That’s all from us today, thanks for your company and correspondence. Time to knock this OBO cat humanely on its rock hard head. We’ll be back for day three tomorrow for what is normally known as ‘moving day’ although India have already manoeuvred themselves into a commanding position in Perth. Toodles!
Here is Geoff Lemon’s report of day two of the first Test:
Updated
While we wait for the full report of day two in Perth, here’s one Barney Ronay made earlier:
Updated
Stumps: India 172-0 (Lead Australia by 218 runs)
That’s yer lot. What a day for India, they finish day two in the ascendancy with KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal’s unbeaten opening partnership making the Aussies toil. Excellent Alpha-ing from Virat Kohli at the close as he strolls out onto the pitch in his pads and beats his bat with his glove in applause of his teammates. “I’m still to come, cobbah!”
The players walk off under darkening shadows, Australia will have to lick/ice their wounds and then come again tomorrow. Oh, btw, Marnus sent down the final over and bowled shithouse medium pace but managed to surprise KL Rahul with a slippery bouncer that spat if not like a camel then certainly a shetland pony in a tizz.
57th over: India 172-0 (Jaiswal 90, Rahul 62)
Updated
56th over: India 171-0 (Jaiswal 89, Rahul 62) Lyon twiddles a maiden, one over left in the day.
55th over: India 171-0 (Jaiswal 89, Rahul 62) Jaiswal nudges nearer to three figures but loses his shape attempting a Hollywood drive to Pat Cummins. Lucky not to get a tickle.
It’s the little things eh Eamonn Maloney?
“I for one appreciate the effort to cite the Australian version of that biscuit when you have one of your own. But we haven’t had a crumb here today…”
54th over: India 169-0 (Jaiswal 88, Rahul 59) Three singles off Lyon, not long left now in Perth, we’re into the dregs of the day. But good dregs. Like a TimTam dropped in the bottom of your brew. It’s been such an enjoyable day of Test cricket. Both sides have dug in and given it their all. Rahul and Jaiswal have been monumental, can the latter get to a well deserved ton before the close?
53rd over: India 166-0 (Jaiswal 88, Rahul 59) Cummins slides a full ball down the leg side to leave Carey no chance behind the stumps, four more runs to India to go with a single each to Jaiswal and Rahul. India’s lead is up to 215.
52nd over: India 160-0 (Jaiswal 87, Rahul 58) Up, Up and Away! Jaiswal shimmies down to a length delivery from Lyon and swats it over long on for SIX into the stands. The tv coverage clocking it at over 100 metres and I’m not totally convinced he even middled it.
That’s Jaiswal’s 34th six this calendar year, he now holds the record on his own after sitting level with some bloke called Brendon McCullum on 33.
Updated
51st over: India 151-0 (Jaiswal 79, Rahul 57) It’s not your day, Patty. Cummins finds the edge of Jaiswal’s blade but the nick flies between slip and gully and away for four!
Updated
50th over: India 145-0 (Jaiswal 74, Rahul 56) Pat Cummins turns to the ursine Travis Head and his loopy leg spin. India don’t take the bait, instead opting to work the newbie around to collect 8 easy runs off the over. David Warner has just said on commentary that this is one of those days that Australia just need to “write off”. That’s all you need to know about how dominant India have been this afternoon.
49th over: India 137-0 (Jaiswal 72, Rahul 50) Cummins replaces Starc, who has presumably gone for a lie down in a darkened room. A wild bouncer is thudded into the pitch and it flies away over Alex Carey for four. Make that five wides.
48th over: India 131-0 (Jaiswal 71, Rahul 50) Five runs worked off Marsh’s latest. This is painful for Australia, make no mistake. Shadows creeping across the outfield. Rahul gets the single he needs to make fifty, the crowd give him a decent ovation too.
Updated
47th over: India 126-0 (Jaiswal 67, Rahul 49) Starc slams one down and Jaiswal flicks it away off his legs for SIX! What a shot from the youngster. Starc glowers, looking every inch the bulldog licking you-know-what off some nettles. Starc responds with a fully fledged jaffa that seams away after pitching, leaving Jaiswal groping and grasping. The batter wisely gets off the mark next ball. Shot! KL Rahul goes to the cusp of a half century with a cover drived pinged through the covers. Starc is tiiiiiicking.
Me old mucka Jon Hotten sends a message, *something about James Vince. Again. Nurse!
*Just kidding Jonboy. He’s referring to this of course. Have a gander why dontcha.
Updated
46th over: India 115-0 (Jaiswal 60, Rahul 45) Marsh nearly scuttles one through Rahul, I’ll have you know that ball kept low! KL did well to jam his bat down in time.
45th over: India 114-0 (Jaiswal 59, Rahul 45) Starc serves up a half volley that KL Rahul pounces on, driving down the ground for three runs. Jaiswal nudges a quick single into the leg side to add to the tall left armer’s chagrin. Juggernaut frown indeed.
44th over: India 110-0 (Jaiswal 58, Rahul 42) Mitch Marsh into the attack. Hello Gruesome! Jaiswal greets him with a superb late cut for four.
43rd over: India 106-0 (Jaiswal 54, Rahul 42) The players take their final drinks break of the day after Starc’s latest over costs just a single worked off the hip by Jaiswal. Hard yakka for the Aussies.
“Interesting to read that we sent the bindii weed to Australia.” Types Jonah Sack from South Africa. “Over here they’re called duiweltjies or duibeltjies (“day-bill-key”) — meaning “little devils”. They absolutely will go straight through a flip-flop and into your foot.”
Spoken like a man who knows, Jonah.
Updated
42nd over: India 105-0 (Jaiswal 53, Rahul 42) Some shonky calling sees KL Rahul nearly run out at the non-strikers end looking for a single that Jaiswal had no interest in. That would have taken the edge off the dropped catch last over. A much more existent single is collected off the final ball with a drive down to long on.
41st over: India 104-0 (Jaiswal 52, Rahul 42) DROP! Australia did not, repeat NOT, need that. Mitch Starc replaces Josh Hazelwood and entices Jaiswal into a booming drive on the walk. The edge goes low to Usman Khawaja at first slip, it just about carries on the full but Khawaja spills it down by his toes. Tough chance but eminently catchable and has to go down as a drop.
40th over: India 102-0 (Jaiswal 51, Rahul 41) A maiden from Lyon but a leg bye scampered.
“Hi James, lovely to see Tommy Hafey on OBO.”
And you too, Peter Salmon.
“Can’t not mention that he was a one of the gentlemen of Australian sport, but also legendary for his fitness. Aged 83 he was still starting each day by getting up at 5 am then running 10km, swimming 4km and then doing 500 push-ups, 300 sit-ups and 200 leg raises. Only ever wore t-shirts, whatever the weather, which can get bitterly cold in Melbourne winter. He was, in fact, as hard as a cat’s head.”
This is just a normal morning’s work surely? Chop chop Peter, you’ve still got your 200 leg raises to do.
39th over: India 101-0 (Jaiswal 51, Rahul 41) Hazelwood zips one past Jaiswal’s outside edge, the batter drawn in to fencing at the final ball of another maiden over.
“Morning James, how goes it?”
Bleary eyed but content, Guy Hornsby, thanks for asking.
“A cold and soporific morning in South Manchester, cricket on, cup of tea. I don’t mind winter, you know…
“Loved the Elbow reference earlier. Guy Garvey is a hugely underrated lyricist. A gruff, Mancunian bars, if you will, with a couplet for every situation. Great Expectations, from their 2005 album, Leaders Of The Free World, seems to feel like it’s talking cricket to me. There’s meaning in everything, if you look for it.
And if it rains all day
Call on you, I’ll call on you
Like I used to
Slide down beside and wrap you in stories”
Here, here. Skip to 3.25 mins on this for some more soporific morning loveliness.
38th over: India 101-0 (Jaiswal 51, Rahul 41) Jaiswal nudges a single and goes to a brilliant half century. He barely pays it any heed, mind. A sure sign that he’s got his sights set on bigger things. Rahul then works around the corner to bring up the hundred stand between the Indian opening pair. The lead is 147 runs. Gulp.
Updated
37th over: India 99-0 (Jaiswal 49, Rahul 40) Eeeesht! Hazlewood is this close from getting the breakthrough as he beats Jaiswal’s edge with a beauty that holds its line. Alan Holinghurst would have been proud of that one.
“I would have thought the business end of a cat o’ nine tails. Certainly hard enough to take” chimes Bob Mills. No further comments your honour.
“Gidday” writes Ross McGillivray on the subject of cat heads.
“This was a favoured expressing of the legendary Australian football coach Tom Hafey. He particularly liked tough players and this was one of his highest accolades, another for the brave players was “he’s got a heart as big as himself”
Lovely stuff, thanks Ross.
Updated
36th over: India 97-0 (Jaiswal 48, Rahul 40) Lyon lands it on a postage stamp for five balls before offering a slight bit of width that Jaiswal punches off the back foot through cover for a single.
Updated
35th over: India 96-0 (Jaiswal 47, Rahul 40) Josh Hazlewood changes ends and completes his fourth maiden out of the eight overs he’s bowled.
Righto, on to matters of feline skull density… or is it?
“Suspect it may be cat head rather than cat’s head” emails Craig Lawler.
“They are a notorious vicious type of bindi (*weeds to us Brits), also known as caltrop. They dry into an infernal device that sticks into feet to spread. They came from South Africa originally but now a feature in drier parts of Australia. They are very hard, their spikes will stick into hard wood and through thongs.” (*flip flops to us Brits)
Updated
34th over: India 96-0 (Jaiswal 47, Rahul 40) India’s openers tick towards the unbroken 100 stand. I think this is their biggest opening partnership on Aussie soil for twenty years. If that doesn’t do for them then I don’t know what will.
33rd over: India 93-0 (Jaiswal 46, Rahul 38) Cummins goes around the wicket to the right handed Rahul. Four dots and then a swivel pull for a single out to the deep. Jaiswal stands tall and drives down the ground for a couple.
32nd over: India 90-0 (Jaiswal 44, Rahul 37) Lyon wheels in with a slip and short leg in place. Rahul sits deep in his crease and glides away for a single. Cat’s head updates incoming.
31st over: India 89-0 (Jaiswal 44, Rahul 36) Jaiswal drives Cummins through mid off for a couple. India’s openers have been cautious since the tea break. Josh Hazlewood is being hoicked after just a couple of miserly overs. Nathan Lyon is coming on for a twirl.
Updated
30th over: India 87-0 (Jaiswal 42, Rahul 36) Hazlewood does his thing, a maiden cobwebbed together to a watchful KL Rahul.
29th over: India 87-0 (Jaiswal 42, Rahul 36) Cummins tests out the middle of the pitch with some short stuff. Rahul is up to the challenge, swatting away on the pull for a single. Jaiswal sways inside the line of another bouncer with apparent ease, that won’t please big Pat. Toil and trouble for Australia in Perth.
David Meiklejohn doesn’t mind it.
“Enjoying watching Jaiswal batting, especially his old fashioned and eminently sensible tactic of swaying out of the way of the short ball, rather than ducking.”
Updated
28th over: India 85-0 (Jaiswal 42, Rahul 35) Josh Hazlewood from t’other end, Rahul works off his pads for a single. It’s the only run off the over as Mr Metronome joins the dots and beats Jaiswal with one that nips away late.
Updated
27th over: India 84-0 (Jaiswal 42, Rahul 34) The players start over after tea. Pat Cummins takes the orb and sends down a thrifty maiden to KL Rahul.
Updated
Just chatting with m’colleague Martin Pegan about the phrase ‘harder than a cat’s head’ to describe the firmness of the pitch. I have to say it is one of my favourites. I thought it was an Aussie cricketing expression but Mart thinks it might be AFL? Any OBOers out there got the skinny?
It makes me think of this song and the lyric ‘Cramming commitments like cats in a sack’ which is just a fantastic line.
My phone peeps, a text comes through from my beloved who is on an early flight out of Gatwick, about to embark on a weekend of pizza consumption and wistful volcano gazing in Naples and its environs. Juggernaut brow you say, a man of my calibre? Never.
Updated
Jaiswal and Rahul head off the field to put their pads up, India in control in Perth. The Aussie commentators were just talking about Yashasvi Jaiswal’s origin story. If you’ve not heard it then it’s definitely worth it, I tried to do it justice a while back with this piece:
26th over: India 84-0 (Jaiswal 42, Rahul 34) Nope. Lyon goes around and over forward and backward and over the Irish sea but can’t get the wicket Australia crave. Each opener nudges a single to take the India lead to 130 runs. That’s Tea Folks.
Updated
25th over: India 82-0 (Jaiswal 41, Rahul 33) Here’s Maaaaaarnus. Or ‘Rashid Marn’ as he is apparently calling himself when he bowls. I do mind it and the umpires mind him following through in the red zone. He bookends the over with leg spinning bouncers that pitch in his own half. You heard. A Rahul single ticks us onwards. There will be one more over from Lyon before tea. Can Australia prise a wicket to go with their cucumber sangers?
Updated
24th over: India 81-0 (Jaiswal 41, Rahul 32) Jaiswal trots down to Lyon once more and bails out once more. Lyon gives him a glare and a bit of a teapot. How very dare you. Jaiswal pays him never mind, rocks back into his crease and slaps for two into the off side like an 80s bassist.
Updated
23rd over: India 79-0 (Jaiswal 39, Rahul 39) Starc is zeroing in on the stumps, more full stuff at Rahul who hangs back and manages to work away for a couple. India’s lead is up to 125 runs as this warp speed game continues to intrigue.
22nd over: India 75-0 (Jaiswal 38, Rahul 29) Lyon wheels away, bald pate gleaming under the mid-afternoon sun. Jaiswal advances but realises he’s going to get beaten in the flight and adjusts accordingly. Back to back maidens, what is this, a Test match?
21st over: India 75-0 (Jaiswal 38, Rahul 29) DotfollowsDotfollowsDotfollowsDotfollowsDotfollowsDot as Mitch Starc stitches together a lesser spotted maiden to KL Rahul. A Starc special toe crusher is well dug out by the batter and he survives the examination.
20th over: India 75-0 (Jaiswal 38, Rahul 29) Three singles collected off Lyon with no alarms and indeed, no surprises. It looks hot in Perth, in contrast, the sky is the colour of black treacle here in Derbyshire and the ground is pockmarked with snow. Wish you were here?
19th over: India 72-0 (Jaiswal 37, Rahul 27) Rahul opens the face to pick up three more behind square on the off side and then – Hello Dolly – Jaiswal plays a ‘no look’ slog sweep to a Starc ball on leg stump from deep in his crease, the ball soaring over the leg side and bouncing over the rope. It is not dull. India stretch their lead, Nathan Lyon is being summoned.
Updated
18th over: India 65-0 (Jaiswal 33, Rahul 24) Jaiswal is on the walk, heading down the wicket towards Marsh and clipping to the leg side. Marsh proving a danger with his slightly slower pace, sliding the ball past Jaiswal’s outside edge as the batter trots down once more. Four runs off the over. Australia need a wicket, pronto.
17th over: India 61-0 (Jaiswal 32, Rahul 22) Starc replaces Cummins and stitches together five dots before Jaiswal blots his copybook with a delicious cover drive. That’s five boundaries in the last five overs by my count. Don’t trust my count, i’m disgracefully sleep deprived. Messrs Jaiswal, Rahul and Douwe Egberts doing the trick though.
Updated
16th over: India 57-0 (Jaiswal 28, Rahul 22) Marsh bustles in, resembling a tool chest hurtling down a staircase. He takes Jaiswal’s glove with a short of a length delivery but the contact is meaty enough that the ball dies in front of the cordon. There’s the 100 lead for India, KL Rahul flashes a loose ball away to the point boundary.
Thanks Geoff, and hello all. Quick question - are you very kind, kind, fairly kind or not at all kind to animals English OBOers?
Cummins steams in and is driven for a brace through cover and then late upper cut over the keeper by Jaiswal for four runs. This kid, eh? The baby faced assassin then collects three to backward point with an insouciant glide. Nine off the over! India ticking.
15th over: India 52-0 (Jaiswal 27, Rahul 18)
Updated
14th over: India 43-0 (Jaiswal 18, Rahul 18) Mitch Marsh comes on for a bowl, and unlike the first innings where he struck gold early, his second ball gets pasted for four. Solid pull shot from KL. That’s after a Jaiswal single, and before KL scores two more with a glance, and then Marsh bowls a no-ball. How the tides tide. Eight from an over! In this Test match!
That is it for me. Next up, be nice to him, James Wallace.
13th over: India 35-0 (Jaiswal 17, Rahul 12) There’s a boundary! More convincing from Rahul, who gets forward to a fuller Cummins ball and plays the on drive with style. That’s after Jaiswal gave him the strike. Drinks.
Ashley Baker writes in with an update. “In reply to the query about watching the match outside Australia, the ABC radio feed is accessible from here in Japan. No pictures though.”
Updated
12th over: India 30-0 (Jaiswal 16, Rahul 8) Big shot from Jaiswal! Doesn’t connect, but he tries to boom through cover. Travis Head is immediately pushed back to the deep square of the wicket on the off side. Jaiswal settles for a single later in the Starc over.
11th over: India 29-0 (Jaiswal 15, Rahul 8) Three maidens in a row, ended as Rahul pulls a single from Cummins to fine leg. Another single for Jaiswal flicked to leg.
10th over: India 27-0 (Jaiswal 14, Rahul 7) The lead is out to 73 now. Perhaps today and tomorrow will be easier for batting, so the teams might need to recalibrate their expectations after the two low first innings. Bigger runs could be coming, but for Australia the pitch is likely to get more variable and difficult late in the game. So they can’t afford to give India all of today and a lot of tomorrow, if it plays like last year and gets erratic by day four. Hazlewood bowls another maiden, including a good bouncer at Jaiswal.
9th over: India 27-0 (Jaiswal 14, Rahul 7) Cummins with his second over, and again no alarms for India. Rahul very watchful, leaves whenever he can.
Updated
8th over: India 27-0 (Jaiswal 14, Rahul 7) Another edge from Hazlewood’s bowling, again on the bounce into the cordon. Jaiswal isn’t fazed, leaves and defends the rest of the over.
Updated
7th over: India 27-0 (Jaiswal 14, Rahul 7) Cummins replacing Starc for the 7th over, when in the first innings he replaced Hazlewood in the 8th. Interesting. Gives Jaiswal a ball a touch too short and the opener places it through backward point for four! Just puts the bat there, eased. Then a single into the off side. Up to 15 and looking comfortable.
Updated
6th over: India 22-0 (Jaiswal 10, Rahul 7) Hazlewood carrying on, and this is good batting from the Indian openers, three times taking sharp singles by just dropping the ball away. They’re not trapped like they were in the first dig. Though Rahul did battle through that period when it was toughest, he’s scored more freely today, even for a handful of runs.
5th over: India 19-0 (Jaiswal 8, Rahul 6) Starc bowling to KL Rahul, who picks off a couple of fuller ones to the leg side, two runs and then one. Jaiswal goes through the off side for a couple. This suddenly seems manageable for India, compared to the first innings. But a good ball can still do plenty. Another leg bye to end the over.
“Geoff, do you know if the test is free to view anywhere online? (my alternative version of asking for the TMS link!) Ten million thanks,” says Andrew Benton.
Not sure about Hong Kong. Games do get screened in some overseas territories in unusual configurations. Within Australia there’s nothing free online – Seven have the free-to-air analogue rights but Fox own the digital rights and hence the streaming.
Updated
4th over: India 13-0 (Jaiswal 5, Rahul 3) Nicked in front of slip! Rahul manages to get the ball to die on its way to the cordon, as he did several times yesterday. Rahul off the mark with two, another cover drive that slows along the grass as also happened several times yesterday. Other grounds that might be skating for four. Plays a pull shot for one run, behind square.
Updated
3rd over: India 10-0 (Jaiswal 5, Rahul 0) Boundary for Jaiswal! Glances four, and that makes him feel better after a smearing pull shot attempt went nowhere near the ball.
Eamonn Maloney is pondering. “No 11 is cricket’s equivalent of that alarming stat about the number of men who reckon they could get a point (game?) off Serena Williams. You sometimes find yourself lulled into thinking, could I? And then every so often they play an innings (even one of 20 balls) that reminds you that you absolutely could not.”
I think the survey was about a point, not a game, but even that – no chance, except for a double fault. Yes, you look at where Test 11s bat when they play club cricket. Plenty of them are comfortably top order.
Updated
2nd over: India 6-0 (Jaiswal 1, Rahul 0) Hazlewood to Jaiswal, across the left-hander, and testing him out a couple of times. Jaiswal on a pair, as are several players in this match. But he gets off his! Drops the ball away to leg and scurries through, and Rahul is able to get just enough in the way of a ball that skims off his pad to the fine leg boundary for four leg byes.
“Afternoon Geoff,” writes Phil Withall. “Fascinating match, made more so for me due to my working environment. As an English chef working in Queensland I’ve the pleasure of working with an Aussie and an Indian, the last two days have been wonderfully enjoyable, as they spend most of the shift making sarcastic comments to each other. Particularly enjoyable for the neutral...”
The kitchen might heat up next summer, Phil…
Updated
1st over: India 1-0 (Jaiswal 0, Rahul 0) Mitchell Starc has had 40 minutes to grab a shower and a feed and a tub of cold drinks, and now he’s swapped bat for the new ball. Jaiswal drives with power first ball, but Starc stops it himself. Doing everything. India’s score gets underway with a leg bye into the leg side. KL Rahul on strike, who batted so well in the first innings and got a bit unlucky, I reckon… can’t see how the third umpire can give a caught behind when there’s no footage of the exact spot where the ball passes bat. The frame wasn’t there for that decision, in my interpretation. Can’t be assuming or guessing when it comes to umpiring. Not the umpire’s fault, but the way their procedures are written when it comes to DRS spikes. Rahul plays out the over.
Updated
Here we go. The third innings of the match, starting after lunch on day two.
Updated
Lunch - Australia all out 104 in the second innings
A frustrating last hour or so for India, but still a strong position in the match, holding onto a lead despite being all out for 150. That lead is only 44 though, so the game is anyone’s. India need to bat as well and as patiently as Australia’s last-wicket pair did.
Lunch time! See you in a bit.
WICKET! Starc c Pant b Rana 26, Australia 104-10
Finally, for India! The batting pair are expecting the extra half hour. They call the runner out with drinks. Harshit Rana comes on, pitches up, and finally Starc wants to have a go at somebody. Aims to drive over mid on, but mistimes it high towards point, and Pant has time to get under it with the gloves. A fine effort, batted for two hours this morning, and the partnership was an hour and a half.
Updated
51st over: Australia 103-9 (Starc 26, Hazlewood 6) The partnership heading up towards 17 overs. Lunch is due in a few minutes but can’t the umpires take an extra half hour at nine down? Bumrah bumps Starc, bowls a fractional no-ball on the front foot too. Then pitches back up. Starc is covering the line. Last ball, an edge into the ground, then to the keeper. Bumrah tilts his head back and sighs.
50th over: Australia 102-9 (Starc 26, Hazlewood 6) Starc happy to face every Bumrah ball and leave Hazlewood to face Washington. The No11 essays one aggressive drive on the bounce to Kohli at short cover, but otherwise gets a big stride in, and gets well over the top of every ball.
49th over: Australia 102-9 (Starc 26, Hazlewood 6) Now Bumrah is back. Has to find another spell to try to finish this off. But the batters are well set, the ball is doing less, the pitch has eased. Still tough batting out there but not with that pep of the early morning. And even then, Bumrah gets one to seam and jump. Serious movement, and it goes past the edge. “That’s going to beat Brian Lara, that one,” says Allan Border. Great to hear him back for the trophy that bears his name. Sunil Gavaskar is here too.
48th over: Australia 102-9 (Starc 26, Hazlewood 6) Washington Sundar on! Spin. It doesn’t seduce Starc into anything aggressive. Pats back five balls, scores one off the sixth.
47th over: Australia 101-9 (Starc 25, Hazlewood 6) The spinner is warming up furiously. It feels late to have left that option. Bumrah has bowled brilliantly but as captain has let things drift during this stand. Huge gaps on the leg side, Starc waits for the fourth ball, dinks it out there for his single. Too easy. Hazlewood blots the last two.
46th over: Australia 100-9 (Starc 24, Hazlewood 6) Another over, another late Starc single, another Hazlewood seeing-out. And guess what? The ton is up for Australia. The partnership more than 20. Reddy isn’t threatening.
“Starc and Hazelwood may be experiencing charmed lives but their tenacity is very impressive. Every run materially and psychologically precious here.” Brian Withington sent that 40 minutes ago.
45th over: Australia 99-9 (Starc 23, Hazlewood 6) Starc facing Siraj, the same pattern, just blocking away for a while, then aims one big pull shot but doesn’t want the run. Can’t understand this field back tactic, it lets him play shots like that with very little risk. Siraj finishes with a testing bouncer that follows Starc as he back away, past the grille.
44th over: Australia 98-9 (Starc 22, Hazlewood 6) Reddy aims at the stumps, and it’s easy enough for Hazlewood to push a defensive drive past the bowler and belatedly call for a single. Too easy to get off strike first ball. Starc has only played a couple of big shots but they’ve got four fielders out on the leg side. Nor does he play a big shot here, just waits for the last ball of the over and dashes a single to cover. Goes past Carey for top score of the innings.
43rd over: Australia 96-9 (Starc 21, Hazlewood 5) India still in the lead by 54, but they’ll be grinding their teeth by now. Starc blocks out the whole over, Siraj bouncing him last ball so he doesn’t have a chance to retain strike. Takes a blow on the back in that over, too, as he tries to evade one that doesn’t get up.
42nd over: Australia 96-9 (Starc 21, Hazlewood 5) A bowling change, and Reddy will get his first bowl in Test cricket. Medium pacer, starts at 127 kilometres an hour. Bowls in the IPL. Hits his spot first ball, keeps finding a good length, nearly gets an edge from Starc cutting at width. Fields neatly off his own bowling, stops a straight drive. Clunks a pull shot, looking to go large but only skews it into a gap at midwicket for one. Hazlewood blocks the last though, and another over goes by.
41st over: Australia 95-9 (Starc 20, Hazlewood 5) Bumrah finally gives himself a breather, he’ll be annoyed at how many times he should have had that wicket. Siraj comes on. And they’re dropping the field back for Starc, that tactic that so often backfires. He still has three in the cordon, mind. But he’s able to bat out a few balls then take an easy single. Surely Siraj is capable of getting Mitchell Starc out? And they have a gap at point for Hazlewood to drive into, he refuses the run, which might have been two runs had they gone immediately.
Updated
40th over: Australia 94-9 (Starc 19, Hazlewood 5) They finish the over, Starc taking a single, Hazlewood not taking one late in the over so Starc can keep strike.
Sticking with Rana, no change in the first hour this morning. Starc ducks the first but doesn’t duck the second, it hits his helmet. Rana comes up to check on him. Looks like a glancing one off the curved side of the helmet. They’ll take the drinks break mid-over while Starc gets the mandatory concussion check…
39th over: Australia 93-9 (Starc 18, Hazlewood 5) Another edge, glove in there, slower ball it looks like, so again no catch, it doesn’t carry to slip. Starc scurries a single last ball of the over, pushed to mid on, another Bumrah over gone. Getting frustrating for India, even if the difference on the scoreboard isn’t huge.
38th over: Australia 92-9 (Starc 17, Hazlewood 5) Time to slog! Starc realises Rana is his best hope to score, slaps a drive down the ground but there’s a sweeper, so he stays put and bangs the next ball over midwicket for four. Glances a single to keep strike against Bumrah. Important runs.
37th over: Australia 87-9 (Starc 12, Hazlewood 5) Did Starc forget the plan? Maybe in the moment, instinct taking over as he plays a good pull shot and runs. They take the single, just making it too, and that leaves Hazlewood two balls to face against Bumrah. It’s enough for the bowler, but not for his field, a spearing ball at middle stump that Hazlewood nicks, protecting his timber, and the edge flies between keeper and slip for four very lucky runs.
36th over: Australia 82-9 (Starc 11, Hazlewood 1) Rana carries on, still with pace. Up into the 140s. Oversteps though in his striving. Starc does let Hazlewood take his first run into the leg side – you can’t decline too many in this position. But they swap the strike back with a leg bye, and Hazlewood survives the over, despite nearly nicking an attempted steer from the last ball. Three from the over, two of them extras, and Bumrah is back.
35th over: Australia 79-9 (Starc 11, Hazlewood 0) Bumrah looking to finish it off and take his sixth. Short to Starc, gets out of the way. Huge attempted drive misses, no nick though despite the appeal. Doesn’t take a single, interestingly, when one is on from a glance. Starc reckons he has to be the one to survive Bumrah, and hope they can get through this spell to look for runs elsewhere.
34th over: Australia 79-9 (Starc 11, Hazlewood 0) Nearly gets Hazlewood nicking behind too, another rising ball outside off stump. The two left-handed quicks are all the Australians have left.
WICKET! Lyon c Rahul b Rana 5, Australia 79-9
There it is! Rana short and nasty, Lyon punches it, fist rather than bat, to gully for a looping catch, KL Rahul running in with his locks flowing. Lyon just couldn’t evade that, the ball followed him. Good fast bowling.
Updated
33rd over: Australia 79-8 (Starc 11, Lyon 5) Bumrah to Starc, nasty bouncer first ball that’s just over his front shoulder, Starc having to work to evade it. Then nearly getting a leading edge as Starc tries to clip across his pad to a ball angling away. Does make contact with the same shot next ball to midwicket. He’s rotating strike decently but how long can it last? Bumrah cuts Lyon in half. Surely a wicket comes shortly.
32nd over: Australia 77-8 (Starc 10, Lyon 4) Play Bon Jovi. They’re halfway there with Starc’s single to mid on. Lyon gets them into the second half with a gentle pull from Rana for another single. 76 plays 150, as Starc edges on the bounce into the cordon. Then a pull shot that nearly carries to square leg! Single there, and Rana snorts a lifting ball past Lyon’s edge. This is raw stuff. A bit more chatter between Starc and Rana, maybe getting pricklier.
31st over: Australia 74-8 (Starc 8, Lyon 3) Runs from Bumrah, Lyon manages to squirt it away for three. Starc says, no thanks, you have strike, and glances a single. Lyon defending awkwardly with an angled bat, but he’s still kept Bumrah out for longer than several of his batting colleagues. Tries a big drive but find cover. Australia still short of halfway on India’s score.
30th over: Australia 70-8 (Starc 7, Lyon 0) Rana the young bowler was picked to bowl fast, and he is at Starc, a few short balls including one that takes glove but lands safe. Starc is chipping him, though with a smile on his face. “I bowl faster than you, and I’ve got a long memory.” Starc pats Rana on the shoulder at the end of the over, all seems friendly.
29th over: Australia 70-8 (Starc 7, Lyon 0) Nearly gets a nick from Lyon, too, does Bumrah. And again. Pushing at one ball, fanning at the next. Finally gets bat on a defensive push from the fifth. Hit on the body to end the over.
WICKET! Carey c Pant b Bumrah 21, Australia 70-8
Of course it’s Bumrah! The Indian captain completes a five-wicket haul in the innings with his first ball of the second day. Around the wicket, back of a length, moving away off the seam with his brilliant wrist position. It’s not good batting though, Carey doesn’t need to play that, it’s too short to threaten the stumps and too wide on line, but he’s drawn into it, nervous about Bumrah, just wanting to block the ball out, and his defensive push nicks it through low to Pant.
Updated
28th over: Australia 70-7 (Carey 21, Starc 7) Harshit Rana to get us underway, with Australia trailing by 83 runs! Carey is happy to take an early single though, and Starc responds with one of his own. Carey again. Nudging and glancing, busy start.
Here’s my report on yesterday’s play.
Preamble
Hello from Perth. The sun is shining strongly. It should be a bit warmer today, though still forecast to stay under 30 degrees. But the heat will be on in the middle. Alex Carey, in form and with a history of saving Australian innings, will need to do a special version of that, with only Mitch Starc, Nathan Lyon and Josh Hazlewood for company. If not, then India will take a surprising advantage after they were knocked over for 150 yesterday. It was a wild opening day, 17 wickets falling in a fast-bowling demonstration.
Updated
