRELIMINARIES
This series had one very unusual feature – both captains, Pat Cummins, who is Australia’s regular incumbent, and Jasprit Bumrah who is standing in for the unavailable Rohit Sharma are specialist fast bowlers. Australia had a controversial debutant in Nathan McSweeney. McSweeney has a fine batting record at state level, but his most productive positions in the order are numbers four and five, and at number three he averages a very modest 30, while he has never opened in professional cricket, and that was the job he was being selected to do in a test match. India won the toss and chose to bat first.
DAY ONE – BOWLERS ON TOP
At lunch on day one India’s decision to bat first was looking questionable – they were four wickets down, and no one had looked remotely good for them. Two further wickets shortly after the interval and it was looking like India were handling Perth no better than most visiting sides. Rishabh Pant, returning to test ranks after a long layoff due to injuries sustained in a car crash, and Nitish Kumar Reddy making his test debut. staged something of a revival for India, getting the total to 150 all out, which did not seem enough for a side choosing to bat first.
Jasprit Bumrah had other ideas. The captain and star bowler for India was soon getting busy among the Australian batters. His first victim was McSweeney for 10, pinned absolutely plumb in front of the stumps. Then he had the other opener Khawaja caught by Kohli for 8 and with his very next ball pinned Steve Smith plumb in front to make it 19-3. Labuschagne dug in, but simply could not get the ball away, and wickets fell at the other end from him with great frequency. Travis Head was clean bowled to become the first victim of the second of India’s test debutants, Harshit Rana., having scored 11. That was 31-4, and when Siraj had Mitchell Marsh caught behind for 6. Siraj struck again nine runs later, putting Labsuchagne out of his misery by pinning him LBW for 2, scored off 52 balls. For a slower innings of 2 by an Australian one has to go back to the 1960s and Bill ‘Phant’ Lawry who once took 55 balls over a score of 2. Australia were 47-6. There was still one wicket to come on this eventful day, one that symbolised the respective positions of the sides by then as Indian skipper Bumrah had his opposite number Cummins caught behind to make it 59-7. By the close Australia were 67-7. The pitch had pace and bounce, but no real mischief – the bounce was consistent and reliable, and there was nothing in the way of extravagant sideways movement. Bumrah ended his first day as Indian test skipper with figures of 4-12 from seven overs.
DAY TWO – CONSOLIDATION
Jasprit Bumrah completed his five-for by dismissing Alex Carey, caught behind for 21. That was 70-8. When Harshit Rana had Lyon caught by KL Rahul it was 79-9. The final Australian pairing of Starc and Hazlewood added 25 to this score, Starc becoming along the way top scorer of the innings, in itself a devastating statistic for Australia. Starc had scored 26, and had faced 112 balls to do so. Bumrah’s final figures were 5-30, while Rana had 3-48 and Mohammed Siraj 2-20.
Australia needed wickets, and quickly if the match wasn’t to get away from them. Yashavsi Jaiswal and KL Rahul realized this, and batted superbly for the situation. They batted through the 57 overs that Australia managed by stumps (over rates have been dire in this match from both sides), leaving India in complete control on 172-0, an overall advantage of 218. Jaiswal had 90*, Rahul 62* and 20 extras had been donated by Australia.
DAY THREE: RIPLEY’S BELIEVE IT OR NOT
If you had asked Jasprit Bumrah to script the third day of this match I don’t think he would have dared to make it as favourable for India as it actually was. India spent the first two sessions building their advantage steadily, Jaiswal advancing his score to 161, his fourth test century, and all four scores have ended up crossing 150. Only one other person in test history has a similar distinction, Graeme Smith of South Africa, also an opening batter. Although India had a minor blip, a high water mark of 275-1 becoming 321-5, Kohli, supported first by Washington Sundar and then by Nitish Kumar Reddy steadied the ship, and then in the final stages of the Indian innings attacked as a declaration loomed. Kohli reached his hundred off 143 balls, at which point India declared, with Reddy 38 not our from 27 balls at the other end. Australia needed 534 to win and had about 20 minutes plus two full days to bat. With the fourth ball of the innings Bumrah pinned McSweeney LBW for a duck to end a miserable debut for the ersatz opener. McSweeney’s efforts here, and those of Daniel Lawrence when asked by England to open the batting for the first time in his professional career in a test match constitute fairly damning evidence about how doing this works in practice, i.e. it doesn’t. Cummins now made what I consider a ‘right wrong call’ – he wrongly deemed this a sensible situation in which to use a nightwatch, but having made that error at least assumed responsibility for playing that role himself, rather than sacrificing one of his fellow bowlers. Siraj got Cummins, caught by Kohli for 2 to make it 9-2. Then just to put the cherry on top of this most one-sided of days, Bumrah pinned Labuschagne, the guy Cummins had tried to protect, LBW with what turned out to be the last ball of the day – there were four balls still to come in the over but were past the official close, so the umpires correctly called stumps (slow over rates have been around long enough that the Laws of Cricket have this contingency of a wicket falling after the scheduled close covered). That left Australia 12-3, and Bumrah with figures of 2-1. This means that Bumrah currently has 180 test wickets at 19.94 a piece. The last person to finish a test career with over 150 wickets at under 20 was Syd Barnes, with 189 wickets at 16.43, and the last of his 27 test appearances was in 1914. Australia with two whole days to come need 522 more runs to win and have seven wickets standing. India had won all three days outright, and on session scores I make it 7.5-1.5 – Australia had the better of the morning session on the opening day with those four wickets, the afternoon session was about even, the evening session of that day was overwhelmingly India’s, and days two and three belonged entirely to India, with Australia’s one decent passage of play on those days, when they reduced India from 275-1 to 321-5 being too insignificant in the scheme of things to matter – India were so utterly in command by then that even the wicket taking had continued and India had been say 350 all out it would have made no difference to the final result. With it also being IPL auction time, the commentators raised a question about their four expert summarisers, Sunil Gavaskar, Darren Lehmann, Glenn McGrath and Tom Moody: if all were available and in their pomp but you could sign only one for an IPL who it be? My answer is McGrath – I reckon I am getting four cheap overs, and wickets into the bargain, in pretty much every match. Moody’s all round skills make him second choice in my view, with Lehmann a poor third, and Gavaskar due to his approach to batting not even worth considering in this context.
PHOTOGRAPHS
My usual sign off…
The photos in this gallery were taken on three different days, Friday which was sunny but very cold……Saturday which was just plain horrible……and today, grey but dry, and much warmer (indeed so warm that I deemed a coat unnecessary)
An account of the spectacular denouement to the Border-Gavaskar trophy series at the Gabba, a look at cricket formats and to upcoming test series, and some photographs.
This post is mainly about the amazing conclusion to the battle for the Border-Gavaskar trophy, the last day of which ended early this morning UK time. I will also be comparing the various formats that cricket now has and looking ahead to upcoming test series.
THE INJURY STREWN ROAD BACK FROM 36 ALL OUT
India took a first innings lead in the first test of the series, before that game underwent a shocking turnaround, as an hour of Cummins and Hazlewood at their best routed India for its lowest ever test score of 36, and Australia knocked of the target of 90 for the loss of two (see here for more details) wickets. At that point, with Kohli departing on paternity leave and injuries already making themselves felt an Indian series victory looked a long way away.
In the second match at the MCG India, captained by Rahane in the absence of Kohli hit back hard to level the series, but their injury list continued to lengthen.
In the third match of the series at Sydney, India continued to suffer injuries, with their two best spinners, Ashwin and Jadeja joining the crocked list. Also injured was Hanuma Vihari. However, in a display of determination that was a foretaste of what was to come at the Gabba, Vihari and Ashwin carried India to a hard fought draw in this match.
The final stop for India, with a bowling attack so depleted that those selected in bowling spots had one test cap between them, was the Gabba, where Australia were unbeaten since 1988, when a full strength West Indies, featuring one of the most awesome collections of fast bowlers ever seen, did the job.
Australia won the toss and chose to bat first (a number of sides of been lured in by the prospect of early life in the pitch and chosen to bowl, normally with terrible consequences – Hutton’s England leaked 601-8 in 1954-5 and lost by an innings and 160, Border’s Aussies conceded over 450 in 1986, were made to follow on and ended up beaten by seven wickets, Hussain’s England allowed Australia to reach 367-2 by the close of the opening day, and thereafter there was only going to be one result), and they tallied 369, a very respectable effort. Shardul Thakur and Washington Sundar each featured prominently in the bowling figures, as did Siraj. At 186-6 India looked in colossal trouble, but Thakur and Sundar followed their bowling exploits with some excellent batting, making 67 and 62 respectively, and in the end the deficit was just 33.
India did well to restrict Australia’s 2nd innings to 294, which left them 329 to get and just over a day to do so. The weather which had intervened several times, did so once again, ending day 4 early with India 4-0, needing 324 off 98 overs on the final day to win, with a draw also sufficing to retain the Border-Gavaskar trophy.
By lunch on day five India had lost only one wicket, and Gill and Pujara were going well. The afternoon session was better for Australia, but they still did not capture many wickets, and Pant was batting well by the tea break.
When Mayank Agarwal fell for a skittish nine it still seemed that only two results were possible. Sundar joined Pant, and they were still together going into the mandatory last 15 overs, with 69 needed. By the ten over to go mark this was up around a run a ball, but they were still together. Briefly the ask went above one run per ball, but then Sundar hit a six and a four in quick succession, which in turn encouraged Pant, and suddenly the target was approaching at a rapid rate. Cummins, who had toiled heroically and picked up four wickets on the day gave way to Hazlewood, while Lyon was wheeling away at the other end. There was a brief wobble when Sundar fell essaying a reverse sweep and then Thakur got himself out cheaply, but the target was close to being achieved by then, and not long later a straight driven four for Rishabh Pant ended the chase, India winning by three wickets to take the series 2-1 and retain the Border-Gavaskar trophy in style. Pant had scored 89 not out, backing up Gill’s earlier 91 and a determined 56 from Pujara.
Pant was named Player of the Match, while his 20 wickets earned Cummins the Player of the Series award. Personally I would have given the match award to Thakur who made significant contributions to all of the first three innings, without which India would never have been in the contest, but I can understand why it went to Pant.
Of all the test series I have followed closely enough to comment on from personal experience (dating back to the 1989 Ashes debacle) this one between Australia and India has only one remotely serious rival, the 2005 Ashes series, which featured three of the greatest matches I have ever been witness to plus Pietersen and Giles’ heroics at The Oval.
ON CRICKET FORMATS
Top level cricket these days has four principal formats with a fifth in the pipeline, and this match just concluded at the Gabba, plus events at Galle prompted to me to write a little about each:
Test Cricket – these two matches in their differing ways provided excellent case studies as to why the five day format is the best of the lot for cricket. Both matches featured fight backs which could not have been mounted in a shorter version of the game.
First class cricket – played over either three or four days (one of the definitions of a first class cricket match is that it must last at least three days), and like test cricket the longer time frame enables things to happen that could not in a short match.
One day cricket – played over the one day, usually one innings per side, although various split innings formats have been tried, and each side is limited to a certain number of overs, and at least five bowlers must be used. It has its great moments, notably the 2019 World Cup final, but the great majority of games in this format do not stick in the memory any longer than it takes to play them.
T20 – One innings of 20 overs per side, various fielding restrictions and other gimmicks according to the exact competition. These can be cracking entertainment while they last, especially if they get close, but again few stick in the memory.
The Hundred – 100 balls per innings for each side, to be bowled in some combination or other of blocks of five and ten balls. Nobody really knows why this joke of a format was invented, though after being delayed for a year by the pandemic it is expected to make’s it appearance in the 2021 English season. I feel that tampering to the extent that is involved in the design of this new format is unacceptable. The number of balls in an over has changed through cricket’s long history – it was four in the early days, five in the 1880s and 1890s, then six, then eight for a time (briefly in this country, for about 50 years in Australia) and then back to six, but it has always been fixed and constant within each match. Just as I refused to pay any attention to the Stanford extravaganza, rightly seeing it as fundamentally bad for cricket, so I plan to ignore the Hundred.
FUTURE TESTS
England have two series coming up against India, first in India, then in England, and an Ashes series down under at the end of the year. I now feel having seen an injury ravaged India fight like tigers and beat the Aussies in their own back yard that England will be lucky to win either series against India, but for all that no England team not holding the Ashes have won in Australia since 1970-1 they have a decent chance of winning that series. I noticed that Axar Patel, a left arm spinner, is in India’s squad for the upcoming series in India, and given the ‘rabbits in headlights’ responses of Messrs Crawley and Sibley to Lasith Embuldeniya taking the new ball for Sri Lanka I can see exactly how India might use him to their advantage! Overall, test cricket is in fine health, and has once again dealt very effectively with premature rumours of its sad demise, by producing a couple of amazing games that overlapped with one another.
An account of two and a half extraordinary days of cricket at Adelaide.
The first test between Australia and India in the latest series for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy has ended after only half the allotted time, with Australia winning by eight wickets. Two and a half days proved ample time for some extraordinary happenings as we shall see…
THE MATCH
This match was a day-nighter which made it slightly easier to follow from the UK (the BBC have rights to Australian radio broadcasts for three years, so there was live commentary on 5 Live Sports Extra) – just a very early morning start as opposed an all-nighter. Both sides had questions over their opening pairs due to injuries. For India Prithvi Shaw got the nod to open with Mayank Agarwal, while with both Warner and heir apparent Pucovski hors de combat for Australia they opted for Matthew Wade, who had never previously opened a first class innings, never mind a test one to partner Joe Burns. The other question was over India’s choice of keeper, and they opted for the superior keeper, Wriddhiman Saha rather than deepening their batting by selecting Rishabh Pant.
India won the toss and chose to bat. The second ball of the game exposed a gap between Shaw’s bat and pad through which an HGV could have been driven, leading to the ‘death rattle’ and India were 0-1. Agarwal also fell cheaply, before Chesteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli stabilized things. Pujara batted well up to a point, but did not do quite enough to keep the scoreboard ticking. Ajinkya Rahane now joined Kohli and for a time all was rosy for India, as the pairing prospered. The falling sweep twitter account piped up to mention that Rahane had never been run out in a test innings, to which I could not resist responding with a question as to whether that related to good running or an ability to ensure that his partners lost their wickets when mix-ups occurred. A few moments after this exchange Rahane proceeded to stitch his skipper up, and India were four down. Rahane himself followed not long after, and Hanuma Vihari also fell cheaply, bringing R Ashwin into join the keeper Saha. None of the remaining members of the batting order, Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammad Shami could lay claim to any real batting skill, although Bumrah had just notched his maiden first class 50 in a warm-up game against Australia A. Saha and Ashwin made it to the close with the score at 233-6.
The second day began with a flurry of wickets, as India were quickly rounded up for a total of 244. Australia made this total look quite respectable, and it was only a fighting 73 not out from captain/ wicket keeper Tim Paine that kept their deficit to 53. India missed a cartload of chances as well – officially five catches went down, and there was more than one incident of an edge falling short of a fielder who had positioned themselves too deep to make the catch. Among thos reprieved was Paine himself on 25.
India began their second innings 25 minutes before the cut-off time at which stumps had to be drawn, which I thought represented a case for promoting Pujara to open in place of the clearly vulnerable Shaw (check my twitter account and you will see that I posted to this effect at the time). India felt otherwise and in to bat trooped Shaw and Agarwal. This time Shaw did get off the mark, but with four to his name he was bowled in pretty much identical fashion to the first innings, the ball going through a veritable chasm between bat and pad to hit the stumps. Bumrah was then sent in as nightwatchman, and managed to see things through to the close at 9-1.
For some reason known only to themselves the BBC were not joining the broadcast of the third day’s play until 40 minutes after the start, so I missed the beginning of the end, the commentary being joined just as Kohli was dismissed to make it 19-6. I heard commentary on the dismissals that I had missed, as playbacks were presented during the coverage of what remained, and I heard the end of the Indian innings and the entire Australia chase. Agarwal and Bumrah took the score to 15 before Bumrah was out, the first of four successive wickets, the others being Agarwal, Pujara and Rahane to fall with the score at 15. Saha and Ashwin fell in successive balls as well, and that was 26-8. At 31 Vihari, the last recognized batter was ninth out, and five runs later Shami was struck on the arm and retired hurt, leaving the Indian 2nd innings all over for just 36, their lowest ever test score (previously 42 versus England). Australia thus required 90 to win. Burns and Wade batted well, before Wade was run out with Australia 20 short of the target. Labuschage holed out with eight still needed. The end came with Joe Burns hitting a six that also took him to a half century.
His 73 not out, captaincy and excellent wicket keeping, including a fistful of catches in that second Indian innings earned Paine the man of the match award.
THE INDIAN 2ND INNINGS
Normally when a team is out very cheaply there is at least some culpability on the part of the batters. When England sank for 46 to lose a match they had been ahead in at Trinidad in 1994 the rout began with Atherton padding up to the first ball and being plumb LBW, Ramprakash falling in the same over, also to a dismissal that suggested a player and a team in a funk. Here, apart from Shaw at the end of day two, the wickets all seem to have fallen to magnificent bowling, Cummins (four wickets, including his 150th in test cricket) and Hazlewood (five, at one stage 5-3, 5-8 by the end of the innings, including his 200th test wicket) bowling a perfect line and length and benefitting from some good fortune which both thoroughly deserved, as they found numerous edges and each edge was pouched, mostly by the keeper, some by other fielders. 36 all out in a test is a shocker, but here any honest observer has to credit the bowling, not blame the batting.
One crumb of comfort for India: immediately after the 46 all out I referred to earlier, and which I regard as a worse collapse, for all that England then scraped up 10 more runs than India managed this time, England travelled to Barbados where the West Indies had not been beaten in 59 years, and proceeded to win comfortably, Alec Stewart notching a century in each innings.
LOOKING TO THE FUTURE
Obviously India have a mountain climb, and the fact that Kohli is leaving to be with his wife as she gives birth and Shami is in jeopardy due to his injury today makes it even steeper, but they must not give up. The next game is at the MCG, where they won comfortably last time they were in Australia, and Bumrah in particular will have fond memories of that match. At the start of the 1902 Ashes Australia were bowled out for 36 in a single innings, albeit then being saved by the weather, and rebounded to win the series 2-1, with England’s lone victory coming in the final match at The Oval. I await the match in Melbourne with great interest, having enjoyed this one very much.
PLAYER RATINGS
I will start with the winning team:
Matthew Wade – given a job to do that he had never previously done he can be proud of his contribution to a low scoring match. 6/10 Joe Burns – many were questioning his presence in this team, and his first innings effort was far from encouraging. He also struggled in the first part of his second innings, but in the end emerged with flying colours. 7/10 Marnus Labuschagne – a gritty effort in the first innings when the rest of the Aussie front line batters all fell cheaply, and he fell in the second innings when trying to speed Australia over the winning line. 7/10 Steve Smith – R Ashwin demonstrated in the first innings that the least elegant but most effective batter in the game can be dismissed cheaply, and he did not the opportunity to make a noteworthy contribution to the 2nd innings. 3/10 Travis Head – an anonymous match for him. He failed in his only batting innings. 2/10 Cameron Green – a hugely exciting young all rounder of whom I expect to be hearing much more. He did enough in this game to demonstrate that he belongs at the highest level. 5/10 Tim Paine – a gritty innings, some fine keeping and good captaincy (although his use of the DRS still needs plenty of work). His player of the match award was well merited. 9/10 Pat Cummins – the right arm quick demonstrated why he is currently ranked the no1 test bowler in the world, bowling very well in the first Indian innings and magnificently in the second. 9/10 Mitchell Starc – good with the ball in the first innings, not much needed in the second. 7/10 Josh Hazlewood – a superb bowling effort in the second innings in tandem with Pat Cummins, and adequate in the first innings. 8/10 Nathan Lyon – the off spinner was out bowled by his rival Ashwin, but in a match where the quicks were more prominent he was far from failing. 7/10
Now we turn the Indians:
Mayant Agarwal: not a match the established opener will look back on with any pride. 4/10 Prithvi Shaw: a nightmare for the youngster who has a magnificent record in Indian domestic cricket but is not yet established as a test player. I cannot see him continuing as an opener – it is an early wicket every time for the Aussies if he does, but he may have a role in this series nonetheless as there will be a vacancy at no4, where he will be less exposed. 1/10 Cheteshwar Pujara: he did a solid job in the first innings, although he should have done more to keep the scoreboard ticking. Failed in the second innings. 4/10 Virat Kohli: before being stitched up by Rahane in the first innings he looked nailed on for a century. 7/10 Ajinkya Rahane: played well in the first innings, but a lot of the good he did for his side with his personal score was negated by his role in Kohli’s dismissal and his own subsequent dismissal shortly afterwards. Including the run out of Kohli the last 16 Indian wickets plus Shami retired hurt raised just 89 between them. 3/10 Hanuma Vihari: two failures for the youngster. 2/10 Wriddhiman Saha: kept superbly as usual, and looked to have done a valuable job with the bat in the closing stages of the opening day. 4/10 R Ashwin: good work with the bat near the end of the first day, but dismissed right at the start of the second when a decent morning’s batting could have put India out of reach in the match. Bowled beautifully in the Australian first innings and was rewarded with four wickets. 7/10 Umesh Yadav: bowled respectably in the first Australian innings. 5/10 Jasprit Bumrah: bowled impressively and commanded respect from all the Aussies. It must be said that there was little evidence of his much vaunted improvement with the bat and using him as nightwatchman was probably a mistake (if India were going to protect any of their major batters it should have been Shaw, which they could have done by promoting Pujara one place). Still, he did little noticeably wrong, and did manage the nightwatchman’s first task of surviving to the close of play. 6/10
Looking at the players India have available for the second match I would suggest that they select Shubman Gill to open with Agarwal and fill the temporarily vacant no4 slot by moving Shaw down from his current opening berth.
If you wish to see a scorecard and some more recognized views about this match, click here.
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