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The Guardian - AU
Sport
Jonathan Howcroft, Adam Collins & Geoff Lemon

Australia v India: first Test, day three – as it happened

India gained the upper hand on day three of the first Test against Australia despite Virat Kohli’s late dismissal.
India gained the upper hand on day three of the first Test against Australia despite Virat Kohli’s late dismissal. Photograph: Ryan Pierse/Getty Images

Here is your day three report

End of day 3: India 151-3 (lead by 166)

This has been an old fashioned attritional Test match with runs at a premium and long passages of tense cricket laden with significance. At the end of day three India’s ability to occupy the crease sees them in the ascendancy.

Australia started the day with hopes of a first-innings lead but despite some handy work by the tail they fell 15 runs short. Travis Head top scored with 72 but never found the fluency he displayed on Friday.

In response India’s top order showed they had learned the lessons of their first innings, eschewing expansive drives in favour of cautious accumulation. The touring top four all faced at least 50 deliveries, grinding their way through an attritional afternoon and evening at Adelaide Oval.

Australia once again bowled well as a unit and deserved more than three wickets. Nathan Lyon in particular put on a masterclass of off-spin bowling but only celebrated the late dismissal of Virat Kohli. Che Pujara successfully overturned two decisions against him using DRS.

Lyon and his counterpart Ravi Ashwin promise to be the key protagonists as the game heads into its final two days with the pitch turning prodigiously out of the foot-holes. Play on both days will begin 30 minutes early to make up time lost to some irritating morning showers.

Adam Collins will be back here bright as a button to narrate the opening ball of the day, after which Geoff Lemon and I will again be on hand to keep you company. Until then, à bientôt.

Nathan Lyon is now Australia’s key man in this first Test against India.
Nathan Lyon is now Australia’s key man in this first Test against India. Photograph: Ryan Pierse/Getty Images

Updated

The pitch is saying runs are very hard to come by and spin is increasingly the weapon of choice, especially with the prominent footholes outside the right-handers’ off stump.

61st over: India 151-3 (Pujara 40, Rahane 1) Hazlewood with the final over of the day and after a couple of unremarkable deliveries he gets one to lift alarmingly at Pujara that the batsman does well to control into the offside. India’s new wall sees out the remainder of the over, fittingly a maiden, and sees his side to stumps in a strong position.

60th over: India 151-3 (Pujara 40, Rahane 1) Lyon’s final over of the day, can he winkle out another Indian wicket? No. Rahane does well to use his feet, keep his bat and pad together, and smother any danger outside off stump. Excellent batting in the circumstances.

The end of a superb effort from Nathan Lyon. 22 overs one for 48 does not do justice to his accuracy, guile, and the difficulty he caused a couple of the greatest batsmen in the game. He will be the key man tomorrow.

59th over: India 151-3 (Pujara 40, Rahane 1) After spending so long on the balcony of the Indian dressing room Rahane will not be relishing this testing three-over spell. Hazlewood assists him somewhat by adopting a line outside off wide enough to leave on a few occasions, until - ouch! Rahane loses a bouncer in the lights, ducks, and wears a fierce blow to the side of his helmet.

Updated

58th over: India 148-3 (Pujara 40, Rahane 1) Huge breakthrough for Australia and a well deserved wicket for Lyon. India’s lead is 163, this Test is still very much in the balance.

WICKET! Kohli c Finch b Lyon 34 (India 147-3)

Out of nowhere Kohli is gone! Lyon has finally been rewarded for his superb effort, landing the ball again in the footmarks, this time ripping an off-spinner enough to catch Kohli’s glove, the ball ricocheting onto pad then popping up into the safe hands of Finch at short-leg.

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57th over: India 147-2 (Pujara 40, Kohli 34) Hazlewood returns, curtailing a lacklustre spell from Starc. He’s instantly in his familiar groove and it’s testing enough to convince Kohli to leave what he can and defend what he must. One of those defensive strokes is placed well enough to earn a scampered single.

Four overs remaining today.

56th over: India 146-2 (Pujara 40, Kohli 33) Lyon has bowled superbly for his none-for and again he troubles a surprisingly uncertain Pujara. Consecutive maidens for Australia with the close of play fast approaching.

“Morning Jonathan,” evening Kim Thonger, “Trying not to listen to the wind howling outside here in Lincolnshire, I’ve started compiling a list of people whose LBW appeal I should very much like to hear before shuffling off this mortal coil: Dame Edna Everage, Jacob Rees-Mogg, Bart Simpson, Arnold Schwarzenegger,
Buzz Lightyear, The Duke of Edinburgh. There are more but I fear it’s fruitless. Unless. Are you able to pull any strings?”

I am not able to pull any strings I’m afraid, although I suspect Rees-Mogg and Humphries must have played some cricket in their time and there may exist documentary evidence. Can anyone help?

55th over: India 146-2 (Pujara 40, Kohli 33) Starc is going upstairs consistently to Kohli, testing India’s skipper off the backfoot. Kohli is up to the task, riding as much as he can and patiently seeing out a maiden.

54th over: India 146-2 (Pujara 40, Kohli 33) Lyon’s breather lasts just two overs courtesy of Head’s profligacy. Australia’s premier offie is immediately onto his line and length, targeting the footmarks outside Pujara and Kohli’s off stump. The batsmen respond with a much more circumspect approach.

53rd over: India 145-2 (Pujara 40, Kohli 32) We haven’t seen too much of Kohli’s strokeplay today but he cushions a magnificent cover drive off Starc to send a reminder of his class. After weathering a Lyon-led storm India are beginning to push their lead into ominous territory.

India’s Cheteshwar Pujara bats during the first cricket test between Australia and India in Adelaide.
India’s Cheteshwar Pujara bats during the first cricket test between Australia and India in Adelaide. Photograph: James Elsby/AP

52nd over: India 140-2 (Pujara 40, Kohli 27) Head gets another over but it is no better than his first. After exchanging singles Pujara helps himself to a long hop and pummels it through midwicket or four.

51st over: India 134-2 (Pujara 35, Kohli 26) After a couple of legside looseners Starc finds his range but Kohli is alert to a lifter angling across him, guiding a couple through point. This has been supremely disciplined batting between this pair. The partnership run-rate is just a shade over two rpo but it is drawing the sting out of a valiant effort from Australia.

50th over: India 132-2 (Pujara 35, Kohli 24) Never mind Starc, here comes Travis Head, relieving Lyon after his 18-over stint. Kohli is like a lion licking his lips at a lost wildebeest creeping into his patch, whipping Head’s first delivery away to square leg for four then inviting Pujara to feast with an easy single. Pujara misses out though, failing to connect with a rank pie that ends well wide of leg stump. He makes up for it somewhat by clipping an elegant two off the next delivery. A bit of light relief for India after a real grind since Tea. Now, here comes Starc...

Updated

49th over: India 125-2 (Pujara 33, Kohli 19) Cummins into the seventh over of his spell and it looks to be one too many. Pujara leans into an overpitching delivery to earn a couple, then flicks a legside slanter for four. Time for Starc again you’d think with this partnership nearing 25 overs and 50 runs.

48th over: India 119-2 (Pujara 27, Kohli 19) Paine has set a terrific field for Lyon with perhaps the exception of a lack of a silly point to Pujara) meaning Kohli continues to struggle to pierce the ring and the bowler is allowed to build up pressure. Eventually Kohli toes rotate the strike, and the change of batsman upsets Lyon’s length, Pujara earning three punching the ball into the vacant long-off region.

47th over: India 115-2 (Pujara 24, Kohli 18) Into the final hour of the day now with the last drinks break taken and Cummins is bang on the money again to send down his third maiden in a row. Among the choicest nuts were a couple of slippery bouncers reminding Pujara of the need to be alert as the shadows being to fall across Adelaide Oval.

Just getting word that play will start half an hour early tomorrow (10am local time) to make up the overs lost this morning.

46th over: India 115-2 (Pujara 24, Kohli 18) Lyon does well again to tempt Kohli into fishing outside his off stump but as is becoming customary there is no edge to be found. The batsmen then advance the scoreboard by using their feet to meet Lyon on the half-volley.

Halfway through this session, India scoring at barely above one rpo, but they have yet to lose a wicket. Both sides appreciate the importance of this passage of play. Gripping stuff.

45th over: India 112-2 (Pujara 23, Kohli 16) Kohli has resisted attacking anything from Cummins that isn’t a gift but he feels at a length delivery well outside off that squirts off the splice to the delight of Australia’s cordon. Cummins follows that up with a nice shorter ball, pushing Kohli back in his crease. He joins the dots to complete another maiden. Five overs none for five now this spell.

This one’s for you, Seventh Horcrux.

Nathan Lyon with his majestic bird of paradise flourish to his appeal.
Nathan Lyon with his majestic bird of paradise flourish to his LBW appeal. Photograph: Dave Hunt/AAP

44th over: India 112-2 (Pujara 23, Kohli 16) Lyon to Pujara is fascinating with the batsman using his feet often but occasionally neglecting to use his bat. Lyon has been so accurate in his 16 overs but he gets his third delivery badly wrong, allowing Pujara to rock back and hammered the first boundary in ten overs behind square on the leg side.

43rd over: India 108-2 (Pujara 19, Kohli 16) Cummins resumes his duel with Kohli, sending down his second maiden in what is now a four over spell. It includes a nasty bouncer that Kohli does well to keep on top off, and even better to style out a couldn’t-care-less response despite the ball catching his bottom hand.

42nd over: India 108-2 (Pujara 19, Kohli 16) Ouch! Poor Aaron Finch. After copping that blow to the throat earlier he has to wear a full blooded Kohli pull shot to his left forearm after Lyon dropped a touch short. Pujara then scores his first runs in an eon with a couple through point.

“Hello, Mr. Howcroft,” hello Seventh Horcrux. “I like the way Lyon appeals. Down on a knee; earnest, strong question asked. Anyway, is there anyone from the current playing crop of cricketers who asks the proper How’s that? instead of the strangled, screaming filth everyone seems to offer up?”

Can anyone help out our Potter enthusiast?

41st over: India 105-2 (Pujara 17, Kohli 15) After a run of 16 dot balls Kohli squirts away a single to release some pressure that had been accumulating. It was another tidy line and length over from Cummins.

40th over: India 104-2 (Pujara 17, Kohli 14) The ball after Pujara’s reprieve he’s beaten on the outside edge by Lyon then a couple of balls later on the inside edge. He ends with Pujara once again trying to pad away outside off with oohs and ahhs from bowler and catchers. That was a superb over from Lyon, one that really unsettled a batsman that has been in for 70 balls and made a ton in the first innings.

Updated

Review successful!

Phew! That was lucky for India. Pujara came down the pitch to Lyon, as he has so often today, and thrust a pad to a ball well outside off-stump but offered no shot initially, his bat coming down well after contact had been made. The ball spun, enough to convince Nigel Llong that LBW was in play. Pujara reviewed and DRS confirmed the ball was bouncing over the top of the bails. That was an aggressive call from Llong.

India Review

Pujara give out LBW...

39th over: India 104-2 (Pujara 17, Kohli 14) Kohli happy to see off Cummins for a maiden and extend this partnership to 15 overs. India have weathered that initial post-Tea storm, riding out half an hour of high quality aggressive bowling from Australia. The pressure now flips to the hosts to try to break what looms as the defining partnership of the match.

Updated

38th over: India 104-2 (Pujara 17, Kohli 14) Kohli now looks to be easing into his work, twice whipping Lyon to long-on with that almost straight-batted hockey-style whip shot of his. Pujara finds the same fielder with a much more conventional stroke to keep the scoreboard moving.

Updated

37th over: India 101-2 (Pujara 16, Kohli 12) Cummins does now enter the attack, belatedly for some. After Pujara nicks a sharp single first ball, the duel resumes between the best batsman in the world and the bowler that has dismissed him twice in his previous four deliveries. There is no repeat of the first innings here though with Cummins straying onto Kohli’s pads second ball with three runs accepted gleefully.

There’s analysis, and then there’s analysis.

India’s Virat Kohli plays and misses at the ball while batting during the first cricket test between Australia and India in Adelaide.
India’s Virat Kohli plays and misses at the ball while batting during the first cricket test between Australia and India in Adelaide. Photograph: James Elsby/AP

36th over: India 97-2 (Pujara 15, Kohli 9) Pujara is very light on his feet, dancing forward - often pad only - to smother any turn or bounce from the dangerous footmarks Lyon is targeting. He also has rubbery wrists to whip anything straight into the legside for runs. Terrific Test cricket happening out there.

35th over: India 96-2 (Pujara 14, Kohli 9) Every so often Hazlewood keeps getting one to lift and cut away off a length that is unplayable. Pujara has the misfortune of receiving one of those this over but he keeps his gloves out of the way, rotating the strike neatly a couple of balls later. That ability find a single following a moral victory for the bowler is becoming an annoyance for Australia.

As for that conversation with Finch from the previous over...

34th over: India 95-2 (Pujara 13, Kohli 9) Lyon is getting prodigious turn out of that rough now, Ricky Ponting on TV using Hawkeye to suggest perhaps too much, allowing India’s batsmen to play back in the crease and guide everything to leg. A minor scare during the over for Aaron Finch, fielding at short square leg the Victorian is hit in the throat by a ball that was driven into the turn just off the cut strip. After a brief pause (and presumably a reminder to “toughen up princess” from one of the other catchers nearby ) Finch and the game continues.

33rd over: India 94-2 (Pujara 12, Kohli 9) Kohli has faced over 20 balls now but is still far from “in”. Hazlewood keeps him honest with a persistent fourth stump line for five deliveries but leaks onto the skipper’s pads with his sixth and a flick of the wrist later Kohli has a boundary and some very impressive records.

That quarter being Hammond, Sutcliffe, Barrington, and Cook.

32nd over: India 90-2 (Pujara 12, Kohli 5) Kohli gets another beauty, this time from Lyon, beating the Indian skipper with prodigious drift - that moved in the air like a Terry Alderman outswinger. Again a single shortly afterwards releases the pressure and Pujara sees off any danger with some excellent footwork both forward and back. Australia have come out with intent after Tea, this is going to be a compelling hour or so.

31st over: India 89-2 (Pujara 12, Kohli 4) Hazlewood continues, Paine resisting the the temptation to turn to Cummins with Kohli on strike, and he begins with an absolute jaffa that is too good for even the best in the world. Kohli did well not to feather that leg-cutter behind and he made sure he wasn’t on strike long, nudging a single to hand responsibility over to Pujara. Hazlewood’s line is a tad wide thereafter allowing the leave-master to perform his favourite stroke with aplomb.

30th over: India 88-2 (Pujara 12, Kohli 3) Lyon resumes his spell after the interval, aiming to land his topspin heavy offies into that rough outside the off stump of the two right-handed batsmen. No grenades this over, both Indians collecting singles with the minimum of fuss.

Taking another look at that photo of Paine and Lyon reminded me of this highpoint in the culture.

Is this what Tim Paine was saying to Nathan Lyon? And will he get a second series?

There are 32 overs scheduled for this final session, which means we’ll be around the 7pm mark local time (7.30pm AEST) when the final delivery is sent down.

I’ll say 200. With India already leading by 101 this session has to be a big win for Australia.

Thank you very much Mr Lemon, the hairiest of all the citrus fruits.

Time once again for me to bed in and guide this extended OBO to the end of yet another engrossing day of Test cricket. My watch will take you through to the close of this third day, a conclusion much later than scheduled due to the morning rain.

Please keep me company, either on Twitter @JPHowcroft- or by email - jonathan.howcroft.freelance@theguardian.com. Plenty to discuss with Kohli at the crease, or we could turn our attention elsewhere, say to the ongoing round of Shield matches or bachelor Glenn Maxwell’s decision to accept the Lancastrian red rose this coming English summer, or perhaps an old-fashioned picture game: what are Tim Paine and Nathan Lyon discussing here... ?

Tim Paine and Nathan Lyon contemplate the challenges of dismissing India’s batsmen at Adelaide Oval.
Tim Paine and Nathan Lyon contemplate the challenges of dismissing India’s batsmen at Adelaide Oval. Photograph: Ryan Pierse/Getty Images

Tea – India 86-2, leading by 101 in the third innings

Advantage India. The openers gone, but they added a decent number of runs at a decent clip. India’s two best bats at the crease currently, a hundred runs ahead, and with the chance to forge on. Two days left to bat plus this final session. It’s relatively slow going on a cloudy sticky day, but should clear up tomorrow. A lead of 250 would be very testing on this surface, late in the game. So, Australia must take wickets, and India can afford to sit back and wait, or take up the attack.

To take up the attack from the keyboard end will be Jonathan Plangent Howcroft, and to take my leave will be me. Because no one else can take it, one assumes.

29th over: India 86-2 (Pujara 11, Kohli 2) Hazlewood to take the last over before tea. Pujara blocking and leaving, as is his way, before working a run off the hip from the last ball.

28th over: India 85-2 (Pujara 10, Kohli 2) Lyon is bowling well. Getting some purchase and using it. A couple of close moments with two leg-side catchers around the bat. A couple of dicey singles. Speaking of...

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27th over: India 83-2 (Pujara 9, Kohli 1) Now both players are back to their metier. Hazlewood is bowling maidens, Pujara is absorbing them. The triple-ply cricketer.

26th over: India 83-2 (Pujara 9, Kohli 1) In a masterful display of legwork, The Pooje manages to kick the ball over leg slip for an extra. Lyon gets a go at Kohli. That might technically be a chance there, as Kohli strikes it off the full blade past short leg. Is it Finch there rather than Harris under the lid? The ball flicked him, rather than him touching it. Kohli doesn’t look bothered and gets off the mark with a single straight afterwards, driven straight in casual ODI style.

25th over: India 80-2 (Pujara 8, Kohli 0) Here we are then. The man, the myth, the moment. Virat Kohli enters Adelaide Oval, after the shocking experience of having not made a hundred here in the first innings. Hazlewood serves him up some basura down the leg side that clips the hip for four, but then crafts a delicacy that whispers past the outside edge.

WICKET! Rahul c Paine b Hazlewood 44, India 76-2

More like KL Yahoo. He’s been wildly swinging all day, and eventually the gate swings closed in his face. Some width, a big drive, and a big nick behind.

24th over: India 76-1 (Rahul 44, Pujara 8) Lyon to Rahul, and one, two, three turning balls are jabbed away near Harris at short leg. As soon as there’s width, Rahul forces through the off side. That brings Pujara to the striker’s end, who jabs at a ball without shifting his weight forward or back, and is given out caught behind. Umpire Llong thinks he’s feathered it, but Hot Spot and Snicko both come up empty after Pujara sends it upstairs. That’s the DRS working well – when the player knows a mistake has been made, rather than rolling the dice.

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23rd over: India 75-1 (Rahul 43, Pujara 8) The Hazlebot has been restored to factory settings. A maiden is the result. Bowling to Pujara helps a bit. Had to play at every ball, but he doesn’t mind that.

22nd over: India 75-1 (Rahul 43, Pujara 8) Rahul immediately charges Lyon to drive a run from the first ball of the over. Pujara happily sits back to have a look.

21st over: India 73-1 (Rahul 42, Pujara 7) We’re getting the end-of-innings Pujara from the first dig, not the start-of-innings Pujara. He didn’t score for nearly two hours at one point on the first day. Here he’s already rattled up seven, as he leans back to square drive some width from Starc away for four.

20th over: India 69-1 (Rahul 42, Pujara 3) Pujara is not in control as he skews Lyon away past a possible catch at midwicket. Rahul doesn’t care what’s happening at the other end, as he whips out the reverse sweep once more and profits by another trio of runs. Then Pujara advances to drive through the on side.

19th over: India 64-1 (Rahul 39, Pujara 1) The new man gets off the mark with a single to square leg. Saved India’s bacon in the first dig. Could be lining them up with a fatted calf celebration if he can take them to a commanding lead in the second.

Statisticians at 1o paces.

WICKET! Vijay c Handscomb b Starc 18, India 63-1

The breakthrough comes, much later than Australia had hoped. Vijay hasn’t scored heavily but he’s supported Rahul in doing so. Starc bowls with a scrambled seam, over the wicket, and decks the ball away. Vijay follows it and edges to slip. Pujara, he of the first innings hundred and the implacable patience, walks to the centre.

18th over: India 62-0 (Rahul 38, Vijay 18) Is he going full IPL? You never go full IPL. Rahul pulls out the reverse-sweep against Lyon, against the spin, having not done enough interesting things in the past 20 minutes. The lead is up to 77.

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17th over: India 57-0 (Rahul 34, Vijay 17) Rahul decides against any crazy-brave stuff as Starc comes back into the attack, except for one big air-hook against the bouncer.

16th over: India 56-0 (Rahul 33, Vijay 17)

Dropped! Finch is fielding around the corner, which is where all the action is against Lyon. The spinner turning the ball into these two right-handers, who keep nudging and sweeping with the turn. Eventually Rahul gets too close to the catcher, but Finch dives and fingertips it away. A tough one.

15th over: India 51-0 (Rahul 31, Vijay 14) Smashed for six to start the over. Rahul really going after Cummins here, opens his stance and plays a lofted square sashay of a drive that lands in the seating in the Fos Williams part of the eastern stand. Rahul has played almost all of his drives in a lofted fashion today, like he’s opening in a T20. Perhaps he’s been told to go and play that way. Either way, this partnership is getting away from the fielding side now. The Australians have created plenty of dicey moments, but the Indian batsmen have survived and are prospering. That’s only emphasised when Rahul drives along the ground through cover for four to raise the fifty stand.

14th over: India 40-0 (Rahul 20, Vijay 14) Nathan Lyon makes his entrance. Early for a spinner, but in his case almost later than you’d expect. Peter Handscomb is immediately launching a loud appeal for a catch at short leg, but Llong isn’t keen. Nor on the lbw shout that Lyon lets rip later in the over. A couple of byes beat Paine with their turn, then Vijay sweeps a couple of runs down to the same area of the ground.

13th over: India 36-0 (Rahul 20, Vijay 12) Just the single from Cummins, as Vijay deflects a decent bouncer.

Watto, meanwhile, is at the Wiggles with Jimmy Barnes.

12th over: India 35-0 (Rahul 20, Vijay 11) Profitable over. A single through midwicket, a thick inside edge for two, then each of the batsmen drives a three through cover. The previously miserly Hazlewood has had a Dickensian change of character, joyfully scattering nine runs to the hungry orphans on this frozen street.

11th over: India 26-0 (Rahul 15, Vijay 7) Rahul produces a couple of shockers to Cummins, who’s bowling back of a length. First Rahul hangs back and has a rank slap at one that wasn’t full enough, missing completely. He signals to the dressing room for new gloves. Either that or he wants a sock puppet to spice up the conversation in the middle. Next ball is a bit shorter, and Rahul aims a square slash but only gets an edge that limps over the cordon and down to the boundary. Cummins smiles broadly, and waggles his fingers at Rahul, as if to ask whether the gloves were the problem with that second shot as well.

10th over: India 19-0 (Rahul 9, Vijay 6) In his fifth over, Hazlewood concedes his first run. A single, tucked by Rahul to fine leg. That’s how relentless Hazlewood is. He’s more machine now than man, twisted and evil. Vijay edges over the cordon for three, totally uncontrolled, then Rahul strides forward to drive four, a lofted shot with the bat face angled up. Hazlewood orders a small and unimportant planet be blown up.

9th over: India 11-0 (Rahul 4, Vijay 3) That’s enough lawn-sprinkler work from M. Starc, and the ball instead is entrusted to P. Cummins. The scoreless run comes to an end, as Rahul leans back and lashes at a cover drive. It nearly paid off for Australia though, as he skewed it in the air and was lucky to place it into a gap. The ball slows up and Head saves it with a dive as the batsmen run three.

Updated

8th over: India 8-0 (Rahul 1, Vijay 3) Hazlewood is the more aggressive today, unleashing a third bouncer at Vijay in this early stanza. Later he finds the pad again, and the crowd sustain an appeal even as Paine largely ignores it and runs to collect the ball and stop a run being taken. Maiden over.

See? Told you I didn’t need to look it up.


7th over: India 8-0 (Rahul 1, Vijay 3) Another maiden, technically, though Starc’s tendency to swing the ball down the leg side costs his team four leg byes as it clips Rahul’s pad. Starc keeps the batsman scoreless more by a mechanism of surprise than quality in that set, including balls wide on either side of the wicket and a beamer that slips from the hand.

How’s this for a biography? “Bud Shank, 82, who brought Brazilian music to U.S. audiences, helped define “cool jazz” in the 1950s and played the dreamlike flute solo on the Mamas and the Papas’ 1965 hit “California Dreamin’,” died April 2 at his home in Tucson.”

Hello, I’m Bud. From Arizona. I helped define cool jazz.

6th over: India 4-0 (Rahul 1, Vijay 3) Hazlewood is having a good one so far. He carves the ball back into Vijay off the seam, beating the edge and thudding into the top flap. Just a bit high and possibly going down leg. Nigel Llong says yeah nahhhhhh mate. Vijay leaves a ball not far from his off stump, then plays at one not far from his edge. Good ball. A couple of follow-up enquiries from the bowler. Three maidens in a row – what is this, a Canterbury Tale?

5th over: India 4-0 (Rahul 1, Vijay 3) Typical Starc stuff. Wild down the leg side, wild outside off, then a laser-guided yorker. Rahul survives, and respectfully blots out another maiden.

4th over: India 4-0 (Rahul 1, Vijay 3) Hazlewood dials the line in a bit tigher and makes Vijay play four times out of six. One of the leaves is a bouncer. It’s another maiden.

What’s that Wong Kar Wai film that plays California Dreaming about 60 times in different variants to mark thematic shifts? I could google that myself but I have you lot.

Updated

3rd over: India 4-0 (Rahul 1, Vijay 3) Vijay leaves, except when Starc bowls full and allows him to steer two runs into the gap at cover. He finishes the over with a tucked single.

Ian Forth emails in. “Just been catching up on Justin Langer’s comments. Not sure his best strategy is to respond to every passing tweet and onfield gesture. At the moment Australia can’t win however they play things (too defensive? too aggressive?) so perhaps keep his head down and stick to the coaching for now. He’ll definitely listen to my advice, which is good.”

I’ll tell you what, I’m more concerned about the substance of what Justin Langer said yesterday. “We’ve literally got kids when it comes to Test cricket playing. They’re just finding their own skin, they’re fighting their backsides off...”

What does that mean? They’re finding their own skin? That sounds hideous? As in, do we mean skin that they had but which fell off in little pieces? Like finding their own skin in their cornflakes? Or are we producing cricketers who hatch or emerge as pupae with no skin at all, and then have to embark on a search for that skin and get inside it? Glistening, wet cricket larvae lumping along a changeroom hallway, looking for their final housing. And where does that skin come from? Is it always theirs, grown separately, waiting? Or do they... gulp... have to take it from somebody else first?

I don’t think I can do this blog anymore.

2nd over: India 1-0 (Rahul 1, Vijay 0) All the leaves are Rahul’s. And the sky is grey. I’ve been for a walk on a winter’s day. Hazlewood starts with a maiden.

1st over: India 1-0 (Rahul 1, Vijay 0) Starc opens with the ball, as you’d expect. KL Rahul gets off the mark with a knock through square leg. Starc launches a good bouncer that Vijay plays with a fending bat, elbows high, getting his gloves up and getting whacked near the handle. Three slips and a gully in, the Australian uniforms a rich cream colour against the grass in this cloudy light. Point, mid-off, leaving cover open for the drive against the angle. Short leg, midwicket, fine leg. Vijay defends. Part 1: complete.

The players are wandering back out. It’s still humid and sweaty, still lots of grey cloud. The pitch was still doing a fair bit for the Indian bowlers. So Australia are in with a chance here, despite trailing by 15 to start with. They’ll need to pile on the pressure and take wickets, but they have conditions conducive to that possibility.

Updated

This is absolutely true.

If you didn’t guess, it’s still raining. Or at least it was, and now they’re still doing clean-up. Play is scheduled to start eight minutes from... now. In the meantime, please enjoy this quality family-friendly Guardian content.

The covers are coming off. The Pants took off too. Rishabh has set a new record for catches at the Adelaide Oval, taking six in that innings to pass a mark of five that Ian Healy set several times. He’s also the youngest keeper to take six in an innings, thrashing Healy’s mark of 25 years old to do so at 21 years and 65 days. I shudder to think what I was probably doing at 21 years and 65 days of age.

It’s sandwich, it’s sandwich time. I know what you’re trying to say, you’re trying to say it’s time for sandwiches. Or you know, other kinds of food if you have different tastes for lunch. I’m not the dad of your midday meal. Which, on consideration, is absolutely just as well, because that would either mean that I’m a sentient and prehensile vegetable / animal / loaf of bread, or that you habitually dine on an postmeridian meal of long pig. Both scenarios best avoided.

It’s raining in a very Adelaide manner. Gentle but thorough. Inoffensive but not exactly memorable. The sandstone library equivalent of precipitation.

As well as sandwich time it’s honesty time. I haven’t read Adam’s OBO – I was sitting next to him but was occupied for most of the four hours by trying to consume a custard tart without meeting personal disaster. The entire South Australian custard tart industry must be kept afloat by this one week of Test cricket each year. Did he say anything interesting? Let me know on the tweets or on the email – send me your highlights or conversational invitations.

Yep, that's lunch!

1:52pm is when the next session might start, if the rain stops. It’s heavier now than at any stage, though, I’m sorry to report. It’ll be Geoffers with you from now, taking the baton for the middle session. Thanks for your company over few hours of rain, punctuated with some excellent bits of cricket. Catch you tomorrow!

It's raining again. I'm sorry.

Just as the Australians were walking out to send down four or five overs before the lunch break. It’s quite heavy too, so that’ll almost certainly be lunch. Urrrggghhhh.

The final two wickets.


AUSTRALIA ALL-OUT 235. WICKET! Hazlewood c Pant c Shami 0.

First ball! For the second time in the match the tenth wicket stand has been broken immediately, which will mean Shami is on a hat-trick in Australia’s second dig. He found the edge of Hazlewood, a conventional dismissal that delivered Pant his sixth catch. The deficit is 15 with India finding a way, through Shami, to finish the job just as it was getting away from them. Lyon walks off with an unbeaten 24 to his name.

WICKET! Head c Pant b Shami 72 (Australia 235-9)

Head is gutted after edging Shami from the crease into the hands of Pant, but he’s done his job here. “A downpayment on a long career in the baggy green,” Gerard Whateley’s assessment on the SEN call. A wonderful innings. He fells with the deficit 15, Lyon earlier in the over hooking the first ball of the set for six. Their stand was 31.

98th over: Australia 228-8 (Head 72, Lyon 17) Ashwin on for his first go today, replacing Bumrah from the southern end. Predicably, Lyon launches into his favourite shot - the big sweep - second ball, and beats the fielder at deep backward square, finding the rope! A nice little flick to one of the two sweepers gets him another. Head’s turn, and he immediately leaps at Ashwin picking off a single to midwicket before Lyon does the same to finish. Fantastic batting from these two, claiming seven from the over.

97th over: Australia 221-8 (Head 71, Lyon 11) Ishant is doing everything necessary to work Lyon over, peppering him with short stuff before beating him with a tempter. But the number ten is keeping his cool, once again retaining the strike from the final ball of the set, this time with a clip to square leg.



96th over: Australia 220-8 (Head 71, Lyon 10) Head handles the first half of Bumrah’s over and does is well, finding one to midwicket. Lyon does it equally nicely, striking another useful drive down the ground, this time for three. He could have given Head the strike with two but he’s confident enough at this stage and rightly so. Fantastic cricket as Australia creep towards India’s first innings tally of 250.

95th over: Australia 216-8 (Head 70, Lyon 7) Andrew Samson notes on the SEN call that since Bumrah’s expensive first spell, he’s taken 18-9-3-18. A beautiful set of numbers. Ishant again now, who Head helps through midwicket with a perfectly timed clip to begin, coming back for a couple. Another single in that direction gives Lyon two balls to negotiate: he is beaten by the first and gets under a bouncer to finish.

94th over: Australia 213-8 (Head 67, Lyon 7) Lyon is beaten by Bumrah and then edges him through the cordon at a catchable height but there is nobody at third, so it runs away for four. As is the custom, Kohli immediately moves an extra man in there. Bumrah responds with a bouncer so short that it is called a wide and the crowd cheer, mindful how much every run will count later in this low-scoring scrap. BIG SHOUT for lbw to finish, the yorker slipping under Lyon’s bat, but they think better of going upstairs with Bumrah acknowledging that it was sliding down leg. Good stuff, this.

93rd over: Australia 208-8 (Head 67, Lyon 3) No strike-milking here, Head taking a single to deep backward square from the second ball of Ishant’s new over. Lyon has been working hard on his batting over the winter with his brother Brendan, who is an accomplished coach in Sydney. That showed in the UAE when he looked just as comfortable as Tim Paine when saving that Dubai Test. Luuuuurlvely square drive from the man they call Garry to get off the mark, slowing up just before the point boundary.

Also, we have an update on those session times from CA:

12:30 - 13:30
13:30 - 14:10 for lunch
14:10 - 16:25
16:25 - 16:45 for tea
16:45 - 18:30

Play can be extended for up to 30min in order to achieve minimum overs - 80 of them.

92nd over: Australia 204-8 (Head 66, Lyon 0) There were two balls remaining in the successful Bumrah over. He beat Lyon with the first, the off-spinner defending the other. How will Head approach this? Darren Lehmann on radio predicted that he would click into T20 mode with the tail. Easier said than done when he’s not yet in, though.

They’re back! Bumrah to Lyon. PLAY!

And the revised hours. Play to resume at 12:30pm. Lunch 1:30pm-2:10pm. Tea 4:10pm-4:30pm. Stumps at 6:30pm. That leaves 79 overs to be bowled from now.

Play to resume at 12:30pm; lunch at 1:30pm (local time)

In theory.

It is still raining. Justin Langer was on SEN and Fox Sports this morning and had a pop at Sachin Tendulkar who tweeted yesterday that he had never seen Australian team bat so defensively. The coach said in reply that Tendulkar played all of his Tests against experienced Australian batting line-ups whereas this team has “literally got kids” in the Test XI.

Any more Alt-XIs? I have one in from my fellow tourist, Michael Ramsey.

Here is my effort, a joint team with SMH cricket writer Andrew Wu, excluding Smith/Warner/Bancroft to keep it interesting.

Renshaw, Burns, Patterson, Maxwell (c), Pucovski, Marsh, Carey (wk), Pattinson, SOK, Tremain, Worrall. (12th - Siddle)

Scrap that. They’re back on again. The big ones too. I’m just going to shut up.

Off come the covers. It might be one of those kind of days.

WICKET! Starc c Pant b Bumrah 15 (Australia 204-8)

As the rain starts falling, Bumrah finds Starc’s outside edge when thrusting into an ill-fated drive, Pant taking the catch above his head. Excellent bowling and sound catching from the young ‘keeper. As Starc departs the players follow him off the field with the covers returning.

91st over: Australia 203-7 (Head 65, Starc 15) It’s very dark out there now, perfect conditions for India to finish Australia off if they can get a bit of luck. They don’t find it in this over, Starc just clearing mid-off with a loft to get a couple. A single to square leg from the next ball brings up the Australian 200 much to the delight of the Adelaide audience. The lights are on now. And a lovely little steer from Head to finish, rolling Ishant off the blade through through gap in the cordon along the ground for three. “This could turn into an epic Test Match,” says Katich. Tasty.

90th over: Australia 197-7 (Head 62, Starc 13) Bumrah from the southern end. Immediately on the stumps, he finds the inside portion of Starc’s bat, spilling away for one. Head’s turn for the first time this morning and he is away too, albeit off a thick inside edge that could easily have ended up back on his stumps. Phew. Starc finishes with another inside edge, deflecting off his pad to midwicket, keeping the strike with the single.



89th over: Australia 194-7 (Head 61, Starc 11) Ishant takes a couple of deliveries to find his range before beating Starc outside the off-stump. But the big southpaw does well to finish, connecting with a compact off-drive on the up that beats the field and nearly makes the rope, the pair returning for three. Simon Katich on SEN notes the difference between the Starc drive then and Finch’s yesterday, mainly that he played the line until the ball reached him, rather than forecasting the path of the ball.

The players are (at last) on the field! Ishant Sharma will bowl the first over of the third day from the Cathedral End. Mitchell Starc (8) is on strike with Travis Head (61) up the other end. PLAY!

Play resumes in five minutes. Just enough time to watch this Channel Seven feature on the great Faith Coulthard-Thomas. What a legend.

Climate change and cricket. Andrew Benton wants to talk about it. “Here’s a report of a study of its effect in Britain. Is there one for Australia? Australian heatwaves can easily be seriously hot and fatal.”

I read this at the time and it’s persuasive stuff. I don’t want to get too deeply into this right now with play about to start, but the work that Tanya Aldred is doing through The Next Test is well worth a look if this is of interest. And here is Athers’ piece on it from earlier in the year.

Alt-XIs > Alt-Right. They’re flooding in - thank you. To begin, Matt Roller, a proper young-gun cricket writer who I recommend that you follow on twitter.

He has: Warner, Renshaw, Burns, Smith, Maxi, Marsh, Carey, Pattinson, Siddle, Tremain, Holland. “A bit light on bowling, maybe, but reckon they’d go in as marginal favourites against the Adelaide team. And even if they didn’t, how much fun would that batting line-up be to watch?”

When James Pattinson takes his next Test wicket I’m going to run on per Greg Ritchie when Steve Waugh made his double ton at Jamaica in 1995.

Adam Morton, one of the nation’s finest climate change scribes, has his say: Warner, Burns, Renshaw, Smith, Maxwell, Stoinis, Carey, Agar, Pattinson, Tremain, Richardson.

Kane Richardson and/or Dan Worrall and/or Chadd Sayers for England 2019. Alongside Siddle and Pattinson. TAKE THEM ALL.

“Chris Tremain to take the new rock,” suggests @PatchToTheMax. With that action, yes please. Hoop dreams.

“Renshaw got to be in there,” tweets @ArthusshireCC. “Is this not just a deluxe CAXI we’re picking, though?”

As much as Geoff Lemon and I have genuine love for the Kaksi (CAXI) and believe there should be life memberships handed out to a few of the lads who have been consistent picks, no, this is a proper Australia ‘A’ XI.

11:15am start time (11:45am AEDST)

The rain has completely stopped. Warm-ups are underway and the covers are largely off. With the inspection sorted, the umpires have given the nod to Paine and Kohli. We’re away in about 27 minutes from now. There will be no overs lost on the day. Revised playing hours en route.

On matters selection, Ricky Ponting had a fairly decent pop at the the panel last night for picking Aaron Finch as an opener to begin with. Interesting perspective, as always.

“Callum Ferguson could be in,” tweets Greg Cameron for our Alt-XI. “Binned after one test on a green seamer in Hobart. Seriously unlucky not to be given another go especially when you compare the amount of chances Shaun Marsh has been given.”

What a week that was: the Hobart Debacle and Trump’s election. I think that’s what they call false equivalency.

Pitch inspection at 10:45am (Adeladie time)

Gary Naylor has an interesting one for us to ponder between times. “What would a shadow Aus XI look like just now (Smith, Warner, Maxi and the red headed leg-spinner etc) and would they beat Paine’s team?”

The ginger spinner you speak of is Lloyd Pope. Yep, I’ll have him. I’ll also take Nic Maddinson, who made a ton at the first time of asking for Victoria yesterday having been mysteriously cut by NSW at the end of last year.

Who else? Mitch Marsh should probably get a gong given he’s the vice-captain of the Test team. James Pattinson (IN MY DREAMS) is nearly back in business for long spells and so on. Peter Siddle is pretty good at cricket. Do your best - email, tweet and so on.

Update from CA. The covers are to stay until they know if the rain heading in this direction is going to miss Adelaide Oval or not. The sun is burning through the clouds though (does it actually do that or do we just say it?), so we aren’t looking at a major disruption. Promise.

Superb century from Ellyse Perry last night in the WBBL. I was in a packed Adelaide pub and they had it on the TV screens. When she moved to her ton to get the win for the Sixers, the whole joint applauded. Tell me again that nobody cares about women’s cricket? Beat it.

It’s still raining. I’m upstairs now looking down at the ground and the groundstaff are sweeping as much water as they can off the covers. But they won’t be able to take them off while it continues to come down at the rate that it is. Not super heavy but just annoying enough.

This did the rounds very widely yesterday. Mike Whitney telling an amusing dressing room yarn from 1988-89, with Patrick Patterson, Merv Hughes and Don Bradman the key players. Quite the trio.

In case you missed it. Ben Stokes and Alex Hales were officially fined by the ECB on Friday, but in terms of suspensions for what went down in Bristol last September, they won’t miss any further cricket. Check out Vic Marks’ analysis, urging us all to now move on from the mess.

This is getting a lot of love on twitter this morning, Alex McKinnon dropping into some cricket writing. Specifically, he’s mourning the departure of Daddles the Duck on the new TV cricket broadcasts. Vale.

Some good news overnight. Glenn Maxwell has officially signed for Lancashire, opting out of the IPL in 2019 so he can be available throughout the English season. With Joe Burns already on the books at Old Trafford for the first ten four-day games, it means he can only play red-ball at the back end of the season, but the fact that he will be in the UK during a World Cup and Ashes summer can only help his cause.

I let out a few loud swears in the press box at Adelaide when he was dismissed yesterday. Batting like a dream, he moved to 57 against WA in the Shield. Then came one of the more unusual run outs you’ll see, confirming that the Cricket Gods are currently pulling the WRONG WAY.

Start of play delayed

Yeah, it’s raining. I can confirm that having stepped outside to get down to the ground, I’m now half drenched. Between times, CA has sent a message out confirming a delayed. However, they added that it should stop around the scheduled start of play, so we shouldn’t be too far behind.

Welcome to day three at Adelaide Oval!

The bad news: it is raining outside. The good: it isn’t meant to last. Even better: if Travis Head can push to a ton today he’ll be the first South Australian to do so at this ground since 1995, on the day where the crowd should be the biggest and boldest. That alone will be worth tuning in for.

As will the Indian seamers as they try and finish Australia off to secure a lead. The hosts resume on 191-7 having bowled out Kohli’s side for 250 with the first ball of yesterday’s play. After some hairy moments (Aaron Finch’s emphatic dismissal third ball of the innings is the back page of today’s Herald-Sun) they slowly reached near-parity by the closely.

I emphasise slowly. The 2.17 run rate that they crawled along at yesterday has drawn plenty of attention; no Australian team has batted at a slower clip in the first innings of a Test in this country since 1990. But pointing the finger at the batsman alone does a disservice to how well the spinner Ashwin bowled (3/50 from 33 overs) to heap pressure onto the locals. It was a real scrap against a fantastic attack at the peak of their powers.

So that is the state of play. As I type, the cloud cover is getting darker but the radar doesn’t see it being long before conditions improve - hopefully before the scheduled start of play in about 50 minutes from now. As ever, I look forward to steering the good ship OBO throughout the opening stanza. Find me on the email or the tweet.

To begin: a tune for our Kiwi friends after their wonderful Test series win against Pakistan in the UAE last night. Bloody well done. GDNZ.

GDNZ
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