Key events
Lunch, Day 4 – Australia 104 for 5 in the fourth innings
Not too bad a session for Australia, you’d have to say, losing two wickets in the session. That’s compared to their previous batting sessions, which have… uh… all been bad. People will tell you the Smith one was big, but he’s never made a fourth-innings ton, made precious few fifties, and averages about 30. So he wasn’t likely the player to take Australia through the day and into tomorrow. Khawaja more likely was, but he played a bad shot early.
Head has been entertaining and made it look easy, as he does when he’s on, and Marsh might yet do the same in the second session. We’ll see. Back with you in a bit.
30th over: Australia 104-5 (Head 63, Marsh 5) Last over before lunch. Marsh is crouching forward to defend, normal field for him. Two slips, gully, point now, so he makes use of the cover gap with a drive for two. Bumrah bowling in the high 130s as far as kilometres go. If you want miles you can ask at a museum.
Another noey from Bumrah, that’s his fourth overstep. But Marsh blocks out the rebowl, and we’re done for the session.
29th over: Australia 101-5 (Head 63, Marsh 3) Siraj is flapping his arms again, trying the albatross take-off, as he goes past Marsh’s edge with a ball that keeps low. There’s that bounce problem that will only keep getting worse. The wickets are coming, surely. But the Aussies are scrapping through it, for now. Head got of strike first ball, nudging away. He’s done that so easily compared to everyone else. Marsh though does get off the mark with a sliced drive behind point for three.
Back to the bouncer field for Head. One slip now, Kohli standing at about one and a half. Deep backward, deep third, fine leg, short backward, deep square, halfway back at midwicket, mid on, mid off. But Siraj is outside leg stump, and Head can tickle that finer of the fine leg for four. That’s funny.
28th over: Australia 93-5 (Head 58, Marsh 0) Bumrah continues, and Head hasn’t had too many problems with him. Starts with a couple of runs flicked through leg, then plays an audacious little late steer with a horizontal bat, just touching the ball towards deep third. They have two fielders back for that, one fine and one square, and he puts it between them for two more. Bumrah pushes back a fly slip, then changes his mind and brings Rahul back into the cordon.
So, two slips, two variations on dee third, plus a fine leg and a deep square. Set up for the short ball, but Bumrah bowls full. Head can’t beat midwicket. That fielder, with mid off and mid on, are the only ones set for the fuller ball. Lots of space through cover, and Head goes there but only for one. And abruptly it’s different for Marsh facing, a horrible lifter that he fends into a gap on the leg side. Still yet to score.
Half century! Head 50 from 63 balls
27th over: Australia 88-5 (Head 53, Marsh 0) Fifty up, and in good time too. Style points like Jaiswal, too, as he lifts a Siraj short ball over the keeper’s head for four!
Follows it with three through midwicket. Nobody else has hit a four yet in this innings. Marsh isn’t trying yet, though surely he will before long.
26th over: Australia 81-5 (Head 46, Marsh 0) Bumrah comes on, sensing the moment. Break this last top-six partnership (even if it’s for the sixth wicket), get into the keeper and remaining bowlers. Head takes a run to leg. Cordon waiting for the right-handed Marsh.
Nasty from Bumrah, in at the gloves. Then past the edge, Marsh forcing his hands at that ball. Overstep from Bumrah. Doesn’t matter, give him another shot at the batter. Rising at the body again! Hits him. Marsh responds as he does to most things, with a smile. Leaves the next ball, defends the last.
25th over: Australia 79-5 (Head 45, Marsh 0) Well, the surface had seemed to be easing with a halfway older ball. Three slips and a gully for Marsh, Bumrah has dispensed with the point he had for Smith. Cover, mid off, mid on, midwicket, long leg – very conventional. Marsh blots out the last two balls.
WICKET! Smith c Pant b Siraj 17, Australia 79-5
Against the run of play! The partnership to 62, the deficit down to 454, but Siraj makes the difference. A fuller length, a little extra bounce perhaps, Smith trying to cover his pads, edges wide of the keeper and Pant takes it brilliantly diving in front of first slip. Massive for India. Smith has a poor fourth-innings record across his whole career, and it continues today.
24th over: Australia 78-4 (Smith 17, Head 44) Sundar continues, Head goes back and cuts, but they have a deep cover sweeper so he only gets one run. Sundar probably happy to have him off strike. A bit of lift for Sundar, Smith has to defuse a ball that jumps from outside off stump. Then walks at the spinner to block the next to midwicket. Still no appreciable turn for Washington Sundar, if he gets wickets today it’ll have to be with flight or bounce.
23rd over: Australia 77-4 (Smith 17, Head 43) Siraj back, and Head smashes him first ball too! Flays it square of the wicket. Then drives one, and hands over the strike. Smith defends the rest.
22nd over: Australia 72-4 (Smith 17, Head 38) Not far from short leg as Smith works Sundar behind square. Head cuts a run through point.
21st over: Australia 70-4 (Smith 16, Head 37) Schhhhmmmacked! Travis Head is raring to go no. Leans back and slams the first ball of Rana’s over through cover for four. Even that power and timing sees the ball slow up inside the rope, but it does make it. He tries angling a drive square next ball, but plays under the bounce. A solid drive third ball, past mid off for two.
Then Rana has had enough, top bouncer, nasty and Head fends it away, but the pace takes it over the cordon for two runs. Next, another square drive, this one connecting for two more. So that’s three twos in a row, after the four, and Rana’s closing ball is a wild bouncer and an overstep, so that’s one more to the total. Short down the leg side to finish, and Head can’t connect with a glance.
11 from the over.
20th over: Australia 59-4 (Smith 16, Head 27) Washington round the wicket to Head, too short, cut for a couple in that muscular, heaving Head fashion, heaving at the shot so it goes through cover rather than backward point. Now then, perfect sweep shot! Powerfully struck, along the ground, out through backward square. Fourrrr. Then goes back and cuts behind point for one. He’s liking the non-spinning spin, and he does like making runs against India.
19th over: Australia 52-4 (Smith 16, Head 20) Ric Finlay on the ABC doing the stats on Smith’s last 18 months in terms of modes of dismissal: leg before wicket is substantially up, but bowled is down, and the combination is about even. Read into that what you will. Rana is still targeting the pads, but not every ball, and Smith in between defensive efforts manages to drive two through cover point.
18th over: Australia 50-4 (Smith 14, Head 20) Washington after drinks, uneventful again. A single and a leg bye to raise the Australian 50. Small wins.
“Hope you have remote access to enable the Snooze button on Rob Smyth’s alarm, he can likely sleep in today,” writes James Cahill. Well, Smith and Head are threatening to make him wake up in the cold early northern hemisphere morning.
17th over: Australia 48-4 (Smith 13, Head 20) India lose a review! Smith is smashed on the pad again, angling in at the stumps. Rana is turned down, and the review is missing the umpire’s call designation by a whisker, green light on impact. So a review down, but it’s another missed flick from Smith, who commits himself to keeping out the next few balls, then does connect with a flick through wide mid on for a run. Head takes another easily to square leg.
Andrew Benton writes in. “I’m sure this test is just a blip for Australia, they’ll be back. No team with a series against Australia in the next year or two should be feeling smug, in fact they should be watching warily for the response next test. But India are just amazing.”
Drinks.
16th over: Australia 46-4 (Smith 12, Head 19) Spin time, Washington Sundar with his offies. Pretty quick, pretty flat, pretty innocuous first over.
15th over: Australia 45-4 (Smith 11, Head 19) Scorched through cover again by Head! The last one was on the bounce, that one might have been airborne, but it has the pace and the direction to again reach the fence. Rana follows up with a beauty that beats the outside edge. This is fun cricket.
Paul Moody writes in. Any relation to Long Tom, who’s on ABC radio this week? “Gosh this is so exciting. Imagine if Oz were 6 or 7 down at the end of play today. I’m following by your words, but will go to Southern Cross in Kampot to watch a bit too.”
I’ve deduced that this means a bar in Cambodia. Have a cold Angkor for me.
14th over: Australia 38-4 (Smith 10, Head 13) Bumrah is back. That was quick. Replacing Siraj, changing ends from the end where he took those wickets last night. And Head drives him through the covers! Into the ground and bouncing away past Washington the fielder, but smashed hard enough that this one does, finally, make the boundary. The first of the innings!
Narshan emails in. “Anyone ever seen a slower outfield in Australia? More grass than in Pattaya!”
You’re right, I can’t recall one slower.
Bumrah bowls a no-ball with his sixth, and has to re-deliver it. No run.
13th over: Australia 33-4 (Smith 10, Head 9) Runs still coming, Head drives one, Smith glides a couple using Rana’s pace. Then a shot that might make Smith feel better, his old faithful flick through the leg side, timed nicely and speeding away for two runs. That’s the shot that has been deserting him the last few years as he’s been lbw more and more often.
No comfort from the following ball though, short and into his stomach! Smashes into the solar plexus. That’s hurt Smith. He’s down on the ground, rocking on his back, taking a minute to catch his breath. Badly winded. That’s uncomfortable, but he gets back to his feet eventually to see out the over.
12th over: Australia 28-4 (Smith 6, Head 8) Four for Head, but all run! He thrashes Siraj square, everyone expects it to reach the rope, but the slow outfield here sees it pull up short. That gives the batters time to get back. Next ball, nearly gets him, around the wicket angling in, Head thrashes at it, big inside edge into his knee, almost back onto the stumps. Siraj is rolling around on the ground in frustration.
Following that, he’s so pumped up that he demands, insists on an lbw dismissal when he crashes into Head’s pad next ball. The ball looks like it’s heading past the leg stump. Siraj though is heading for the slip cordon. He just takes off in a celebrappeal, ignores the umpire entirely and is throwing high fives with his fielders.
Meanwhile, Head is standing there looking bemused, as is the umpire. Not out. India have to review after that malarkey, and they think the ball has straightened, which it has but not enough. Umpire’s call, possibly grazing the leg stump.
Head gets off strike cutting a single.
11th over: Australia 23-4 (Smith 6, Head 3) Bumrah is off. Surprisingly early, but he’s captain, and he asks Harshit Rana to come on and fire it down. He does, fires it down the leg side in terms of angle, though Smith’s pad gets in the way. The appeal is turned down. No run from the over.
10th over: Australia 23-4 (Smith 6, Head 3) This is top bowling from Siraj. Gets a ball to cut back in, Smith has to jab at it to keep it out. Then one holding the line, past the outside edge. Smith is happy to pull, taking a single.
9th over: Australia 22-4 (Smith 5, Head 3) Smith goes off to side against Bumrah here, dropping a run towards cover, before Head clips two through square leg. Odd that the runs are coming from Bumrah, and not the other end. Good from Australia to look to score against him though, carefully, rather than panicking and treating him like he’s impossible to face. Bumrah is around the wicket to Head, in at the stumps and the pads, with a short midwicket in place. He wants Head to fall over to the off side, flicking a catch there.
8th over: Australia 19-4 (Smith 4, Head 1) A maiden for Siraj, bowling to Head, who is playing just about everything to the leg side, hopping about a bit just to keep the ball out.
7th over: Australia 19-4 (Smith 4, Head 1) A couple of singles from the Bumrah over, both batters nudging to the leg side, keeping out the threat.
6th over: Australia 17-4 (Smith 3, Head 0) Travis Head to the middle. How does he play it? Australia with counter-attackers at 5 and 6, having just lost their premier long-innings merchant for a very short innings.
WICKET! Khawaja c Pant c Siraj 4, Australia 17-4
Ohh, Usman Khawaja. What is that. Do you need to be taking on the short ball second over of the day, with the new ball that bounces more? He says he does. Pull shot, top edge straight up, and Pant trots back to catch it. Poor, poor dismissal.
5th over: Australia 17-3 (Khawaja 4, Smith 3) Hit on the pad first ball! Bumrah goes up! All the Indians go up! But it’s a no ball. The umpire wasn’t into it anyway, too high. Smith survives, then thrives, with a nice cover drive for three. That’s confident. Khawaja tucks a run around the corner, moving across to the off side. Runs from Bumrah? Huh.
Here we go…
Interesting little bit from Alex Carey on SEN radio this morning, saying that the main thing the remaining batters had to do was look at this as an opportunity to make runs rather than worrying about the result. Have as long a session in the middle as possible for the sake of their own games, knowing that can be beneficial for the remaining matches. Seems sensible, even if it’s not the flag-waving, save-the-day talk that some would favour.
So it will be Usman Khawaja to resume in quarter of an hour or so, having scored 3 from 9 balls, along with Steve Smith who will be on a king pair. Got out first ball in the first innings.
After that, Head, Marsh, Carey, and three of the four bowlers, with Cummins already done.
There’s always so much attention on Virat Kohli. It feels as though Australian cricket is almost as obsessed with him as Indian cricket.
Well, here’s yesterday’s century report, with a fair bit of Yashasvi Jaiswal too.
Preamble
Geoff Lemon
Good morning from Perth, good day or afternoon or evening or witching hours wherever else in the world you may be. It’s sunny, it’s wildly windy, and it’s not going to get too hot today, and India will be bowling for victory with everything stacked on their side.
Here’s the equation. Australia are 522 runs behind. Three wickets down. And they have two full days to try to survive on a wicket that has already started demonstrating the erratic bounce associated with this Perth Stadium pitch on days four and five.
Buckley’s and none.
Yes, that margin was 522, five hundred and twenty two. That’s after Jaiswal and Kohli made centuries yesterday while some teammates batted and then clattered around them.
Australia, done in, then lost three wickets by stumps: first the makeshift opener McSweeney, then the captain Cummins trying to protect his first drop Labuschagne, then Labuschagne himself.
Things have gone very badly indeed in that Australian side since they bowled out India for 150 on day one. India, meanwhile, can go into a five-Test series one-up, unless something truly bizarre happens.
What’s in it for Australia? Try to get some good time in the middle against India’s bowlers, figure out a method against Bumrah, make the opposition toil and hurt for their win.
That’s about it. The recriminations will come later, but they may be tempered or intensified by the manner in which today plays out.
Let’s see.
