Greetings, The People, and welcome to the Sydney Cricket Ground for Day Four of this fourth and final Border-Gavaskar Trophy Series Test match.
If Day one was Phil Hughes Day, Day Two for so many Richie Benauds, and Day Three for Bob Hawke with a beer (see below) on Jane McGrath Day, today remains to be written. But one would warrant it’ll be battle in two between the classy swordsman, Virat Kohli, and the crafty finger man, Nathan Lyon. The former is in the form of his life. The latter bowling bouncy turners on a fourth day SCG deck. How India’s thus far feeble tail supports their captain, for mine, decides this Test match.
Crackerjack hot day in old Sydney Town, about 31 degrees forecast for the day’s equinox (or whatever it means, the middle, the hottest bit) though a 20-click nor-easter will waft across the checker-board green billiard table in the late afternoon. They say there’ll be storms in the West. If they head to the coast, the draw is looking odds-on.
Yet Australia, for mine, still hold the best cards. And though it’s been a batters’ Test thus far - aided by a flat track, shoddy catching and Spiderpig - one still fancies Australia’s bowlers to rip through India’s tail, Australia’s batsmen to make hay for 30 or so overs of thrash-n-bash, before sending India in on to chase 350 in three sessions on a crumbling fifth day wicket, the black clay of Bulli baked hard and crumbling like so many Arnott’s delicious butternut snap biscuits.
So. Should be a good one.
I’m Matt Cleary. I’ll be back live and sweaty at 10:30am AEDST, 11:30pm GMT, and 3:30pm (yesterday) in Reno, Nevada, USA, a city randomly generated through the epic power of The Internet.
Talk at you soon. Here’s Hawkey, unarguably Australia’s greatest ever Prime Minister, skolling a beer. Oh, Country. Don’t go changin’.
Matt Cleary will be along before too long, tasked with being your eyes and ears for day four of the fourth Test. While he wends his merry towards a keyboard, why not remind yourselves how day three panned out.
Lokesh Rahul hit his maiden century, Virat Kohli his fourth of the series but Australia’s Shane Watson hit back with two wickets in as many balls to leave India on 342 for five after the third day of the fourth Test.
And that’s not even mentioning Spidercam. So just another average day at the office, really. Read the full match report here.
