Main events
20th over: Australia 66-4 (Smith 18, Webster 13) Smith needs 20 runs for 10,000. Bumrah stands in the way, bends his right arm and drives them at 138 kmph. Smith hits his foot outside the crease and then steps out and crosses to negate the wicked angles Bumrah gets from this pitch and keeps lbw out of the equation. It’s uncomfortable and unconventional but who’s going to argue when he’s got 9,980 Test scores? virgin.
19th over: Australia 66-4 (Smith 18, Webster 13) Beau Webster calls a few more rounds across the halfway point from Krishna. The big Tasmanian has looked good to dozens of bakers so far. It needs more if Australia is to fix India’s 185 today. Can he and Steve Smith keep it going?
With one of the early contenders for Word of the Year, Ross MacGillivray wrote: “Labuschagne (an act). Exit slowly, trying to convince yourself and the onlookers that what just happened didn’t really happen.
I love it Ross. Drop the cows into Macquarie on a single line.
18th over: Australia 64-4 (Smith 18, Webster 11) Bumrah and Smith duel. And once again Bumrah gets the ball to swing a mile. Struth, this Sydney stadium is full of energy. Smith defends a single and Webster does too leaving Australia trailing by 121 runs.
17th over: Australia 62-4 (Smith 17, Webster 10) Krishna returns – not the main deity in Hinduism worshiped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu but the fast archer from Karnataka. Smith hit him for a six and a four off his last two balls. Krishna fared better in the top five here. Not very good on the sixth, pushing Webster to a four-run win.
Colum Fordham is busted from the beautiful/bold Napoli.
I really should be in bed but I can’t take my eyes off this heated contest and just like in the last several matches yesterday evening, the Indian players are giving the Aussies a tough time. As they have to do if India wants to square the series.
It’s great to see Konstas’s brave reaction to Bumrah and Siraj’s brilliant pace bowling. India must identify more aggressive areas if it wants to maximize the opportunity created by the Marnus Gate
It’s great to have an OBO for the company.
Great to have you on board, Colum! “Hot” is the word. Or should I say speziato!
16th over: Australia 58-4 (Smith 17, Webster 6) Webster taps out for four. This is 14 from three balls for Australia and the first boundary for the new Australia player. It goes to his head a bit in the next one as he defends a cover and takes off, only to be brought back sharply by Smith. Struth! Bumrah gets his fifth ball to bounce strongly. He started it on the fifth stem line and sailed with a leg bail!
15th over: Australia 53-4 (Smith 17, Webster 1) Australia struggles in Sydney. Smith has Prasidh Krishna down his throat again. Krishna is in his third Test for India, just 65 wickets away from them so far. But it’s long, hungry and fast, sending them at nearly 140 kilometers per hour. Smith doesn’t care. He leans back and casually pulls it into the six! Now he goes the other way, leans into the last ball and lofts it over the offside ring for four. Smith now needs 21 runs to reach 10,000 Test runs.
14th place: Australia 43-4 (Smith 7, Webster 1) Webster Edges! He bowled hard at Siraj and the ball deflected off the cue end and fell just short of third slip. Close! Now the great all-rounder from Snug puts one in the covers and gets off the mark in Test cricket. Siraj swings the ball harder than Austin Powers. He beat Smith to fourth but the Australian No. 4 got his revenge next, driving down the ground for three.
13th place: Australia 39-4 (Smith 4, Webster 0) Australia steps up at the SCG! Beau Webster was out in the middle in his first Test innings. But new number one boy Prasidh Krishna comes to Steve Smith. His first ball exploded out of the park and headed toward Smith, cannon in his hands. That was disgusting! Smith, a little nervous, lets go of the rest.
Wicket! RAS C Jaiswal B Siraj 4 (India 39-4)
Head up. The head hits the first four balls. Head edges…head goes! What an end for Mohamed Serra and just reward for some brilliant fast bowling. Head did what Head does, toe-off the nicest four off his first ball. Siraj next put it wide and full. The ball bounced back to Head who was defending, he hit a thick edge and sent it into the slip cordon where Jaiswal, who dropped three balls in Melbourne, got his second ball in three balls!
Wicket! Konstas J Jaiswal B Siraj 23 (Australia 35-3)
CONSTAS show has ended! Beautiful bowling game from Siraj. He put it wide and Konstas flashed it but the swing negated it and it flew to Jaiswal in the gully who had a big chance. Australian fans dip in disappointment but India are on the rise!
11th place: Australia 35-2 (Constas 23, Smith 4) Konstas hails from Bumrah! This one was right off center and flew over the slips and bounced twice before hitting the rope. The crowd roared. Kid Dynamite is here. Bumrah sees it coming in the second over, and puts it wide. Konstas won’t back down. He hits the third time and is hit in the ribs. He has another move on fourth down but it doesn’t connect, instead heading up the infield for a run. Smith pulls away to the last and gets four byes for fine leg. Eventful ending!
10th place: Australia 26-2 (Constas 18, Smith 4) Siraj is swinging! That left Constas trailing and pulling OOOOHs from the slip collar. Konstas, standing upright with quivering lips, watches the two jostling seam deliveries pass by. He waits for one wide and Siraj delivers the fifth ball, allowing a glimpse of fine leg. Australia follows 159.
9th place: Australia 25-2 (Constas 17, Smith 4) Konstas hits a quadruple kick! We saw that shot in Melbourne, where we went down to the boomerang and got on the ground. He hits the next piece as well, the lower edges of his thin leg.
8th place: Australia 16-2 (Constas 12, Smith 4) Steve Smith has arrived. He was bowled out needing 38 runs to reach his 10,000th Test run and a quick single from Bumrah reached 37. Now he turns to Siraj and hits the ground for three. Quick start for Smudge! And painful for Siraj, who broke his finger trying to stop that drive. Blood on the wicket. And now we’re running out! Konstas clips it from the hip and Smith takes off but Konstas brings him back. Smith had to stretch to get his footing. A direct hit would have hit him. Konstas gets another round, passes wide across the gully.
Wicket! Labuschagne B Pant Bumrah 2 (Australia 15-2)
Tick, tick… Bumrah! He did it again. Great bowling from India’s No. 1 man and Marnus begins a snail’s crawl back to the pavilion. It was like a pearl ball that bit and lifted, kissing the edge on the way. Sure enough, Sneko appears stationary and Labuschagne disappears. Australia is in early trouble on the second day!
7th place: Australia 15-1 (Constas 11, Labuschagne 2) Bounce for Boomer! Labuschagne does a good job of keeping it down. It’s undone by the next person. Huge call but no finger raised from the referee. India seems very confident and will send it upstairs for review…
6th place: Australia 15-1 (Constas 11, Labuschagne 2) Konstas is beaten! Nice striker from Siraj. It is a setup to deliver the wobbly seam on the middle and leg next. Konstas keeps it out. The fourth ball is a wide ball and wicket-keeper Rishabh Pant lands the ball on his stumble to stop the bye. He can’t stop it! Konstas breaks another swinging ball through the covers for two.
Fifth place: Australia 11-1 (Constas 9, Labuschagne 2) And here comes Jasprit Bumrah. Marnus Labuschagne is on strike. He blocks the first, comes out to the second, and drives for two. Positive start for Marnus. Bumrah makes him one over the next. The bounce on day one is still there in spades on this SCG court. Bumrah’s speed is reaching 135kmph as he picks up his 32nd wicket of the series.
Fourth place: Australia 11-1 (Constas 9, Labuschagne 0) Starts from the first ball! Siraj ducks into the pads and Konstas clips him square for two. This will calm the nerves – if this kid has any. Straight balls meet a straight bat on the next two balls. India are jovial this morning, and no one is more vocal than Virat Kohli at first slip. Konstas, with an Elvis lip curl, blocks one and leaves one. We are far away!
The players are on the field and we are about to start. Australian Sam Konstas will face Indian Mohammed Siraj from the Paddington end.
This is the 112th Test between these great cricketing nations. Australia won 47, India 33, and there were 30 draws. There was also one tie and one of the heroes of this 1986 thriller was Dean Jones whose 210 innings in the 45 degree Celsius heat of Madras/Chennai has gone down in history as one of the bravest ever.
Shannon Gale has this great quality about Deano.
We had over 47,000 fans at the Sydney Cricket Ground yesterday, and the queues were growing again today, especially with Sam Constas promising to bat today.
I’m not sure India shares Australia’s love affair with Kogarah’s Sundance Kid. Whether it’s hitting like a boy in the backyard, chirping on the field or playing in front of a crowd, the 19-year-old gets under their skin like only a slimy teenage boy could.
Here’s how Konstas started his innings yesterday. Stones on this child…
Please feel free to email me while you play today. There were some strong opinions piling up in InBox yesterday from all four corners of the world about the validity of Steve Smith’s catch of Virat Kohli, the stability of Hector’s protector Rishabh Pant and whether Usman Khawaja’s latest procrastination or Sam Konstas’ talk is to blame. For Jasprit Bumrah gets his back and conjures up that java that cost Australia their first wicket.
While you are online, Please donate to the McGrath Foundation In this pink test.
The first day was all arm wrestling that almost turned into a bar fight. Here’s how that dramatic final moment unfolded…
For those who showed up late, here’s how Jeff Lemon saw day one…
Preamble
Angus Fontaine
Greetings cricket fans and welcome to day two of the fifth and final Test between Australia and India in Sydney where the skies are blue and the fishes are jumping.
The first day was hot. On top of a hot green in Sydney, India’s players were beaten – and outplayed. They scored 185 runs, with no batsman passing 40, and endured a large number of bruises. The Australian bowlers were relentless, with Mitchell Starc sneaking through 18 overs for three wickets and Pat Cummins chiming in with two. The quiet hero was Scott Boland who took 4-31 from 20 impressive overs with eight maidens.
As we’ve come to expect from both sides, there was a lot of drama and controversy. Boland took Virat Kohli’s first ball and Steve Smith got clutch under the catch and passed it to Marnus Labuschagne to pandemonium… only for the third umpire to find that a patch of grass had touched the ball.
The other tense point came in the last minute of the day when Jasprit Bumrah lost his cool with Usman Khawaja, who was stalling at the striker’s end. Sam Konstas, who has been packing the crowd all day with two photo shoots and over 2,000 selfies, threw a bit of shade Bumrah’s way in support of his partner and the two advanced on each other. The referees got a stopper in the confrontation but the bear was stabbed. Bumrah struck a devilish ball that hit Khawaja’s edge and left Australia 9-1 up at stumps.
That’s how we left it. How are you going today? Konstas was not out of the seventh over after he jumped down and fired Bumrah’s first ball of the innings to the boundary. The boy prodigy has a big target on his head today. Can he survive and thrive like he did at the MCG? Or will India, needing a win to clinch the series, regain the momentum again?
Hit them and tie them up. We’ll find out at 10.30am AEST.