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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
Sport
Geoff Lemon (earlier) and Jonathan Howcroft (later)

Australia v India: fourth Test, day four – as it happened

Mohammed Siraj
Mohammed Siraj celebrates his maiden five-wicket haul in Tests on day four of the fourth Test at the Gabba. Photograph: Tertius Pickard/AP

Close of day four - India 4-0 (Target 328)

This series simply refuses to provide any clarity and once again a day that could have proven decisive ended up teasing us further. The Border-Gavaskar Trophy will now come down to one day’s play at the Gabba. India have 98 overs to survive. Australia have to dodge the showers and take 10 wickets.

We’ll be here for every ball, so join us back here bright and early for what promises to be an enthralling climax to a gripping series.

Play has been abandoned

There we go. The inevitable has been called.

The rain is strengthening over the Gabba. The umpires have taken a quick stroll under the umbrellas but they didn’t linger. They will call the day off imminently.

Nikhil Nayak has emailed through an Indian XI that could also have featured today if fit/selected. It’s remarkable how Rahane’s side has fought so deep into the series despite being so undermanned.

Dhawan
Shaw
Kohli
KL Rahul
Murali Vijay
Vihari
Saha
Jadeja
Ashwin
Bumrah
Ishant

This rain is forecast to linger on and off until the early hours of the morning. Thereafter showers would not be a surprise until 8am, and they continue to be around a 30% possibility until the close. 98 overs sounds optimistic.

It’s still raining at the Gabba, the full square is covered, and the skies still look full to burst. Hardly any chance of play resuming tonight. We’re just waiting for the official sign off.

And India’s averages, from the battalion of bowlers they were forced to call upon.

Jadeja 15.00
Thakur 22.14
Ashwin 28.83
Bumrah 29.36
Siraj 29.53
Yadav 33.25
Natarajan 39.66
Sundar 42.25
Saini 43.00

Plus Rohit and Shami, who also rolled their arms over for no reward.

So, Australia’s series with the bat ends. Here are the unusually skinny averages:

Labuschagne 53.25
Smith 44.71
Paine 40.80
Pucovski 36.00
Green 33.71
Wade 21.62
Harris 21.50
Burns 21.00
Head 20.66
Starc 20.25
Warner 16.75
Cummins 12.20
Lyon 11.66
Hazlewood 10.75

We’re on radar watch for the next 45 minutes then, unless the deluge is so significant it forces a decision sooner.

If we don’t see any more play today, the destination of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy will be determined by 98 overs (rain permitting) tomorrow. It’s safe to say the extra time taken out of the game this evening ends whatever slim incentive India had to chase the win. It also begs the question why Australia chose to bat so long in their second innings.

The groundstaff are once again on in a flash. The skies are the colour of menace. I’d be amazed if we got back on again today.

Rain stops play

1.5 over: India 4-0 (Rohit 4, Gill 0) (Target 328) First innings destroyer Josh Hazlewood shares the new ball, but he’s too short and wide to cause Gill many issues.

And here comes the rain...

1st over: India 4-0 (Rohit 4, Gill 0) (Target 328) Starc is short of a length for his opening couple of deliveries, one of which raps Rohit on his gloves. Then he’s full and wide for a few, but there’s no swing, and Rohit can lean into a sumptuous cover drive that races away for four. Starc does not look happy with the footmarks.

Quite how we’ve had so much play today is incredible. There is rain blanketing southern Queensland but the Gabba remains inches to the north of the front as it slips by into the ocean.

The floodlights are in full effect. Dark clouds are massed around the perimeter of the Gabba like a pathetic fallacy backdrop to a Lord of the Rings fight scene. This is not when you want to bat, but bat India must. Mitchell Starc has the new ball, here we go...

123 overs remain in the match - weather permitting. If the rain holds off this is beautifully poised.

For what it’s worth, Cricviz still has the draw favoured at 52%, then Australia at 45% and India at 3%.

India set 328 to win

With all the weather around, who knows how much time there remains in this game? As things stand all four results remain alive approaching the fourth innings. It’s a fitting end to a compelling series.

WICKET! Hazlewood c Shardul b Siraj 9 (Australia 294)

I’m confused about what’s going on now. Australia are refusing singles to keep Cummins on strike, then they’re running like headless chooks to avoid Hazlewood facing anything. Despite their best intentions the No.11 does face Siraj, and he smacks him nonchalantly through the covers for four. But then he falls into the trap, angling his bat and guiding the ball to the catcher at shortish third-man like it was slips practice.

Siraj celebrates his maiden five-for in Tests. Australia lead by a very hand 327.

75th over: Australia 289-9 (Cummins 27, Hazlewood 5) (lead of 322) Thakur continues to bowl short and it almost works when Hazlewood aims a glide towards the man placed for the catch at short third-man. He then deceives Cummins with a T20-style knuckle ball but the mistimed shot does not find a fielder.

74th over: Australia 286-9 (Cummins 26, Hazlewood 4) (lead of 319) Siraj goes full and straight and Cummins does well to dig it out. The bowler then slips in a slower ball and the batsman is ready, hanging back in his crease and lofting a six straight down the ground! He goes straight again with a bludgeon of a stroke that earns him a couple more before failing to pierce the field for the remainder of the over. Could this be the cameo that reignites Cummins’ batting career?

73rd over: Australia 278-9 (Cummins 18, Hazlewood 4) (lead of 311) Lyon’s cameo may be over but the left-handed fun doesn’t stop. Hazlewood is gifted a wide half-volley from Thakur and it is treated with disdain by Australia’s No.11 and crunched through the covers.

WICKET! Lyon c Agarwal b Thakur 13 (Australia 274-9)

That’s the game, yo. Nathan Lyon has a swipe at a short and wide one from Thakur and slaps it straight to Agarwal at cover.

72nd over: Australia 274-8 (Cummins 18, Lyon 13) (lead of 307) India continue to go upstairs, Siraj this time, and Lyon swivel-hooks a top-edged six! Australia are in full on slog mode now with Cummins even clearing his front leg, but to no avail, with one hoick to midwicket and another fresh air swing.

“Must say that NZ getting a shot at the World Test Championship at Lord’s, of all places, is one of the most pleasing outcomes cricket has to offer at present,” emails Abhinav Dutta, correctly. Then he expands with great flow. “If it goes to a tie, we can say without doubt that Time is Illmatic indeed. Given how Nas often disses new rappers for failing to quote Big Daddy Kane (Williamson) verses off the top of their head, expect some OG bangers if NZ were to win.”

71st over: Australia 266-8 (Cummins 17, Lyon 6) (lead of 299) Thakur is dealing mainly in bouncers, so much so Bruce Oxenford makes all manner of arm gestures after the third in a row. I’m not sure if the wide or no-ball takes precedence? Cummins responds with a nice pull for three.

The groundstaff are massed on the boundary edge once more. We may be in for another drenching.

70th over: Australia 261-8 (Cummins 14, Lyon 5) (lead of 294) Good lord, Siraj has found the edge of a crack miles short and miles wide of Cummins’ off stump and the ball has hit it and seamed about five yards, like a missile, towards the batsman’s personal pipe. With Cummins bent double the ball ricochets down to the fine-leg fence for four.

Keith Johnson has done sterling work identifying a slab of cricket lasting 24 hours. “March 13, 2013 offered close to 24 hours of cricket,” he emails helpfully.

“Starts with Day 1 of New Zealand v England - 2nd test of a three test series, from the Basin Reserve, eventually drawn, Compton and Trott with 1st inning centuries, Broad getting a six-fer.

Over to Chandigarh as India host Australia in the 3rd of a four test series. Day 1 in a test match India wins with Vijay and Dhawan picking up centuries. Peter Siddle has a five-fear in the first innings for Oz. India wins this match.

There is a three and half hour break until Bridgetown brings the final day of the first test of the Clive Lloyd Trophy - obviously played between West Indies and Zimbabwe. West Indies require 12 In their 2nd innings, or 1/3rd of what India scored in their 2nd innings of the first match of this current series, to defeat Zimbabwe and they duly respond, 12-1. Shane Shillingford, yes, THAT Shane Shillingford taking six in 16 overs for the Windies in the 2nd innings to help complete the match in three days.

No matches in SA that week; West Indies & SA hosting test matches the same days would get we, The Cricket Nation, to 24 hours of test cricket!” Lovely stuff.

Shaun “Boundary” Ryder in action.

69th over: Australia 254-8 (Cummins 9, Lyon 4) (lead of 287) One to Lyon, three to Cummins, from Thakur’s over.

I reckon that rain from the west is going to spoil this party soon enough.

68th over: Australia 250-8 (Cummins 6, Lyon 3) Out comes the GOAT and the GOAT goes munch! Siraj bowls full and he is met with the full blade of Lyon’s bat striking a textbook straight drive that would ordinarily be worth four glorious runs, but the rain reduces the tariff to three. Cummins is less comfortable on strike is fortunate a thick edge bounces in front of third slip.

WICKET! Starc c Saini b Siraj 1 (Australia 247-8)

Mitchell Starc aims the same shot to every delivery of Siraj’s over; a handsome 3-iron swing of the bat aiming for the hospitality boxes behind the sightscreen. He misses with his first swipe, then mistimes his second straight to mid-off. Win some, lose some.

67th over: Australia 247-7 (Cummins 6, Starc 1) Thakur resumes his abbreviated over and Cummins is immediately in the runs, slashing a rank long hop for four over the cordon. The bowler exacts some revenge by clipping the back of the batsman’s helmet after a bouncer failed to get up, despite Cummins’ best efforts to avoid contact. That was a very slight glancing blow.

It remains very dark at the Gabba, despite the floodlights. The radar indicates more rain is approaching from the west, it remains to be seen if the ground is in the flightpath or whether it will again escape relatively unscathed.

Out come the players, ready for a session that may last two-and-a-half hours. It may last a fraction of that if it rains again. Either way, what action we see is sure to be entertaining with Australia desperate for quick runs.

And there we have it, play will restart in ten minutes. Thanks to the early Tea break and the addition of the extra time, the day’s play may only lose one over!

The situation is looking up. Remarkably, despite southern Queensland getting a serious drenching today, most of the rain has slid past just to the south of the Gabba. There’s the chance the tail end of the front could become a factor soon, but for now we might have a break long enough to resume play.

“Could you explain what Australia and India need in the context of WTC finals?” emails Arul Kanhere.

I shall hand you over to Ric Finlay, Australian cricket’s numbers guy.

Channel Seven are not convinced we’ll have play anytime soon. They’re showing replays of last summer’s series against Pakistan.

“Greetings from Slovakia,” is the kind of introduction that piques my interest. Welcome, Vincent Barreto. “It’s a country that doesn’t really play cricket. There’s a few Subcontinent expats who play cricket with a tennis ball in a park in Bratislava during the summer which bemuses and intrigues the locals who wonder what this strange game is! There is a weekly game in Austria where lots of teams turn up.

Was hoping for a bit of cricket to go with my early meeting for plant startup at JLR in Nitra but alas it is not to be. India will need to keep the Aussies below 300 but without someone like Sehwag to smash a quick few I think they will be eyeing a draw. It’s all they need. Here’s to the rain going away and an interesting 4th day! -12 here btw!”

India will be delighted with a draw. Undermanned, on the backfoot from the toss, and at Australia’s fortress, India will celebrate a draw like a win.

Seven have rolled out a package in honour of Nathan Lyon accompanied by this well chosen banger.

Ladies Love Nathan Lyon.

Clearly they missed a trick.

Niiiiiiiiiiiiiice Garry!

The covers are still on but the rain is not too heavy. The radar indicates showers nearby, but the massive blanket of rain appears to have skirted by.

‘Morning Jonathan,” buongiorno Finbar Anslow! “5.30am over here. Why up at this hour? Well the vagaries of Italian bureaucracy demand that I’m online at six to get a web ticket as part of the long and winding road towards citizenship; oh and there are also two Test matches on. Which brings me to the burning question; has there ever been/could there ever be, a situation where test cricket is being played 24/7? Home matches in New Zealand, South Africa and the Windies for example? 5 days in a row of non stop high level cricket. Wow!”

Excellent question Finbar. Can anybody out there help him out with the answer of the longest consecutive spell of play? Off the top of my head I would suggest NZ>Australia>SA on or around Boxing Day must have happened a few times, giving us 18ish continuous hours of Test cricket.

Back when Geoff and I were part of the esteemed White Line Wireless crew we workshopped a movie featuring Shane Watson as a superhero chasing the sun, playing cricket 24/7. We cast Owen Wilson in the lead role. It was very late at night. We may have been drunk.

Be like Abhi Saxena and send me emails. “Just a bit of perspective from a young Indian,” he opens. “One thing that seems to have surprised the Australian media is the grit shown by the Indians. The guys coming in this game for their first /second game are the same age as me, and what they are showing on the pitch, I think accurately reflects where India is as a country at this moment. What people don’t seem to realise in the West from my own experience of doing graduate school in the US is how young and ambitious India is. They have seen how life is in the West thanks to growing technology and friendly relations, and want the same for themselves.

Largely gone are the days when people in India just want to settle outside, they want to build their own now. India is growing as a country though the Indian media shows a very inaccurate reflection of the youth and doesn’t really capture it. But on the Test wicket it comes out, and that is why I love this game. Starting from the feisty Ashes to the colonial rebellion of West Indies, followed by the Asian colonies, Test cricket has served as a far better reflection of society than most other media. Cheers!

In the meantime, feel free to follow England’s pursuit of victory in Sri Lanka.

Tea - Australia 243-7 (lead of 276)

On come the covers, off go the players, and we’ll have an early Tea. The radar indicates it’s just a shower, but there are a few lurking nearby, and some of them look nasty. We’ll just have to wait and see. 37.5 overs remain in the day.

Rain stops play

66.1 over: Australia 243-7 (Cummins 2, Starc 1) Starc gets off the mark with a single but then the groundstaff race on as the light drizzle firms into persistent rain.

66th over: Australia 242-7 (Cummins 2, Starc 0) Natarajan gets another spell and his first delivery from around the wicket induces a regulation edge from Cummins, but it fails to carry to Pujara, who is standing a mile back at first slip. Another black mark on India’s fielding in what has been a wretched tour on that score. The impressive left-armer continues to toil and has the better of Cummins later in a maiden over when he flings one beyond a weak prod outside off stump.

Ten minutes before Tea, rain has started to fall. It’s only light for now, and play is continuing, but the groundstaff are ready to intervene.

WICKET! Paine c Pant b Thakur 27 (Australia 242-7)

Paine gallops like an AFL draftee attempting the beep test to turn a sharp single into a mightily impressive two. He’s then tested by some lovely full swinging deliveries from Thakur until the bowler gets his man! Eager to avoid a single to farm the strike Thakur drops in a slippery bouncer, Paine chases after it and feathers an edge behind from his attempted pull.

65th over: Australia 242-7 (Cummins 2, Starc 0)

64th over: Australia 240-6 (Paine 25, Cummins 2) The scoreboard has not been rattling on recently but Paine gets the scorer’s attention with a delicate glance for four, then a beautifully struck reverse sweep for four more. Those runs come despite Sundar getting plenty of encouragement out of this increasingly capricious surface.

The floodlights are now on at the Gabba. The thundery showers have skirted around the Gabba all afternoon but they are inching ever closer.

63rd over: Australia 231-6 (Paine 16, Cummins 2) Paine continues the pattern of accepting a single early in the over. Thakur then holds Cummins scoreless with a nice line outside off, with some away swing, and forces some hasty defence with a well directed yorker.

62nd over: Australia 230-6 (Paine 15, Cummins 2) Cummins arriving in the middle ahead of Starc and Lyon is a little mystifying. Washington Sundar replacing Navdeep Saini in the attack is not. Sundar approaches from around the wicket and is clipped for one by Paine then two by Cummins. He is then all over the Australian bowler, getting one to rip and probe the inside edge, then slant across with the arm beyond the outside edge. Nathan Lyon will have enjoyed the natural variation.

WICKET! Green c Rohit b Thakur 37 (Australia 227-6)

Shardul Thakur (which sometimes rolls through my head as a Sponnerism for Tupac Shakur) returns to the attack. Paine soon rotates the strike with a sharp single but then Green perishes! A nice delivery hits a length hard, lifts, clips the shoulder of the bat and is nicely caught in the cordon by the safe hands of Rohit. An excellent wicket for India, but the latest in a number of deliveries this afternoon that do not bode well for them batting long spells to win or draw when Australia’s attack gets to exploit this deteriorating surface.

Green’s innings could be cut anyway you want. Did he dig deep for a valuable 37? Or did he waste time scratching around when the situation demanded more urgency?

61st over: Australia 227-6 (Paine 14, Cummins 0)

60th over: Australia 226-5 (Green 37, Paine 13) A lovely on drive for three from Green is bettered by an even lovelier on drive for four from Paine. I’m afraid the valiant Saini is not at the races.

The lead is now 259. I reckon Australia have reached a big enough total should they be forced into an emergency declaration. That emergency may be sooner than hoped with groundstaff entering their golf carts.

59th over: Australia 217-5 (Green 34, Paine 7) Just the single from a Siraj over full of deliveries that hit the deck hard. Cameron Green is starting to find touch, but he’s had to grind it out to remain in the middle.

58th over: Australia 216-5 (Green 34, Paine 6) Navdeep Saini is considered fit enough for a spell, but he starts full on Green’s pads and concedes two, then he’s short and wide outside off stump and is cut effortlessly for four. A sharp single and then a neatly clipped three from Paine continues the momentum of this partnership.

Rowan Sweeney extends this conversation from earlier. “Hopefully the Australian media and public can embrace India’s ascension, if and when, it comes. India is cricket mad, and if young players are finally being given the opportunity and support they need to reach the very apex of their talent and realise their dreams, that’s something to be celebrated across the world. If that creates an arms race, where the older “powers” of cricket need to make similar levels of investment into young men and women, this too is only a good thing. I’d infinitely prefer that situation than the heartbreaking decline of West Indies Cricket.”

57th over: Australia 206-5 (Green 27, Paine 3) Australia respond after the drinks break with some tip-and-run cricket to keep the scoreboard moving. Green is now batting with much more intent, looking to drive forcefully through the offside and allowing his skipper to call him though for aggressive singles. It should be an industrious hour until the Tea interval.

Don’t forget to join in throughout the day. If/when the rain comes, I’m going to need your company. Send your emails to jonathan.howcroft.casual@theguardian.com and tweets @JPHowcroft.

Speaking of the rain, the day’s forecast has improved continually over the past 24 hours or so. Early indications prepared us for interruptions around lunchtime, but it now looks as though we’ll at least get to Tea unscathed. Like yesterday, anything after the final break is in the lap of the Gods with storms anticipated some time after 4pm local. There are big ugly splodges over southern Queensland on the BOM radar but mercifully they have not converged on top of the Gabba.

Moreover, the forecast for tomorrow isn’t as horrendous as appeared earlier in the week. Showers are possible during the hours of play, but by no means guaranteed. There could be a victor in this series after all.

Thank you very much Geoffrey for handballing to me my final OBO session of this captivating series. It has been a feast of cricket for four Tests. I just hope the rain holds off long enough to fit in a little more pud.

Just a little bit of pud.

56th over: Australia 202-5 (Green 25, Paine 1) The captain gets off the mark with a clipped run. He tends to score fairly briskly. Interesting how things get played from here. Green gives some indication by sweeping another boundary to raise Australia’s 200.

The lead is 235, and my day is done. I shall return to you one more time in Border-Gavaskar mode, tomorrow morning to see what is to be seen of the fifth day. For the rest of the fourth, your guide through the catacombs shall be Jonathan Plumage Howcroft.

55th over: Australia 196-5 (Green 20, Paine 0) Another brute from Siraj welcomes Paine to the crease, similarly up at his gloves but he manages to defuse it. Australia’s lead is 229 with Smith gone.

WICKET! Smith c Rahane b Siraj, Australia 196-5

Siraj redeemed! What a piece of bowling from the young pace spearhead. He really gives this ball everything. Whips it down. Short and it surprises Smith, leaps at him, and Smith uses glove and bat handle to get in the way of the ball. It loops up to slip from the glove, and Smith reviews on the off-chance that he got his hand off the bat handle in time. The replay says he was nowhere close to that. Another excellent display from Smith though, brought to an end by some quality.

54th over: Australia 196-4 (Smith 55, Green 20) Smith reaches for Sundar and edges away a boundary, on the ground past slip. Green takes that cue and does his own reaching, squeezing away a couple to the same area. There’s a big gap from slip to backward point to exploit. But he goes the other way to end the over, sweeping hard behind square for four! Here he comes.

53rd over: Australia 185-4 (Smith 50, Green 14) Siraj back into the attack and he drops another one! Green this time, pushes with hard hands at the ball, back at the bowler, just to his right, and Siraj in his follow-through doesn’t have much time to react. He sticks both hands out but is going so hard at the ball that it bounces off his plams. A maiden over, India 218 behind as we near the halfway mark of the second session.

Fifty! Steve Smith 50 from 67 balls

52nd over: Australia 185-4 (Smith 50, Green 14) A simple nudge to square leg for a single and that brings up Test half-century number 31 for Smith, as well as his 27 centuries – 58 times past that mark in his 77th Test. Ridiculous numbers.

51st over: Australia 183-4 (Smith 49, Green 13) Smith off strike first ball against Natarajan, struck off a length through cover for three, then Green soaks up the rest as per usual. Gets a couple of leg byes from the final ball as the bowler errs in line.

50th over: Australia 178-4 (Smith 46, Green 13) An attempt to go big down the ground from Sundar and Smith is dropped. In the deep, straight behind the bowler. Smith wants to go over long off with a big drive, but he skews the shot and drags it straight. Siraj comes across from mid on and makes good ground to get there, backpedalling and looking at the ball. It just has too much on it, and it carries over his head. He lunges back and gets fingertips to it but parries it away for four. Big moment: had he taken it the lead would have been 206 at five down.

49th over: Australia 173-4 (Smith 42, Green 13) Natarajan bowls a maiden over to Green that is nonetheless full of incident. One ball stays low and creeps through him, three balls cut in and hit him on the body as he misses various shots.

48th over: Australia 173-4 (Smith 42, Green 13) Spin time, Washington Sundar to bowl. Green knocks a couple of runs to midwicket, then across his pad to get a single to square leg. He can use his height to get over the ball and smother spin. Smith gets down the wicket and drives for four! Through cover. The lead goes up to 206 and a the partnership to an even 50.

47th over: Australia 166-4 (Smith 38, Green 10) The runs are starting to come for Green, first another single and then a square drive from Natarajan that picks up three to backward point. Just the sort of shot that diverts the ball rather than a free-flowing drive.

Harrison Payne writes in. “Australia should have won this series convincingly given the calibre of their squad (although this is rightfully starting to be questioned) and the depleted nature of India’s side over the course of the series. However, the Australian public and media should not expect to roll India on home soil every time they tour. Due to India’s population and resources (and a more prosperous middle class) there will inevitably come a time in the not-too-distant future when India will perennially dominate world cricket. As Gideon Haigh put it last series ‘when India get their act together, they could have three teams and still beat everyone’. This is something the Australian public and media will have to get ready for.”

46th over: Australia 161-4 (Smith 37, Green 6) A run for Green to start the over, and that’s all he needs to do for now, knocking one away to midwicket. Thakur the drops short to Smith, and that’s not the jam for this bread. The line is outside off stump but he takes it away regardless, clumping a pull shot over midwicket for four. Inelegant but effective, like a Datsun Z20Y. A couple more singles follow. The lead is 194.

45th over: Australia 154-4 (Smith 32, Green 4) Natarajan, left-arm around the wicket, in at the pads, trying to get Smith to clip to the short midwicket, or the square leg, or the leg slip. Two conventional slips and a gully as well. Point, mid off, mid on, fine leg. That deep point is not in place for Natarajan, indicating that he’s going to do nothing but angle in. Which he does. Oversteps for another no-ball, but holds Smith scoreless for the over. And from the last ball, the leg-side trip nearly works. Smith advances and then flicks, but it bounces in front of leg slip where Rohit makes a good diving stop.

44th over: Australia 153-4 (Smith 32, Green 4) Rahane has employed a deep point or a deep backward point for his fast bowlers a lot in this series, and that man saves a boundary as Smith cuts Thakur away. Brings Green onto strike, who again doesn’t score for the rest of the over. India won’t mind the way that he takes time out of the game, though we did see in Melbourne that he can accelerate in a hurry if he feels set.

43rd over: Australia 152-4 (Smith 31, Green 4) Smith takes Natarajan from the other end. Works him to fine leg for a run, wants the second. The pickup and release is fast but the throw is errant, and a direct hit would have run out Smith. Even a throw over the bails might have. But Pant has to leave his post to go out and collect the ball. The rest of the over follows a similar line of attack. Smith adds a single to the same region from the final ball, using a lot of wrist-whip to get the ball behind square.

42nd over: Australia 149-4 (Smith 28, Green 4) We’re back after lunch, beginning with Cameron Green up against the burly swing bowler Shardul Thakur. Green continues as he did before the break, leaving when he can and defending when he must. A maiden.

Here’s a good question from Siva Kumar.

Long time lurker here on OBO. The emergence of Siraj and a solid backup in Thakur and Washi gives India a good problem to fix for the English tour. My take on a full strength 11 would be:

1. Gill
2. Rohit
3. Pujara
4. Kohli
5. Rahane
6. Pandya
7. Pant
8. Ashwin
9. Shami
10. Siraj
11. Bumrah

Squad batsmen: Mayank, Rahul, Vihari.
Allrounders: Jadeja, Washi.
Bowlers: Ishant, Saini, Thakur.

So many options at the moment. Some early thoughts: I reckon they would be mad to go into an England Test without Ishant, the way he’s bowled using seam and swing for the past few years. Bhuvneshwar would also be a good pick for the squad. And I also think Jadeja has to be in any Test XI for India these days, in one way or another. He changes games in a way that no one else can.

Lunch – Australia 149 for 4, leading by 182

Quite the session. Four wickets well in a rush, either side of Warner and Harris scoring freely, then Smith taking the initiative back with quiet support from Green. There’s definitely a chance now for India to win, if they can take bulk wickets after lunch and keep the fourth-innings target under 300. Or if they can get one or two wickets, they can perhaps slow the scoring to a point that a draw firms in likelihood. But Smith has been in a mood, and the pitch still looks good to bat on aside from the occasional bit of erratic bounce. Australia could yet pile on a score. Love this series: it’s been blow for blow throughout. I’ll be back with you after putting some more fuel in the OBO machine.

41st over: Australia 149-4 (Smith 28, Green 4) Some shot from Smith! We know he likes to walk across his stumps and flick to leg, but with Natarajan’s delivery keeping low Smith shovels it out of his pads to deep midwicket for four. A real slap rather than a nudge. He remains the roadblock that India must remove, but he doesn’t get out of the way easily. A false shot from the final ball, edged on the bounce to gully, but well in front. That is the lunch break.




40th over: Australia 144-4 (Smith 24, Green 3) Saini bowls a no-ball, straight, and Smith gets two runs to midwicket. Then there’s a short ball down the leg side and Smith plays that lifting pull shot of his, catching up with the ball and sending it to fine leg for four. Saini is still bowling in the 120s, he can’t be of much use today. Despite the wickets Smith hasn’t put his shots away.

39th over: Australia 137-4 (Smith 18, Green 3) Natarajan will replace Saini, and hope to get the radar right. He had a lot of trouble with his line earlier today. Comes around the wicket to the right-handers this over. Starts wide, continues wide, but finally gets one right third ball. A huge appeal. That’s how they’ve got Green out in this series: the in-ducker into the pads. Natarajan slants the ball, has Green on the walk, missing as it stays a bit low and blows his front pad off, just below the knee roll on his slanted front leg. But he’s so far down the wicket that the ball looks like it will go over the top, and it looks marginal as to whether it hit in line. India go to DRS and that bears out exactly the live impression: umpire’s call on impact in line, and going over the bails by about a millimetre.

38th over: Australia 137-4 (Smith 18, Green 3) Another nothing-much ball from Saini, short and wide and 127 clicks, and Smith blithely reaches out to flip it over the cordon for four. A better line next ball and Smith draws the bat inside that line after walking across his stumps. In at the body, and Saini has got up to 129.5 on the radar. Up to 133 but too full at the pads and it’s a comfortable drive for a single. Green runs a ball into the gully but the captain Rahane slides over on his tummy like a happy seal and grabs it before there’s a run, then throws at Green’s stumps as the batsman has to get back. Green finishes with a run to midwicket. There are 14 minutes to the lunch break but Smith summons Will Pucovski with a towel and a change of gloves. The lead is 170.

37th over: Australia 131-4 (Smith 13, Green 2) Good pace from Siraj. Up into the 140s and up into the ribcage of Steven Smith, who manages to flinch a pull shot away for a single. This is an impressive spell from India’s unlikely spearhead.

36th over: Australia 130-4 (Smith 12, Green 2) Here we go, Navdeep Saini is on for a bowl. Had to abandon the field with a groin strain on the first day, but by now that’s settled to the point that he’s willing to have a go. He’s far from full pace, gingerly placing the ball down. He was picked as a 145 bowler and he’s more like 125 here. But he’s a variation, and he might help make something happen. He doesn’t let Green get a run.

We’ve got an update on Australia’s tour to South Africa.

35th over: Australia 130-4 (Smith 12, Green 2) Siraj keeps up the quality to Smith. Makes him play, makes him play. Every ball. Hits him on the body. Smith looks as Smith-calm as ever, but this is the control that India’s quicks lacked this morning when they started. A maiden.

34th over: Australia 130-4 (Smith 12, Green 2) A full umbrella field on the leg side for Smith now, with mid on up close, short midwicket, another short midwicket, and a short leg. Take us on if you will. So he does, sweeps, nails it, and smashes Mayank Agarwal in the ankle at short leg. He might have a shorter leg if they have to lop that one off. He is of course wearing shin pads, but it gets him just on that arch when the pad goes over the boot. And that ball was utterly smashed at him. A long delay while Agarwal gets some magic spray to ease the swelling. India don’t want another one-legged batsman in the fourth innings. Though I guess it worked out alright last time. Eventually he’s ok to continue. Three singles follow from the over. The lead is 163.

33rd over: Australia 127-4 (Smith 10, Green 1) Good lift from Siraj! It surprises Smith, rearing from a length and taking the thick outside edge to point. He gets a run. Highest chase at the Gabba is 236, but I’m not sure that’s relevant on this pitch. Still looks very good for batting.

32nd over: Australia 126-4 (Smith 9, Green 1) Cameron Green to the wicket, and he nearly runs himself out against Sundar, coming down and then sent back by Smith as the bowler fields, and Green has a turning circle like a Mack truck but describes a vast arc and gets back.

31st over: Australia 123-4 (Smith 7) Double wicket maiden! Australia in strife. Siraj has had a very difficult tour on a personal front but he’s suddenly changed the game here. Australia 156 in front. Can Smith save the day again?

WICKET! Wade c Pant b Siraj 0, Australia 123-4

What in the name of Hades. That’s a shocker. Siraj bowls about two feet outside leg stump, Wade goes after it, and instead of a comfortable glance for four he just gets a touch to the keeper. His last Test innings? Have to be a good chance of that.

WICKET! Labuschagne c Rohit b Siraj 25, Australia 123-3

Another one down. Siraj comes back for a new spell and has Labuschagne reaching for the line outside off immediately. A thick edge for four through the gap in the cordon initially. But the next ball Siraj gives it everything, gets more bounce at Labuschagne, and instead of reaching for it he spars at it. Between first and second slip, and Rohit at second gets across to take an awkward catch, hopping in the air as he took it. Not good tekkers, that, but it doesn’t cost him this time.

30th over: Australia 119-2 (Labuschagne 21, Smith 7) Labuschagne backs away from the spinner again, he’s been doing it all summer. More controlled on the late cut this time, but Rahane pursues with vigour from slip and keeps him to two. No matter: the batsman skips down to the next ball and pops it over mid-on for four.

29th over: Australia 111-2 (Labuschagne 14, Smith 6) A present on leg stump for Smith, who clips Thakur away to deep backward square and runs a third thanks to a poor throw from the fine leg fielder. Labuschagne pulls out his best shot, the straight drive, making Saini run back and put in a very good attempt to save, but the replay rules that his foot had touched the ground beyond the rope before the ball had entirely left his fingers as he flicked it back into play. Four. Then more runs to finish the over, another one full outside leg stump that only needs a touch to run for four. Straight up: despite a couple of wickets, India have bowled terribly this morning.

Updated

28th over: Australia 100-2 (Labuschagne 6, Smith 3) Attacking stuff from Rahane early, I like this. Short midwicket, short leg, leg slip and regulation slip for the spinner, as well as backward point, mid off, deep midwicket for the sweep shot, and backward square. Labuschagne backs away and reaches for a ball just outside off, getting a nick wide of slip for four runs. Then down the track and whips a single square. Smith on strike for the first time. Same field. Down the track first ball and clouts over midwicket for three runs. The man in the deep saves it. Australia’s hundred comes up, the lead is 133.

27th over: Australia 92-2 (Labuschagne 1, Smith 0) So it’s the Twitch Brothers at the crease again, and Labuschagne gets off the mark with a darted single to midwicket from Thakur. The lead is 125.

Updated

WICKET! Warner lbw Sundar 48, Australia 91-2

26th over: Australia 91-2 (Labuschagne 0) What a strange series of events. A decent ball from Sundar, around the wicket, gives it some flight but it kicks on straight after pitching. Warner is hanging back and misses with a defensive poke. It hits him on the back leg in front of off stump, and Warner walks as soon as the decision is given. But, Marnus Labuschagne chases him down and insists that he review it. So Warner signals to review. The timer is comfortably on zero, but the umpires must have been distracted by the rushing about, and they let him send it upstairs. As soon as Warner sees the first replay he keeps walking, and is standing by the boundary rope when the three reds come up. Labuschagne appeals for absolute nonsense when he’s fielding, thinking that everything is out, but now that he’s batting he thinks nothing is out. Two wickets in two overs, both from the sixth delivery.

WICKET! Harris c Pant Thakur 38, Australia 89-1

25th over: Australia 89-1 (Warner 46) That’s against the run of play! First up Thakur tries a short ball but he doesn’t have the pace for it to Warner, who rocks back and nails a pull for four. But Thakur is not dissuaded, and from the last ball of the over Harris makes his short ball look unplayable. Harris starts to dip at the knees, thinking of uppercutting over slip, before bailing out of the shot, but late in the trajectory he pushes his gloves defensively at the ball while halfway down into his crouch. Had he been standing up he would have defended that off the back foot at perhaps shoulder height. As it is, he gloves a simple catch to the keeper. End of the over, and drinks.

Updated

24th over: Australia 84-0 (Harris 38, Warner 41) Interesting field for Harris facing Sundar: two short covers and a slip, really making it uncomfortable for him to play to the off side. So Harris obliges and tries to turn against the spin to leg, getting a leading edge that bounces back to the bowler. Nearly.

23rd over: Australia 84-0 (Harris 38, Warner 41) The batsmen trade singles from Thakur, then Warner sees out the over. Hasn’t played a super attacking shot, has soaked up some good overs, and still has 41 from 64. PR notwithstanding, he’s quite the operator.

22nd over: Australia 82-0 (Harris 37, Warner 40) Sundar burns through another over, and Warner hangs back and waits, not trying anything until the final ball when he opens the face of his bat and drives a single square. The lead is 117.

21st over: Australia 81-0 (Harris 37, Warner 39) Again Thakur is bowling well, beating Warner’s edge, but again Warner finds a way to escape the examination, slippery as anything as he gets a single to get off strike. Harris is looking more and more confident, and he drives solidly down the ground for four.

20th over: Australia 76-0 (Harris 33, Warner 38) Harris is being very cautious against the spinner, leaving Sundar repeatedly outside the off stump. Trying not to do anything rash, though Harris does love to clout a slow bowler.

19th over: Australia 75-0 (Harris 33, Warner 37) Unplayable from Thakur, who hits some irregular spot on the pitch and makes the ball do voodoo. It’s a straight ball at the pads, maybe a touch of inswing, so Warner is looking to play to midwicket with a closing bat face. But after pitching the ball lurches towards the off, and bounces big, flying past the bat handle more than the outside edge, and clearing middle and off stump. Such is Warner’s singlemindedness at the crease though that he just taps the next ball to cover and takes a run. Harris adds two more.

18th over: Australia 72-0 (Harris 31, Warner 36) A couple of runs to Warner, who reaches outside his off stump and flicks Sundar across the line to deep midwicket, a real IPL stroke. Then plays a similar shot with more force behind it, and the hobbled Navdeep Saini has to chase it back to the rope for three more runs. Then it’s Harris’ turn, reaching wide and getting a slightly edgy late cut away fine for four. Forget that part about keeping the runs down. Seven from the over, the lead is 105.

17th over: Australia 65-0 (Harris 27, Warner 33) Shardul and Washington, the duo from yesterday with their 123-run partnership, are keeping the runs down with the ball. Another maiden from Thakur, tight on the off stump to Harris who attempts one back-cut but can’t beat gully. Then beats a push on the outside edge.

16th over: Australia 65-0 (Harris 27, Warner 33) Big applause for Washington Sundar as the off-spinner comes on to bowl his first over of the day, second of the innings. A new fan favourite after his wonderful batting yesterday on debut, not to mention three wickets in the first innings, starting with one S. Smith. Unfazed, Warner takes a single first ball, and while Harris is beaten on the outside edge, he also manages to find a run to cover in that over.

15th over: Australia 63-0 (Harris 26, Warner 32) Siraj continues, and you can detect Warner’s discomfort with a drop-and-run single to midwicket. His usual sprint is not possible. Siraj ties down Harris for the remaining five balls, tight on the off stump. Australia’s lead is 96.

Updated

14th over: Australia 62-0 (Harris 26, Warner 31) The errant Natarajan gets banished for the time being, and the swing merchant Shardul Thakur replaces him. How will this man batted yesterday. He starts off by bowling at the stumps, which is an improvement, with nary an extra to be seen, shots played to most balls, and only a single taken.

David Reynolds emails in, starting with a quote. “‘Never have I seen the equanimity of Statham’s temperament or technique rendered out of harmony for a minute,’ Neville Cardus wrote of Brian Statham, a legendary fast bowler who was also a (county) captain. Since I think we might with justification make the same claim about Cummins, I will rest your case. The Aussies need look no further than Pat. Might he also win this match? I am not ushering Paine out the door, though – if India are set the task of batting out a day to save the match again, I will be eager to see if the skipper has learnt anything from his recent Day 5 travails. But there I go rushing ahead again – Day 4 will provide its own drama first.”

The glory of Test cricket: each day its own chapter in the tale.

Updated

13th over: Australia 61-0 (Harris 26, Warner 30) They keep feeding Harris on the cut shot, and he keeps biting the hand that fed. Siraj this time. Two slips and a gully and how Harris gets a deep point in position. The thing India really can’t afford is fast runs in a partnership. Wickets? Ideal. Big slow runs? Acceptable. But if an established pair starts to motor... Harris keeps the foot down, driving a full ball wide of mid off. India’s bowling this morning has been ordinary.

Updated

12th over: Australia 53-0 (Harris 18, Warner 30) Natarajan had a bad habit in the first innings of overstepping the front line with the first ball of an over. He does it again here, and sprays it, and Harris helps it to fine leg for four. The next ball is even further down leg and this time Harris can’t get a touch on it but neither can Pant. Four byes. Finally the bowler gets to the other side of the stumps, but it’s too wide and it’s short and Harris can lay into a cut shot for four more! The fifty partnership comes up in no time, and another single means 14 from the over.

Updated

11th over: Australia 39-0 (Harris 9, Warner 30) It looks like Warner is moving well now to Siraj. On his toes and playing the ball down into the gully, which is one of the variations of Warner’s pet shot. No run that time but he was confidently into position. Siraj completes a maiden.

Matt Harris emails in. “What’s your sense of what winning/retaining the Border-Gavaskar trophy means to the teams, compared with winning the series? For example, I’m sure Australia or England would be happy to play for a draw to retain the Ashes at the expense of a possible series win. A drawn series in which one retains the Ashes is a success. But I assume the relative importance of holding the trophy vs winning the series is variable depending on the esteem in which the trophy is held. Would the teams be thinking about custody of the B-G trophy, or just the outcome of the series?”

I don’t think that the trophy itself is that big a deal – as in, you wouldn’t see any front-page shots of David Warner in bed waking up with the Border-Gavaskar on his pillow. But the trophy symbolising the fact that the winning team from last time remains unbeaten is significant. And for India, the chance of retaining it in Australia after winning it in Australia last time is significant. So in the event of a drawn series, I think India would be jubilant and Australia deflated.

10th over: Australia 39-0 (Harris 9, Warner 30) Natarajan hasn’t got the line right to Harris, bowling too wide both sides of the wicket and letting the batsman leave most of the over. Adding a number to the ‘maidens’ column doesn’t always mean well bowled.

9th over: Australia 39-0 (Harris 9, Warner 30) Siraj bowling and this time Warner edges over slip for four. Living on their luck, this pair. He has that right-arm angle across him again, some away movement again from back of a length, and Warner just back-foot spars away from his body, and the slightly angled bat gives it just enough elevation to clear Rohit’s desperate fingers as second slip leaps up at it. Warner follows up by squashing a short ball to square leg for a couple more.

8th over: Australia 33-0 (Harris 9, Warner 24) Natarajan the left-armer from the Vulture Street end, over the wicket to the left-handed pair. Mirror-image cricket. Bowls to Harris who edges through slip for four. A tiny bit of away movement for Natarajan but Harris is playing early across the line, closing the face of the bat to midwicket and gets a leading edge more than an outside edge. It bounces just in front of Rohit diving across first slip, which unsights Pujara and the ball gets through both of them. The next boundary is out of the middle, an off-drive by Harris. He’s ruined the scoring ratios now.

7th over: Australia 25-0 (Harris 1, Warner 24) Mohammed Siraj has the ball at the Stanley Street end. Pace and some swing and seam first up, swinging across the left-handed Warner and then decking away towards the slips. Defended off the back foot by Warner second ball. The third though is floated up too full, and Warner waits on it before a no-fuss straight drive inside mid off for four. He’s in Bannerman-plus territory in these early stages, 24 runs out of 25. (I even did the maths in my head and that’s 96 percent. Very proud.)

There was a light sprinkling of rain as I walked to the Gabba this morning. We may have interruptions through the day, though usually this ground is the fastest to drain in the world. The newly laid sod after the intensive AFL season did give us some problems on the second day, however.

And for some more detail on that extremely fun day, in video / audio form, here’s me and Adam along with a tour of some Gabba artwork by the graf star Sofles.

Here’s the AAP summary of the third day’s play.

Get in touch

The lines are open, my staff (me) are ready to take your call. By which I mean email. Maybe a tweet. The contact details are in the sidebar.

Preamble

Day four, baby. We are about to get into it. The first innings for each team is done, the difference was remarkably reduced to 33 runs despite India being six down when they were still 183 behind. Then David Warner came out and crashed a few boundaries before stumps to get the gap past 50. Now we have two days left, and some forecast rain around. Three options: the Australians bat as much time as they can to build a huge lead and ensure they can’t lose the game. The Australians bash some faster runs to pile up a mid-range lead lead and declare with three to four sessions left to bowl, while trying to win. Or the Indians bowl them out and a have a small target to chase.

The ramifications: a draw means a series 1-1 and that India get to keep the trophy. But a loss means that Australia will fall out of the top two spots in the World Test Championship and miss out on the final, if perchance their South Africa tour either gets cancelled or goes badly for Australia. For India, a draw here would greatly increase their chances of making that same final. A win would be even better.

So it’s not as straightforward as some series that have come down to a decider. Lots on the line. Let’s dance.

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