Simon Burnton’s report has landed, so I’m away for the night. Thanks for your company and emails, ta-ra!
Alex Carey speaks
We’ve got the runs on the board that we would have liked. You always want to take more wickets but look, they played well. We’ve got a big chance tomorrow. [On Cameron Green’s catch] I thought he could it fair and square – it looked good from where I was, and he was really happily with it. Yeah, I think the right decision was made.
[On the declaration] It wasn’t really spoken about until Patty came out to bat. The way Mitch accelerated his innings got us into the position we wanted. I thought he played beautifully.
We need to be patient tomorrow – put the ball in the right area and try to take those seven chances.
That was another compelling day’s play. Some strong hitting from Alex Carey and Mitchell Starc allowed Australia to declare at 270 for eight and set India a record target of 444 to win. They started very aggressively until Shubman Gill was controversially caught by Cameron Green on the stroke of tea.
Rohit Sharma and Cheteshwar Pujara added 51 breezy runs before getting themselves out in successive overs. At that stage Australia were well on top, but Virat Kohli batted beautifully to finish on 44 not out, with Ajinkya Rahane providing reliable support. It’s still Australia’s game, but India have given themselves a chance.
Stumps
40th over: India 164-3 (target 444; Kohli 44, Rahane 20) Kohli rolls his wrists to guide Lyon to the fine-leg boundary. Smith then scampers towards leg slip to take a brilliant diving catch, hoping Kohli might have inside-edged the ball onto the pad. He hadn’t, and he’ll return tomorrow with India needing 280 runs for an historic victory.
39th over: India 160-3 (target 444; Kohli 40, Rahane 20) Kohli has been close to his 2016-18 peak in this innings, batting with such focus and certainty. I thought Australia would be happy with three wickets tonight; on reflection I’m not so sure. They are still strong favourites, but an India win isn’t unthinkable with Kohli playing so well.
Cummins bowls another no-ball and shakes his head ruefully as he collects his cap from the umpire. Time for one more over.
38th over: India 158-3 (target 444; Kohli 39, Rahane 20) Rahane survives a biggish LBW appeal after pushing at a good offbreak from Lyon. Too high, maybe going down, but it was a lovely piece of bowling.
Rahane then chases a wide one from Lyon, which bursts past the bat and through the hands of Carey. The Australians react as if there was an edge, though it may be that his bat scraped the ground. Yes, replays confirm that’s what happened, so it wasn’t a dropped catch.
“Good morning Rob, good morning everyone,” writes Adam Roberts. “This is the first day I have been able to sit down and watch in depth. What a wonderful match with some fantastic cricket and no pressure as I don’t favour either team. “And a long focus on a little boy demolishing his 99 with significant mess creation and analysis from Matthew Hayden - ‘I reckon that’s poor technique’.”
37th over: India 158-3 (target 444; Kohli 39, Rahane 20) Cummins replaces Starc, whose two overs went for 12. He starts with an errant bouncer that flies away for four wides, then bowls a big no-ball. Australia are struggling here, and I suspect they would happily call it a night and start again tomorrow morning. They’ll be able to do so in about 10 minutes.
36th over: India 151-3 (target 444; Kohli 39, Rahane 19) Rahane is happily playing second fiddle to Kohli. He works a single off Lyon to move to 19 from 41 balls; Kohli has 39 from 52.
35th over: India 150-3 (target 444; Kohli 39, Rahane 18) A full ball from Starc is pinged majestically to the midwicket boundary by Kohli. That brings up an impressive, almost comfortable comfortable fifty partnership from 83 balls.
Kohli waves an off-drive for four more to bring up the 150. Starc is going round the park again: 7-0-45-0.
34th over: India 142-3 (target 444; Kohli 31, Rahane 18) Too wide from Lyon, and Rahane crunches a cover drive for four. There’s nothing for Australia to worry about yet, but there will be if these two are still there at lunch tomorrow. India need another 302 to win.
33rd over: India 136-3 (target 444; Kohli 30, Rahane 13) Mitchell Starc replaces Scott Boland, an aggressive move from Pat Cummins with just over half an hour remaining. Starc is going at 5.4 an over in this game, his worst economy rate in a single Test, but Cummins is more interested in his career strike rate. Wickets please!
Starc drifts towards the thigh of Kohli, who puts him away with the nomimum of fuss. He’s batting with formidable authority.
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32nd over: India 132-3 (target 444; Kohli 26, Rahane 13) This is a good spell for India, who are chipping away at the target without significant risk. Two singles from Lyon’s over.
31st over: India 130-3 (target 444; Kohli 25, Rahane 12) Rahane, given the slightest bit of width by Boland, glides stylishly for four. That takes him into three figures for the match, which represents a very good return to Test cricket. In fact it’s the first time since his triumphant performance at the MCG in 2020 that he has scored 100 runs in a Test.
30th over: India 124-3 (target 444; Kohli 24, Rahane 7) Just under 45 minutes remaining. Lyon is now bowling round the wicket to Kohli, who clips a no-risk single into the leg side. Batting looks reasonably comfortable at the moment, and India will rue the shot selection that cost Rohit and Pujara their wickets. Shubman Gill got a good one from Boland that made him think he had to play.
29th over: India 123-3 (target 444; Kohli 23, Rahane 7) “I think sport can be a force for good in so many ways, Rob, notwithstanding the owners of Man City (and others), and people like Djokovic,” says Simon McMahon. “For every Man City there is a Luton Town, for every Djokovic an Andy Murray. It takes our mind off of the real problems we face. Though some have more problems to face than others. I’m not quite sure where I’m going with this to be honest. Maybe I’ll have another beer. But sport is great, right? The world, not so much.”
28th over: India 120-3 (target 444; Kohli 20, Rahane 7) Rahane sweeps Lyon firmly round the corner for four, a much safer shot than Rohit’s because the ball pitched outside leg. The frustration for India is that, since the start of day two, this has been an even contest. They just lost too much ground in that evening session on the first day when Australia belted 157 in 34 overs without losing a wicket.
27th over: India 116-3 (target 444; Kohli 20, Rahane 3) Kohli is beaten, pushing lazily away from his body at Boland. There was an appeal for caught behind, mainly from the bowler, but Pat Cummins didn’t review and there was nothing on UltraEdge.
Kohli plays and misses again two balls later, this time at an absolute jaffa. There’s a suggestion of reverse swing as well, which would make Boland even more dangerous. An otherwise fine over from Boland is ruined goddamit by a poor last delivery that Kohli flips to the midwicket boundary. Lovely shot.
26th over: India 112-3 (target 444; Kohli 16, Rahane 3) Lyon continues round the wicket to Rahane, with a slip, leg slip and short leg. Three runs from a quiet over, which was enlivened by Justin Langer, in the commentary box, embarking on a comedy rant about all the mistakes Australia and the umpires made at Headingley in 2019.
25th over: India 109-3 (target 444; Kohli 15, Rahane 2) After a spell of 4-0-15-1, Cummins brings on Boland to replace himself. Not much happens, which is to say I wasn’t paying attention.
24th over: India 109-3 (target 444; Kohli 15, Rahane 1) Lyon has switched over the wicket to Kohli, with a slip and short leg. Kohli steals a second run to move into double figures and then takes a quick single to mid-on. He has started purposefully.
Rahane also works a single to get off the mark. If India are to make history, one of these lads probably needs to score a daddy hundred. Kohli certainly looks in the mood for heroism; he crashes Lyon’s last delivery past mid-on for four to move to 15 from 17 balls.
“The problem with use of the cricket technology is the same as that experienced in football: mission creep,” says John Starbuck. “It’s fine for tennis line calls, but in football, what was originally sold as adjudicating line doubts, such as the German ‘goal’ in 1966 and Frank Lampard’s effort many years later, got involved in measuring handballs and offsides. Cricket camera technology is fine for assessing lbws, run-outs or snicks, and maybe, just about, boundaries or not, but catches aren’t susceptible to such assumed precision, so should be ignored by umpires.”
23rd over: India 101-3 (target 444; Kohli 8, Rahane 0) Kohli gets his first boundary with a beautiful flick through midwicket off Cummins. He looked really good in the first innings before Starc produced something malevolent out of nowhere.
Time for drinks.
“Being only a casual follower of cricket - I grew up in Somerset but my family’s from the west of Scotland, where I’ve lived for the last couple decades, so, y’know - I always wondered if Ian Blackwell would ever have been any good at Test level,” says James Humphries. “I remember him being a surprisingly punchy batter atop his bowling; as (I think) you put it the other day, his only setting was ‘mind the windows’ but when he used to come out to bat at Taunton back in the day he was serenaded with ‘Blackwell for England’ quite a lot, and I think that was mostly unironic. He got a couple of appearances, IIRC, but they didn’t go very well.”
Yeah I think he played in India in 2005-06, a classic bits-and-pieces selection on the subcontinent. He was a decent one-day cricketer for England, but I never thought he was quite good enough at either discipline to play Test cricket. I suppose the great lost talents of Somerset cricket are Mark Lathwell and Harold Gimblett, who were both touched by genius. If you can find anything by David Foot on either of them, it’s worth reading.
22nd over: India 96-3 (target 444; Kohli 3, Rahane 0) “Even if you were to interview several ‘lost’ cricketers, how many of them would want to be included in a book/series called ‘The Losers’?” says John Starbuck. “Subtitled, of course, ‘How not to do it’, or ‘Cricket’s Misery Memoirs’?”
Well yes, this is the thing. I’ve always been fascinated by the romance of lost talents, but it can be a hard sell – even if, in reality, they have had better careers/lives than 99.94 per cent of the population.
21st over: India 93-3 (target 444; Kohli 0, Rahane 0) The new batter is Ajinkya Rahane, who has an injured finger after being struck in the first innings. Cummins thus greets him with a bouncer.
“A bit of a digression,” says Krishnamoorthy V. “What have we reduced ourselves to where the world attention is shared between a Champions League final later tonight in Istanbul, a riveting contest where the world #1 is taken to the third set at Roland Garros, a WTC being fought fiercely at the Oval and a war raging in Ukraine - in the same order of importance. Sigh!”
This sounds like the starting point for a Hak Baker song.
WICKET! India 93-3 (Pujara c Carey b Cummins 27)
Bang bang! Australia have picked up two wickets in as many overs. It was a risky shot from Pujara, who tried to uppercut Cummins and got a thin edge through to Alex Carey. Cummins might not have much rhythm but he’s got four wickets in the match now, three of them biggies.
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20th over: India 92-2 (target 444; Pujara 27, Kohli 0) Rohit played really well for his 43, but he’ll be displeased with the manner of that dismissal.
“Since you asked about Ian Callen, “I played against him in a midweek match when I was at Melbourne High,” says John Rouffas. “A few good cricketers around playing midweek back then, Kepler Wessels, Graeme Yallop (whom I played a lot of indoor cricket with at South Melbourne), and Ian Callen played against us schoolboys. He didn’t hold back on bowling a bouncer that day.”
WICKET! India 92-2 (Rohit LBW b Lyon 43)
A key man enters the contest: Nathan Michael Lyon. There aren’t many left-handers in the India team, just Jadeja in fact, but you’d still trust him to bowl Australia towards victory on this pitch.
Blimey! I thought Lyon would be influential but I didn’t expect him to strike with his fifth ball. Rohit missed a lap-sweep at a ball that straightened slightly from round the wicket to hit the flap of the pad in front of middle stump. He reviewed, but he didn’t look too confident and ball-tracking confirmed the bad news: three reds, goodnight Rohit.
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19th over: India 91-1 (target 444; Rohit 43, Pujara 26) Pujara works Cummins for a single to bring up an assertive fifty partnership from just 70 balls. Pujara has been the dominant partner, with 26 runs to Rohit’s 21.
“Whenever there’s a debate over a low catch I often think of Blink, the Malcolm Gladwell book about the human ability to basically make correct decisions based on a kind of expert instinct - we’re good at knowing what’s right without necessarily knowing why,” writes Dennis Johns. “Umpires are experienced professionals and I’d give them sole and only power to decide on whether a catch carried or not. Camera angles just muddy it (and that’s without getting into the whole thing about the ground surface being three-dimensional, not two...) Yes I am aware umpires make mistakes. But not that many and usually far less than say, me, on any given day.”
I still think using the technology is sensible, so long as you are completely aware of its limitations. But with the soft signal (rightly) gone, the ICC Cricket Committee need to review what the burden of proof should be for a low catch. Does the third umpire need to be 100 per cent sure? 98 per cent? 52?
18th over: India 88-1 (target 444; Rohit 43, Pujara 23) Rohit top-edges a pull off Green for a one-bounce four. Starc at fine leg seemed to lose sight of it, though it would have been a very hard catch to take anyway.
“Ian Callen was a fine cricketer,” says Gervase Greene, “but his nickname probably explains the lack of selector support: ‘Mad dog’. These days he’d probably be made skipper, but back then such a temperament was poison. This was also the time of Jamie Siddons, the finest batsman of a generation, who never played a Test. That was a tough team to break into.”
Siddons was a decade or so later wasn’t he? I’m sure plenty would dispute him being the finest batsman of a generation, but it’s crazy that his international career consisted on a single ODI in Lahore. I’m fascinated by that era of Australian batters – look at the batting line-up here, and bear in mind it was the reserve team – and also the West Indian quicks who struggled to get a game in the 1980s. Look at Tony Gray’s record for example.
It feels like a lot of these lost international cricketers, for want of a better phrase, would have great stories to tell. Wayne Prior is another I would love to interview.
17th over: India 84-1 (target 444; Rohit 39, Pujara 23) Pat Cummins, on for Mitchell Starc (5-0-33-0), starts his spell with another no-ball. That’s his seventh of the match. Cummins has been straining for rhythm throughout, which makes his first-innings three-for even more impressive. A loose ball is flicked for four by Pujara, who has moved breezily to 23 from 35 balls. Rohit has 39 from 50.
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16th over: India 78-1 (target 444; Rohit 38, Pujara 19) This is fascinating stuff. Australia are still well on top, but India have given them something to think about. I’m sure we’ll see Nathan Lyon pretty soon. First: Cameron Green, who is on for Scott Boland (7-1-24-1). A quiet first over, two from it.
“The Larwood biography by Duncan Hamilton is one of ‘the’ great cricket books IMHO,” says James Butler. “Amongst many wonderful moments: Jack Fingleton pitching up out of the blue to Larwood’s sweet shop in Blackpool and persuading him to emigrate... also Larwood remaining steadfastly glued to his seat amidst a standing ovation for Bradman’s centenary Test speech (deemed “overlong and unsatisfactory” by the author). Wonderful stuff.”
15th over: India 76-1 (target 444; Rohit 37, Pujara 19) Four more to Pujara, driven through mid-off off Starc. Australia need a maiden, never mind a wicket, although Starc almost delivers the latter with a beauty that snaps off the seam to beat Pujara. Starc has match figures of 18.4-0-104-2, which is giving me flashbacks to my beloved Martin McCague at Brisbane in 1994-95.
“I protest!” says John Starbuck. “Harold Larwood, like other people from north Nottinghamshire, did not speak with a Yorkshire accent. Dottygubbers have their own dialect; not very different but the words and pronunciation are not the same by any means. You might as well accept a similarity between Lanky and Geordie.”
I suppose all English accents sounded the same in Australia in the 1950s.
14th over: India 70-1 (target 444; Rohit 37, Pujara 13) Australia can’t get control of the scoreboard. Rohit unfurls an imperious back-foot square drive off Boland that races to the fence. It’s Rohit’s sixth four – and almost his last, because two balls later he is beaten by a snorter that kicks from a length.
13th over: India 66-1 (target 444; Rohit 33, Pujara 13) A better over from Starc ends with a sharp lifter that is very well played by Pujara.
“I didn’t see the Green catch as I’m currently en route to Mullingar from Durrow following a family lunch,” says Michael Keane. “But from what I can make out from various sources online, the umpire and all relevant authorities gave it. Which, unless the game has changed significantly since I last attended a Test match (last week), means that the player is indeed out. Shame to hear about the chants at my beloved Oval. That’s the game. Bad luck, hard cheese, night night no biscuit, etc. See you in the pub afterwards and so on. But out. Anyway, good luck to Mullingar vs Terenure tomorrow, since I’m emailing you.”
No, Donald, in cricket the umpire’s decision is final.
12th over: India 65-1 (target 444; Rohit 32, Pujara 13) Boland tightens his line to Pujara, making him play at almost every delivery. An excellent maiden ends with Pujara inside-edging onto the pad, with the ball going straight to silly point landing safely on the off side.
“Ramakant Desai played 28 Tests for India between 1959 and 1968,” writes Romeo. “He wasn’t express fast (but was their only pace bowler most of that time); he was was 5’ 4” and he got Hanif Mohammad out four times in nine innings in 1960-61. In the same series he was half of the partnership which scored India’s highest-ever ninth-wicket Test stand of 149. The record still stands.”
11th over: India 65-1 (target 444; Rohit 32, Pujara 13) Just one snorter, that’s all Australia want from Starc; same as in the first innings. But at the moment it’s not going well. He drifts onto the pads off Pujara, who bread-and-butters him to the fine-leg boundary. Starc’s three overs have gone for 26.
“I never met Larwood but I did meet Jack Fingleton, whose lawn I mowed,” writes Michael Moran. “This story has probably been told in one of Jack’s books. When Larwood migrated to Australia after the war, Fingleton took him to meet the prime minister, Ben Chifley, in Canberra. Larwood spoke effusively to Chifley, in his broad Yorkshire accent, about how grateful he was to be in Australia. Chifley turned to Fingleton and said, ‘What did he say Jack?’ Then Chifley spoke to Larwood in his broad Australian accent, welcoming him to Australia. Larwood turned to Fingleton and asked, ‘What did he say, Jack?’”
10th over: India 59-1 (target 444; Rohit 31, Pujara 9) Pujara inside-edges a wide ball from Boland for four. That was so close to hitting off stump. Rohit then does well to keep out a nasty grubber that had designs on his front pad.
“Thanks for the link to the Australia/India decider from 1977-78,” says Pete Salmon. “I had the book of that series as a young boy in the 1980s, when cricket was returning to the normalcy of the best players being in the Test team, and that Australia side during World Series Cricket seemed one of the most evocative of all time. Looking at it now I see I was right. Is there any player on the Aus side who you couldn’t write a fascinating 3000-word essay on? I mean Graeme Wood (the run outs, the comeback), Rick Darling (the bouncer), Peter Toohey (the promise, the failure), Gary Cosier (the debut ton, the journeyman Shield cricketer), Bruce Yardley (the gully fielder, the winning the car) and Steve Rixon (the understudy to whoever was keeping). And of course Simmo and Thommo.
“Perhaps it is because the cricketers just before you come to full consciousness (age 13, so 1983 for me) are wildly exotic – but in this case it had the added strangeness that most were no longer Test cricketers only five years later. Anyway I’ve pored over that scorecard more than any other on earth, and so many more mysteries to solve.”
I want to know more about Ian Callen, who has a decent record for a one-Test wonder.
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9th over: India 53-1 (target 444; Rohit 30, Pujara 4) There are a couple of Getty images, taking from behind Green, that suggest he had his fingers under the ball. But a freeze-frame from front on suggests the opposite, so goodness knows.
Oh well, it’s all ancient history now. Rohit picks up where he left off at tea, timing Starc for two more boundaries. The first was pulled sweetly off the hip, the second driven through cover point. Starc has figures of 2-0-21-0.
“On the balance of probabilities, India aren’t going to get 444 runs, so why not just Bazball their way through the innings?” asks Matt Dony. “Better to burn out than fade away, and all that. I’d love to see them do it, though. Hopefully it’s a day of sporting upsets. I’m at a Welsh language music festival (ry’n ni yma o hyd, Rob), so appreciating your coverage!”
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8th over: India 45-1 (target 444; Rohit 22, Pujara 4) Boland has five balls of his fourth over remaining. Pujara gets off the mark from the fifth, lashing a cut stroke for four.
“In the late 1970’s Harold Larwood came back to England to attend the opening of a special collection in the Nottingham Central Library Local Studies Section, named for and after him and his exploits,” writes John Starbuck. “As my wife worked there I too attended and shook his hand. You had to call him Mr Larwood on introduction, but he was Harold afterwards. Another special reception at Trent Bridge, of course, and much feted in the Nottingham Evening Post.”
Here come the players. Cheteshwar Pujara is the new batter for India. We’re still seeing replays of the Green catch and Rohit’s reaction – a scream of “Noooo!” when the decision came on the big screen.
“I think the catch was not clean...” says Arul Kanhere, “but the umpires are human as well. It is painful to hear the chanting around the grounds. Also hoping for a tied match. Might as well help the WTC final on popularity grounds.”
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“I don’t agree that it was a clean take at all,” says Tom Kirkpatrick. “Looked to me like Green didn’t get his fingers under the ball until after it had touched the ground, and I don’t think he’d have completed the catch without that ground contact.”
I’m sure we’ll hear more about it. I knew they shouldn’t have scrapped the soft signal.
Teatime reading
Top stuff as always from Don McRae, the best interviewer around IMO (though Sid Lowe’s football interviews are also quite outstanding).
Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill were really unhappy with the decision, thinking the ball touched the ground when Green landed. The crowd were chanting “cheat!” as well. I can see both sides, but to me it looked good.
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Tea
The wicket of Gill means that is the last ball before tea. India will resume needing another 403 runs to win, all their early momentum stalled by that spectacular catch.
WICKET! India 41-1 (Gill c Green b Boland 18)
He’s gone! That’s the correct decision I think, and it’s Cameron Green’s second stunning catch of the game – one with his right hand, one with his left.
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The issue is whether he dragged the ball along the floor after taking the catch. My instinct is that he had his fingers under the ball, though there might be enough doubt for Gill to get a reprieve.
Gill fenced a shortish delivery to the left of gully, where Green swooped to take a fantastic low catch. The crowd are booing, having seen the replay, but to me it looks a clean take. And an outrageously good one.
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WICKET? India 41-1 (Gill c Green b Boland 18)
Cameron Green has taken another blinder! Shubman Gill is hanging around but I think this is out.
7th over: India 41-0 (target 444; Rohit 22, Gill 18) Starc is on for Cummins, whose first three overs cost 18. He has a replacement ball in hand, with the umpires calling for a change between overs. Not that it matters to Rohit, who swivel-uplls the second ball handsomely for six. An expensive over from Starc – 13 from it - includes a no-ball and a misfield.
This has been an almost perfect start for India, although Australia had 403 reasons not to panic.
6th over: India 28-0 (target 444; Rohit 14, Gill 14) Gill, feeling outside off stump, edges Boland just short of Smith at second slip. Another stylish punch through the covers brings Gill a couple of runs, and he adds two more off the last ball of the over. It would have been four but for an excellent half-stop by Lyon at backward point. Every little helps.
On commentary, Ricky Ponting queries the decision to open with Boland. His persuasive logic is that Starc will benefit more from the extra hardness than Boland, who makes the old ball move anyway.
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5th over: India 24-0 (target 444; Rohit 14, Gill 10) The new ball has done plenty throughout the match, so India’s pre-emptive strike makes a lot of sense. It’s risky, of course, but then so is being a punchbag for the quicks.
Cummins tries to get the ball changed, which prompts some pantomine boos from the crowd. It still goes through the hoop, so Australia are stuck with it for now.
4th over: India 23-0 (target 444; Rohit 14, Gill 9) Oh that’s a delightful stroke from Rohit, who walks down the track to flick Boland through midwicket for four. The rest of the over is all dot-ball context.
“Harold Larwood wasn’t very tall, true,” says John Starbuck. “He only came up to just below my shoulder and I was 6’ tall at the time (age has shrunk me a bit and maybe it did him, too) so he must have been around 5’5'’.”
Just one small thing here: YOU MET HAROLD LARWOOD. I want a three-paragraph summary in my inbox before the tea break.
3rd over: India 19-0 (target 444; Rohit 10, Gill 9) Cummins’ second over has disappeared for 13. Rohit started it with an exquisite on-drive for four, then Gill timed an equally majestic back-foot drive to the cover fence. The third boundary was more fortunate, a thick edge that went wide of the slip cordon.
2nd over: India 6-0 (target 444; Rohit 5, Gill 1) Scott Boland is taking the new ball ahead of Mitchell Starc. That makes sense given how well he bowled in the first innings, and how he took care of the dangerous Shubman Gill. He hits his dinner plate immediately, with a soupcon of seam movement, and there are two singles from the over.
“Afternoon Rob/all, Gervase Greene from the Peoples Republic of Clovelly here,” writes Gervase Greene. “Do you ever wonder why conceding some run chases are just a game lost, and others scar a team for a generation or more? India’s remarkable 406 in Trinidad in 1975 didn’t stop the West Indies winning pretty much everything for the next 15 years. Australia however seem forever spooked by VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid from Eden Gardens 2001. Which is why they have batted at least an hour too long today.”
That’s a good question. I suppose it largely depends on the context and what scars it might therefore leave. If anything, India’s runchase was the catalyst for West Indies winning everything in the next 15 years, because Clive Lloyd lost faith in spin bowling. What’s interesting about Laxman and Dravid is that it wasn’t even a runchase. I wonder if this declaration was influenced more by Brisbane 2021, even though Rishabh Pant isn’t playing in this game.
1st over: India 4-0 (target 444; Rohit 4, Gill 0) Cummins’ second ball is lap-pulled supremely for four by Rohit Sharma, perfectly bisecting the two fielders behind square on the leg side. The rest of the over passes without alarm, although a couple of deliveries did lift encouragingly for Cummins.
“Answering the question from over 84, if the question is the shortest among the greatest then Dale Steyn has to be the one,” says Vibhanshu Bisht. “But if you are talking about the best fast bowlers among short players, then Lasith Malinga at about 173 cm is probably the best of the lot.”
How about Fidel Edwards? Not quite good enough to make the cut?
There are 47 overs remaining today, though I doubt they’ll get them all in. How many wickets will Australia want by the close to ensure they sleep well tonight? Three? Ten?
Wicket! Declaration! Australia 270-8 dec (Cummins c sub b Shami 5)
Cummins slices high to point, then runs straight off the field alongside Alex Carey, who ends on unbeaten on 66. India need 444 to win. It would, as anyone who did their Test cricket module at college knows, be a record Test runchase.
India have only one scored as many runs in the fourth innings of a Test on one occasion, the classic series decider at Adelaide in 1977-78.
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Why are we still here? Why is anyone here, sure, but why are we still watching this team bat? At least the ground PA just gave us the treat of Gangnam Style, the song that give us the first YouTube video to reach 1 billion views. I just checked for you, it’s up to 4.8 billion now. But that’s enough from me. For the rest of the day, you’re with Rob Smyth.
84th over: Australia 269-7 (Carey 66, Cummins 5) A big slog over the on side for Cummins, after a few singles and a couple of leg byes, makes this an expensive over for Siraj. Drinks, though it looks like a declaration for a minute.
“Who is the tallest best batsman ever and smallest quick bowler ever?” asks Ruth Purdue. “Watching Green and Starc gave me the idea.”
Interesting one. Obviously we’ll discount tall specialist bowlers even though they do bat. Marco Jansen has batted top six for South Africa recently at 207 centimetres, but he’s probably too high in the order there and is mainly in the side to bowl.
As for true specialist bats… Two Metre Peter Fulton got a reputation boost, he was really only 198cm. Same as Green, who probably counts more than Jansen with his record. I can’t think of anyone taller but perhaps some of you can.
Short fast bowlers: Steyn and Philander, Nantie Hayward another who springs to mind, Malcolm Marshall wasn’t that tall, there are several to choose from with Bangladesh players, Colin Stuart from the Windies too. Even Harold Larwood wasn’t very tall. But I can’t pluck a height figure for you. Anyone?
WICKET! Starc c Kohli b Shami 41, Australia 260-7
83rd over: Australia 260-7 (Carey 64) Can’t see the point in batting on here, but Starc enjoys nailing a pull shot from Shami for four. Then switches sides of the pitch with a back-foot glide through backward point. Classy shot.
Last ball of the over, Starc goes at last. Aims a big drive and gets a bigger edge.
The lead is up to 433, well past the 418 that is currently the record Test chase tow in. West Indies against Australia on the Antigua featherbed in 2003. And yet here comes Pat Cummins to the middle.
82nd over: Australia 252-6 (Carey 64, Starc 33) Siraj from the other end, pitching up looking for swing, then dropping short to Starc, who hooks off the top edge but it bounces in front of Shami at fine leg. He fumbles to allow two. The next attempt is way too short! It goes over Starc and Bharat for four byes. No, wides. Five of them. Siraj has failed to find that length a number of times in the match.
“I was there on Day 1 and was very surprised to see Jadeja spending a good portion of the day out at deep point,” writes Tom Barrington. “Maybe a sign of the muddled thinking of the Indians to start the Test, surely you have to have him in the action!”
They’ll often have him in the deep if they’re expecting catches, but that’s in a white-ball game. My guess with that instance is that with Warner so fond of crashing the ball between cover and backward point, you want your most mobile fielder at cover sweeper to cut off more boundary chances.
81st over: Australia 242-6 (Carey 63, Starc 29) New ball taken, and Shami will get first use from the Vauxhall End. Round the wicket to Carey, who absorbs a couple and then presses a single to point. Gets back on strike with a leg bye, then gets cut in half by Shami, seriously inward seam movement that goes over off stump and is taken by the keeper down the leg side. Bharat can’t stop the next one though! Inside edge this time, and it zips away for four. Carey has had some luck today.
80th over: Australia 236-6 (Carey 58, Starc 29) First shot in anger from Starc. Clears his front leg and swats Umesh through midwicket for four. Looks like Australia wanted to get to 400 in front and will now swing away. Big pull shot from Starc to follow only gets one. Carey steers a single. They meet for a chat. Still no declaration. The target is 409, there’s only one bigger chase than that.
“Ok, I’m in, Cam Green is all that!” says Peter Salmon. “Much better then Stokes. So follow up, is there a simple way for your huge team of statistical boffins sitting in their underground bunker to generate a 20 test thing for all the best all rounders, and see where he sits? So we can map the rest of his career accurately? You’ve said he’ll score slightly more than 258 in the next Test, but what about after that?”
Unfortunately we are currently watching his 21st Test match, and he made 31 across two innings and has taken 2 for 44. Still has time for an eight-for or similar when he bowls in the fourth.
79th over: Australia 229-6 (Carey 56, Starc 24) A couple of false shots against Jadeja. Carey edges one along the ground past Kohli at slip for four, then pops up a bat-pad deflection to silly point but there’s nobody there. The lead is 402.
78th over: Australia 224-6 (Carey 51, Starc 24) Umesh keeps the ball, but comes over the wicket. Right-armer to left-hander. Carey glances to fine leg. What is Jadeja doing fielding down there, the best in the team? Hmm, perhaps because they want to use the short ball against Starc and look for a catch. Tries a couple of bumpers, but they only hit fresh air.
Half century! Carey 50 from 82 balls
77th over: Australia 223-6 (Carey 50, Starc 24) Just missed it in the first innings, but Carey raises 50 here with a drive from Jadeja. He’s done it at a good clip and at a time when it was needed, too.
The lead is 396. There have only been four higher run chases to win a Test, all of them over 400.
76th over: Australia 222-6 (Carey 49, Starc 24) Umesh around the wicket to Starc, gets one to keep very low from a fuller length. Tries it a couple more times but the line is straighter, and Starc clips four to the on side, then hits an off drive very hard down the ground.
Andrew Benton emailed in a while ago asking if the WTC final itself has all been a bit boring, or if he’s missing something.
I think it’s been a great quality of play and contest across Day 2, 3, and the first session today. It’s just that those contests were already taking place in a lopsided match situation because of India bowling poorly to Head and Smith for a couple of sessions on day one. That’s been the difference, and it means that now the game can drift because Australia are so far up.
75th over: Australia 214-6 (Carey 49, Starc 16) Jadeja bowling, a couple more singles pushed down the ground.
74th over: Australia 212-6 (Carey 48, Starc 15) Scratch that bit about upping the ante, then. Carey defends the first four balls of Umesh’s over. Drives the fifth straight to the field. Leg-glances a run off the sixth.
73rd over: Australia 211-6 (Carey 47, Starc 15) Jadeja to Carey, a sweep for a single the only score from the over. The lead is 384.
72nd over: Australia 210-6 (Carey 46, Starc 15) Edged, and another streaky one for Carey. Aims a back-foot drive at Umesh, nicks it heartily, but the slips are set quite wide for the left-hander and there’s a gap between Pujara at first, standing at more like a second slip’s position, and Kohli at a second slip which is more like a third. The ball goes between them in a trice. Neither moved.
Another wave of the bat from Carey as Umesh bowls one short and wide, the cut shot misses. Lunchtime directive to move the scoring on? Back-foot punch from Carey adds one more.
71st over: Australia 205-6 (Carey 41, Starc 15) We’re back. Jadeja with the ball from the Vauxhall End. A few blocks from Starc, then he plays a pictureseque off-drive that zooms along the ground for four.
“I know I shouldn’t be writing this,” begins a guilty-sounding Peter Salmon, “but is Cam Green all that? I know he’s only 24, but then again, he is 24. I know he’s only played 20 tests, but then again he has played 20 tests. Only one ton, and one five wicket haul. I think he’s a pretty good all rounder, and it is good to have one, but he keeps being talked about in slightly awed tones about what he will do. At 27? At 30? I’d be interested to know, for instance, Ben Stokes’ stats at 20 tests...”
You want someone to look up cumulative averages for someone who’s not even playing in the middle of a match? You’ve come to the right place.
After 20 Tests…
Stokes: 998 runs at 27.72
Green: 941 runs at 37.64
Stokes: 46 wickets at 40.67
Green: 23 wickets at 34.30
Stokes: 13 catches
Green: 19 catches
Green is looking pretty good on those. Probably fair to mention though that in his 21st Test, Stokes made his 258 at Cape Town.
The excitement around Green is that these days, bowlers tend to peak in the second half of their 20s, and batting often doesn’t peak until closer to 30. Someone who is six-foot-six, can bowl over 90 miles an hour, and can bat top six and score tons, is a rare creature indeed. And he’s banked those scores and taken wickets consistently in Shield cricket, so it’s not just a hazy dream.
If you want something to do during the lunch break, don’t miss Jim Wallace’s outstanding read on the historical mystery he’s yet to solve behind the Dukes ball.
Lunch – Australia 201 for 6, lead India by 374 runs in the third innings
Another session where India’s bowlers have worked hard, and had plenty of good moments, but Australia still consolidated their position on top. Labuschagne’s early dismissal opened a door, but Green batted for a time. Green’s dismissal opened another, but Carey politely closed it again. As of right now India would already need the ninth-biggest Test run chase to win this.
Will Australia bat on after the break? Probably. How long, if so? Half the squad and staff are out there looking at the surface now, as the ground staff sweep up and re-mark the lines.
Updated
70th over: Australia 201-6 (Carey 41, Starc 11) Umesh Yadav back before lunch – that’s the second time in this match that Rohit has asked one of his quicks to warm up for six balls before the long break. It’s not a pleasant over for Carey, who under-edges a ball into his leg. One more run for Starc and that is lunch.
69th over: Australia 200-6 (Carey 41, Starc 10) Jadeja is aiming for a big juicy footmark outside Carey’s off stump. Underpitches and gets defended. Overpitches and gets driven for four! Lavish follow though on the cover drive. Jadeja has a 2-7 field, only mid off and deep backward point on the off side.
Updated
68th over: Australia 195-6 (Carey 37, Starc 9) Runs aside, this session Australia have spent in the middle has meant the sun cooking the pitch for another two hours, helping some of the cracks open up. Thakur is bowling an off-stump line and the two left-handers keep deflecting him for singles. Two innings from Carey in this match that have been important to his team.
67th over: Australia 191-6 (Carey 35, Starc 7) Big appeal from Jadeja as the ball loops up high from Starc’s pad, taken by short leg diving onto the pitch. No bat involved. Starc scores two more behind point. Also four byes for one that explodes out of the footmarks and goes through batter and keeper both. The first misbehaving delivery I can remember from the Vauxhall End. The lead 364, we’re into the top 10 for all-time run chases if India were to get this many to win.
Updated
66th over: Australia 185-6 (Carey 35, Starc 5) Axar Patel back on the field, luckily for India, because he dives at cover to save a scorching Carey cover drive. Shardul Thakur is bowling his first spell today. Carey settles for a single to a similar area, Starc responds in kind, and Carey opens the face to guide two behind point.
Guy Hornsby is crystal-balling and Bill Lawrying all at the same time.
“Morning Geoff, morning everyone. It would be perfectly reasonable to declare at lunch but this Aussie team are too risk averse to do that yet (they’re not called Stokes basically, who would’ve probably declared last night). They’ll want 400+ lead, so more like midway to tea and 5 sessions, keep the foot behind the line and take your catches, and it should be theirs tomorrow afternoon. India are already into middle territory anyway, and no amount of deplorable slowing the game down from either side will save a result, barring a monsoon in south London. Still, imagine if someone went all Laxman on Australia. Pujara rearguard? Rahane signoff? Kohli masterclass? Nah.”
65th over: Australia 181-6 (Carey 32, Starc 4) Off the mark with four for Starc, who plays a little dab at Jadeja outside off stump. Left-armer to left-hander, and the balls runs fine. Lead of 354.
64th over: Australia 177-6 (Carey 32, Starc 0) The leads goes up to 350, as Carey decides it’s time to go with Mitchell Starc at the other end. Laces one cut shot form Siraj for four, top-edges another through the cordon, takes two to square leg.
63rd over: Australia 167-6 (Carey 22) Wicket from the last ball of the over. A strange over, too. Just before the dismissal, Jadeja got in the umpire’s face while appealing. Walked at him, quite close, arms out. Wonder if the match ref will have a look at that.
WICKET! Green b Jadeja 25, Australia 167 for 6
He kind of deserved that, Cameron Green. Odd dismissal! Jadeja comes over the wicket, and Green kicks them away. The second one, Jadeja appeals mightily. Probably pitching outside leg. The third one Green does the same, but doesn’t have his back leg around covering the stumps. The ball bounces sharply, turns some, hits his back leg rather than his front pad, perhaps via the bottom of the glove as well, and rolls back onto the stumps. Venom from Jadeja that created it. It was like Green was copying Test batting without knowing how to do it.
62nd over: Australia 166-5 (Green 25, Carey 21) Another run dropped to the leg side for Carey, who has caught Green on the scoreboard. Not for long though, as Green gets four very streaky runs! Again from that Pavilion End, Siraj gets it leaping at Green’s back shoulder, and the big West Australian gloves it wildly down the leg side while flinching from the ball. It loops too high for the keeper.
Eamonn Maloney is thinking about similar things, differently. “These Australians have been a bit nervy bowing fourth over the last 5-10 years - Hazlewood sometimes the chief culprit but Cummins and Starc guilty on occasion, H@*&dingly comes to mind for the former. Kohli, Pujara, Jadeja… I can picture it if under 400. they have both a prayer and a receptive deity for me.”
Hmm. See two posts before this one, Eamonn. And also the start of this one.
Updated
61st over: Australia 161-5 (Green 21, Carey 20) Leading edge for Carey, safely through point as Jadeja’s ball skids on, and they race a single. They’re now leading by 334 (Bradman at Leeds, anyone), which would be top 20 for all fourth-innings run chases.
60th over: Australia 160-5 (Green 21, Carey 19) Around the wicket comes Siraj to the left-handed Carey, working to angle in at the stumps. Carey is happy enough to stand behind it, waits for the stray one to pick off to fine leg. One run. Back over the wicket, and Green cops a brute! There’s that spot on the pitch again. All of the nasty ones, lifting sharply, have been from the Pavilion End: Labuschagne’s three, Shardul Thakur’s three, Travis Head in the first innings, all climbing at the gloves from a decent length. This one smashes Green on the shoulder, it looks like, and he gets a brief physio visit. Gets a visit from Siraj next ball, too, wandering down for a chat after Green gets forward to defend. Then nice inward movement from a good length, and it stays low. Green keeps it out, Siraj has hands on head. Can’t see anyone chasing 300 on this.
Updated
59th over: Australia 159-5 (Green 21, Carey 18) Australia lead by 329. If that sounds familiar, think Brisbane 2021. It soon becomes 332 though, as Carey drives three runs out through cover. Jadeja has a silly point and a slip for Green. Tries spearing at the pads, looking to force Green back perhaps. But Green gets forward whenever he can.
58th over: Australia 156-5 (Green 21, Carey 15) It’s time for drinks, Siraj finishing the half-term session with a wayward ball that ends up at fine leg for four leg byes. Green’s production thigh pad. They’ve managed a whole 14 overs in that hour, almost at the asking rate of 15! With three from Jadeja. And the hour went for about 65 minutes.
Updated
57th over: Australia 151-5 (Green 21, Carey 14) Thinking over the match situation. There have only been 23 Test run chases in history bigger than the current lead of 324. Still plenty in the surface. You wouldn’t really want to be batting after lunch, as Australia, in case India can dig in. We’re an hour into the session. Might have thought it’s time to up the ante here, and if you’re all out for another 40 runs quickly then that’s a decent result.
Three singles from Jadeja.
56th over: Australia 148-5 (Green 20, Carey 12) Siraj to Carey, who this time waits five balls to strike a run through point. They’re not in a hurry today, Australia. The lead is up to 321 so they’re comfortable, but want to get through some good bowling.
Updated
55th over: Australia 147-5 (Green 20, Carey 11) Astonishing that a team can have Jadeja’s ability to race through a maiden over in about a minute and still be so far behind the rate.
54th over: Australia 147-5 (Green 20, Carey 11) Mohammed Siraj comes on for his first work of the day. Carey tries a couple of shots without success, then leans back a touch and flays an extra-cover drive! Very aggressive shot for four.
53rd over: Australia 143-5 (Green 20, Carey 7) Alex Carey? A sweep shot? In this economy? Who could believe it. Ravindra Jadeja comes on for a bowl, and the first ball of spin today has Carey getting out the broom. Conventional, not reverse. Green plays him rather more uprightly, defending on the long stride.
Point and counterpoint.
@GeoffLemonSport Good Morning! About your quip of frying eggs on the bonnet at 29 deg C - 29 deg C is when Madras (Chennai today) declares winter @krishashok
— krish (@vkmagus) June 10, 2023
52nd over: Australia 142-5 (Green 20, Carey 6) There’s a delay as… Green changes his pads. Yep, that’s a new one. We got about 75 overs out of 90 yesterday, the rates have been truly dire. And they can’t make up any time using the sixth day unless there are overs lost to rain or bad light. Teams just… choosing not to bowl them? That’s fine, the umpires will do nothing and nor will the ICC.
Shami is still getting movement away. Green is starting to resist playing at some of them. Tries the surprise yorker, Shami, but Green is equal to it, a crisp straight drive back under the bowler’s attempted stop. To the fence.
51st over: Australia 138-5 (Green 16, Carey 6) Another little test for Green, keeping out a ball that stays low and getting a single. Umesh bangs in a bouncer and Carey hooks, there’s a deep backward square protecting the boundary. Two slips and a gully for Green, I’d have another one in there. He takes on Siraj at mid on this time! Drops the ball there and runs. Might have been close, Siraj fumbles the pick-up. I think Green would have been home. It wasn’t dissimilar to Starc’s series of decisions that saw sub fielder Axar Patel get him in the first innings.
John Starbuck reminisces. “Frying eggs on the top of cars? When I were a lad we ‘ad summers so ‘ot you could fry an egg on t’ pavement. I saw me dad do it once, an’ besides, we din’t ‘ave cars in them days.”
It was the only way you could get seasoning back then, what with all the rations after the Crimean War.
50th over: Australia 135-5 (Green 14, Carey 5) Edged, and… four. Immaculate seam position and the slightest deviation from Shami. Green again plays one wider than he needs to. Nicked into the ground again, and Gill at second slip fumbles it on the bounce. It nutmegs him and runs away. That’s the first ball of the over, he nudges a single from the last. The lead is 308.
49th over: Australia 130-5 (Green 9, Carey 5) A run via Carey, who takes Umesh off the thigh pad to midwicket. Wonder how Umesh will go now that he has to switch from right-hander to left every ball. Got his line correct to Labuschagne with the right hand. Accuracy can be his weakness. He’s bowling up towards 140 kph, with the long bandage sleeves on both arms for diving in the field. A good sight when he’s really steaming.
Green is finally able to add his first run of the morning, down to fine leg. He and Carey are working 9 to 5.
48th over: Australia 128-5 (Green 8, Carey 4) Green keeps on playing outside that off stump! Reaches very wide for an off-balance drive that hits cover directly. Gets an edge along the turf to third slip. He edged to slip in the first innings. Spoke about the IPL transition, where you go from hitting the ball in front of your body for power, to hitting the red ball as late as you can. But he’s more in white-ball mode here. Good seam from Shami cuts back in but his bounce takes it over the stumps. India’s bowlers have had so many beaten edges in this match, and I’d say it’s because they’ve so often bowled a small margin too short.
No score from the over. Five runs in four overs this morning.
47th over: Australia 128-5 (Green 8, Carey 4) This is interesting. The Australian lead is 301. Could India get through them for another 50 or 60 runs? Carey made a useful score in the first innings. Gets off the mark with four here, the rolling edge through gully from a forward press.
WICKET! Labuschagne c Pujara b Umesh Yadav 41, Australia 124-5
Top delivery! Good bounce and carry from the pitch, exactly the line to draw Labuschagne into a front-foot push, but the right length to give the ball time to leave the bat. Umesh has produced on this fourth morning, the edge flies to first slip and Australia’s engine-room bat has not added to his overnight score.
Updated
46th over: Australia 124-4 (Labuschagne 41, Green 8) Mohammed Shami from the Pavilion End, runs up to Green who is fishing slightly! Playing the line of the off stump and Shami just goes past the edge. Strays on leg and the big batter almost falls over turning it to midwicket, but to the fielder. Green settles into defence for the rest of the over, a very good one.
Samanda Black emails in. “Can you get a message directly to Ricky Ponting?”
Bold start.
“I have been in Jaipur for an extremely long time, and I learned myself cricket originally to always have some thing to talk about in my back pocket with suppliers and, well anyone really. My obsession with the game changed quite fast. And completely superseded polite conversation.”
As soon as someone finds out that one is Australian, says Samanda, the first response is to invoke Ricky Ponting.
“Every single transporter dude just loves Ricky. He should know this. He’s a legend among every bloke driving a camel, an elephant, a cart, a rickshaw, a car, an anything… No doubt you also know this yourself, Geoff. Please pass along to the great man.”
Ricky, if you’re reading…
And yes, I would agree that he is the most commonly raised name in my experience in India. Even more than Warne. There’s still quite a lot of Michael Bevan too, which is interesting.
45th over: Australia 124-4 (Labuschagne 41, Green 8) Umesh Yadav to start the day, interesting call. Good first over from him though, smashes the channel, and after a Green single, gets one ball to fizz back in at Labuschagne and hit him around the waist.
It’s gonna be a good one today! Warm and clear up above. Glowing green grass. And there’s atmosphere. A pretty good crowd for a Saturday, as per Billy J. We all came seething up from the underground station like Morlocks on the way to dinner. There were big lines to get in. Good signs for a full house, or as full as some unclaimed seats in the pavilion will allow.
If you want more detail about what happened yesterday – and there was a lot of it – maybe you want the Final Word podcast wrap that I do with fellow OBO-slinger Adam Collins. Here’s Day 3.
What caught my eye was how well Australia bowled early, even while catches were going down all over the place.
Match report? Fancy a match report? I can testify in court that Simon Burnton was at The Oval yesterday writing down everything. I saw him with my own eyes.
Preamble
Day four? Day four! A stonker in London, it’s tipped to reach a mighty high of 29C, so get ready to see locals frying eggs on the bonnets of their cars. The World Test Champs final heated up yesterday – India are still well behind in the match thanks to the first two days, but they did compete fiercely on day three, first with Rahane and Thakur smashing enough runs to bring Australia distantly into view, then taking four top-order wickets.
India scored 296 and now trail by 296, which is neat.
So they would need to dismiss Australia for less than another 100 runs to have a prayer in the match, but it would be a small one. Chasing 400 doesn’t happen more than once in a blue moon, and this pitch has offered assistance, especially to fast bowling throughout, as Marnus Labuschagne learned during his bombardment yesterday that saw him smashed on the gloves multiple times. Siraj especially has got some heat out of the surface.
Australia will resume on 123-4, which is also neat.
