Stumps: Australia lead by 493 runs
35th over: Pakistan 96-6 (Babar 43, Yasir 4) Yasir plays out the last over from Cummins, and that’s the end of a spectacular day’s play. David Warner laced an awesome 335 not out, the highest Test score on this ground, and then Australia’s ruthless pace attack went to work under the lights. Barring an apocalypse, or even the apocalypse, Australia will win this game at a canter. Thanks for your company and emails - goodnight.
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34th over: Pakistan 91-6 (Babar 42, Yasir 0) Yasir somehow survives Starc’s over, although he could have been out to at least four of the six deliveries. There will time for one more over before stumps.
Yasir is not out! Australia lose their last review. Starc bowled around the wicket to Yasir, who pushed at a short ball as it flew down the leg side. There was a noise, which is why everyone thought it was out, but replays showed the ball hit Yasir on the hip. Excellent umpiring from Michael Gough.
Australia review for caught behind against Yasir! I reckon this will be out.
33rd over: Pakistan 91-6 (Babar 42, Yasir 0) Babar is beaten by a cracker from Cummins, which pitches just outside off and straightens sharply.
“Trying to get my head round the state of play,” says Pete Salmon. “Any news from the WinViz predictor?”
It’s been given the rest of the weekend off.
32nd over: Pakistan 89-6 (Babar 40, Yasir 0) A double-wicket maiden for Mitchell Starc, whose figures are 14-4-22-4. It’s probably fair to opine that he is back in form.
WICKET! Pakistan 89-6 (Rizwan c Paine b Starc 0)
Starc has his fourth wicket! He has been electric this evening. Mohammad Rizwan, who played so well at Brisbane, chased a wide one and was caught behind for a third-ball duck. Babar Azam is all alone on the burning deck.
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WICKET! Pakistan 89-5 (Iftikhar c Paine b Starc 10)
Brilliant catch from Tim Paine! Iftikhar plays his latest and last loose stroke outside off stump, flashing at a short one from Starc, and Paine dives in front of first slip to take a one-handed blinder.
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31st over: Pakistan 89-4 (Babar 40, Iftikhar 10) Babar squirts Cummins through backward point for a couple. The commentators aren’t happy with Australia’s passive-aggressive fields, with a deep point and only one slip for Babar. I’ll leave with you: I can see both sides.
30th over: Pakistan 87-4 (Babar 38, Iftikhar 10) Australia’s bowlers have been very chirpy towards Iftikhar in particular. Perhaps they’re reminding him that this 10 not out is the highest score of his burgeoning Test career.
29th over: Pakistan 84-4 (Babar 36, Iftikhar 9) Cummins replaces Hazlewood (8-2-29-1) and is cuffed through the covers for four by Iftikhar. He doesn’t look convincing, but at least he’s trying to put some pressure on the Australian bowlers.
“Do you think if you keep saying ‘supracaudal gland’ you might get some anatomy-related commissions?” says Eamonn Maloney. “Ever MBMed a surgical procedure?”
I have, actually: Glenn McGrath’s spell on the first day of the 2005 Ashes.
28th over: Pakistan 80-4 (Babar 36, Iftikhar 5) Pakistan have just under 40 minutes to survive until the close. Iftikhar has the windiest of woofs at Starc and is beaten again; he is struggling.
27th over: Pakistan 79-4 (Babar 36, Iftikhar 4) A quiet over from Hazlewood - two from it.
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26th over: Pakistan 77-4 (Babar 34, Iftikhar 4) Iftikhar tries to uppercut a wide one from Starc and is beaten. He edges a fuller, follow-up delivery on the bounce to second slip. The Pakistan batsmen, Babar and Masood excepted, have been very loose this evening. In their defence, the Australian fast bowling has been relentless.
25th over: Pakistan 76-4 (Babar 33, Iftikhar 4) Babar drives Hazlewood down the ground for three. It was in the air but Hazlewood was unable to reach it in his follow through. Iftikhar then gets off the mark with a punchy drive for four.
24th over: Pakistan 69-4 (Babar 30, Iftikhar 0) Starc’s figures reflect an excellent performance: 8-3-17-2.
Wicket! Pakistan 69-4 (Shafiq c Paine b Starc 9)
Asad Shafiq’s miserable struggle is over. The ball after edging Starc for four, he snicked a good delivery through to the keeper. Australia are into the supracaudal gland.
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23rd over: Pakistan 65-3 (Babar 30, Shafiq 5) Babar is beaten, playing an unbecoming stroke at Hazlewood. He upbraids himself internally and then flicks imperiously to the midwicket boundary. A lively over concludes when Babar plays a defensive stroke that kicks up to hit him on the chin. He’s fine.
22nd over: Pakistan 61-3 (Babar 26, Shafiq 5) Starc replaces Cummins. His second ball beats Asad, who continues to flirt fecklessly outside off stump. There are 19 overs remaining today, and it’s time for drinks.
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21st over: Pakistan 59-3 (Babar 25, Shafiq 4) Babar times consecutive boundaries off Hazlewood, an elegant cover drive followed by a clip through square leg. He’s playing on a different pitch - or, rather, in a different twilight - to all the other Pakistan batsmen. He bats with such grace and serenity, and to hell with the fact his team are getting stuffed.
“As a fan of proper cricket got to say I’m disappointed by Warner’s lack of runs in the V,” says Pete Salmon. “Should be straight in the nets after play and concentrate on keeping that elbow pointing skywards. Plenty of room for improvement.”
Deserves another 12-month ban for mine.
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20th over: Pakistan 51-3 (Babar 17, Shafiq 4) Babar Azam is Pakistan’s best player, by a distance. His overall Test record (1345 runs at 36.59) doesn’t do him justice, but he averages 52 in the last couple of years. He looks comfortable at the crease. Shafiq does not, at least not yet, and he edges Cummins’ last delivery a fraction short of Wade in the slips.
19th over: Pakistan 48-3 (Babar 14, Shafiq 4) Babar drives Hazlewood majestically through mid-off for four. I was going to say he’s a beautiful player, but I was always taught not to state the bleedin’ obvious.
18th over: Pakistan 43-3 (Babar 9, Shafiq 4) These two are Pakistan’s best players, so Australia will feel they are one wicket away, if not from the tail then at least the supracaudal gland. They almost get it when Shafiq edges his second ball just wide of the diving Labuschagne at third slip.
17th over: Pakistan 38-3 (Babar 8, Shafiq 0) This could get pretty messy for Pakistan.
Wicket! Pakistan 38-3 (Masood c Paine b Hazlewood 19)
Shan Masood has gone, caught behind off Josh Hazlewood. Having left the ball beautifully throughout his innings, Masood felt for a good delivery outside off stump that straightened just enough to take a thin outside edge on its way through to Tim Paine.
One for Starc, one for Cummins, and now one for Hazlewood!#AUSvPAK pic.twitter.com/uMDLkZ1RRX
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) November 30, 2019
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16th over: Pakistan 38-2 (Masood 19, Babar 8) Babar Azam is beaten, fencing at another good delivery from Cummins. This is a nice contest between two of the world’s best cricketers. When Cummins slips one full and wide, Babar clatters it to the cover boundary.
An extraordinary innings from Warner. Hardly played down the ground & scored more than half his runs through point & covers region. Only 3.6% runs came in the 'V' down the wicket. Of all double hundreds in our database since 2006, this is the lowest in the straight 'V'. #AUSvPAK pic.twitter.com/tQWD4S5EGU
— The CricViz Analyst (@cricvizanalyst) November 30, 2019
15th over: Pakistan 34-2 (Masood 19, Babar 4) Masood plays a defensive stroke off Hazlewood, with the ball getting stuck behind the flap of his pad. Warner grabs the ball and launches into a mock-appeal. The next ball, the last of the over, zips past the edge. The pink ball is starting to talk under the lights.
14th over: Pakistan 34-2 (Masood 19, Babar 4) A half-volley from Cummins is flicked sweetly to the square-leg boundary by Masood, who is playing with calm authority. Babar Azam drives classily for four to get off the mark; Cummins responds with a peach that squares Babar up and goes past the edge.
13th over: Pakistan 25-2 (Masood 14, Babar 0) Josh Hazlewood replaces Mitchell Starc, who bowled a good opening spell of 6-3-11-1. A quiet over to start.
“Morning Rob,” says Brian Withington. “That Warner scoring sequence could perhaps also be captured algebraically in the expression: 2 x K >> 10 x D (although it should be noted that this does not apply to freaks of nature like Steve Smith for whom 8 x D is greater than England’s entire team).”
Smith is so good that he even goes in our estimation when he fails. I love that he can’t be bothered to get big runs when he comes in at 400 for two. But when they’re 122 for eight in the Ashes...
12th over: Pakistan 22-2 (Masood 11, Babar 0) Babar Azam has been promoted to No4.
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WICKET! Pakistan 22-2 (Azhar Ali c Smith b Cummins 9)
Steve Smith takes a splendid catch to get rid of the Pakistan captain Azhar Ali. He edged a fullish delivery from Cummins low to second slip, where Smith moved smartly to grab the ball with both hands just below the ground. The umpires went upstairs to confirm it had carried, and replays confirmed it was a clean take. And a darned good one.
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11th over: Pakistan 21-1 (Masood 10, Azhar 9) Azhar Ali has a fine record against the Aussies, with an average of 55. That includes an unbeaten double hundred at the MCG three years ago. He digs out a yorker from Starc, and that’s all she wrote.
10th over: Pakistan 20-1 (Masood 9, Azhar 9) Cummins is too straight to Azhar Ali, who times him crisply through midwicket for the first boundary of the innings. These two, probably Pakistan’s most patient batsmen, are playing nicely.
9th over: Pakistan 15-1 (Masood 8, Azhar 5) Masood works a short one from Starc off the breast for a couple and then drives pleasantly for three. There hasn’t been much movement for the quicks, although that may change when we enter the twilight zone.
8th over: Pakistan 9-1 (Masood 3, Azhar 4) Shan Masood continues to leave well against Cummins, although he needs to be careful with the angle from around the wicket. He waves a slightly unconvincing drive into the covers for two off the fifth delivery of the over.
7th over: Pakistan 7-1 (Masood 1, Azhar 4) Starc resumes after dinner, and concedes his first runs of the innings when Azhar drives through mid-off for a couple. And why not?
“Was that declaration by Tim Paine really necessary?” says Kaushik Sarvadey. “I suppose the urgency was not required because the Aussies had plenty of time.”
It’s the Australian way, I suppose. And the weather forecast isn’t great for the next couple of days.
“Morning/evening, Rob,” says David Horn. “Impressive though your Countdown ability is, Warner’s scores post-reintegration are more reminiscent of Numberwang.”
Dinner: Pakistan trail by 586 runs
6th over: Pakistan 3-1 (Masood 1, Azhar 0) Masood continues to leave as much as possible, mainly on line. Cummins moves around the wicket as a result and has a huge shout for LBW turned down by Michael Gough. That looked very close, but Australia only have one review remaining and Tim Paine decides not to risk it.
That was the last ball of the session. It’s been an agreeable day for Australia: David Warner made 335 not out, the highest Test score at the Adelaide Oval, before Mitchell Starc ripped out Imam-ul-Haq. See you in 40 minutes for the twilight session.
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5th over: Pakistan 3-1 (Masood 1, Azhar 0) A wicket maiden from Starc, whose figures are 3-3-0-1.
WICKET! Pakistan 3-1 (Imam c Warner b Starc 2)
That’ll do. Imam, softened up by a nasty short ball, edges a good one from Starc straight to Warner in the gully. Australia’s bowlers have started ruthlessly, and that wicket comes as no surprise.
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4th over: Pakistan 3-0 (Masood 1, Imam 2) Masood gets off the mark from his 10th delivery, flicking Cummins for a single. He and Imam are constructing their innings on a need-to-play basis, with a clear plan to leave anything even slightly outside off stump.
3rd over: Pakistan 1-0 (Masood 0, Imam 1) Starc is already close to 150kph, and bowls a second maiden - this time to the strokeless Imam-ul-Haq. Pakistan’s openers are ready for their supper.
2nd over: Pakistan 1-0 (Masood 0, Imam 1) Imam gets off the mark with a dodgy single off Cummins. Shan Masood, who was slow to respond, would have been out with a direct hit from Head in the covers. Cummins ends an excellent over by ripping one past Masood’s outside edge. This has been a ferocious start from the Australian bowlers.
“I think the equation could be simplified,” says Rowan Sweeney. “Warner - Stuart Broad = 335.”
IMAM IS NOT OUT! Australia lose a review. It was a good delivery from Cummins, bowling over the wicket to Imam. It would certainly have hit the stumps - but replays showed it pitched outside leg.
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AUSTRALIA REVIEW FOR LBW AGAINST IMAM! I think this pitched outside leg.
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1st over: Pakistan 0-0 (Masood 0, Imam 0) “Evening Rob,” says Phil Withall. “Looking at Warner’s scores since his return to Test cricket made me wish they’d had a numbers round in Extreme Countdown...”
Arf. I think you can get 335 by using all his Ashes scores: 61 x 5 + 11 + 3 + (8x2) + 0 + 0 + 0 = 335.
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Review! Pakistan 0-0 (Masood not out 0)
Shan Masood is given out LBW - but the decision is overturned on review. There was a faint inside-edge, although strangely Masood only reviewed after 13 or 14 seconds.
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Mitchell Starc will open the bowling. There’s just under half an hour before the dinner break.
Warner’s innings in full
335* from 418 balls, with 39 fours, one six - and, as Damien McLean pointed out a few overs ago, umpteen quick singles. Warner? Phwoarner more like!
Okay, that doesn’t work.
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We'd say you have plenty of patience @davidwarner31 😅 pic.twitter.com/hRKoFTtRvy
— ICC (@ICC) November 30, 2019
Seeing Warner's celebrations and feeling bad that Imran Tahir never got a 300
— Siddhartha Vaidyanathan (@sidvee) November 30, 2019
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So, what did you do at the weekend? David Warner made 335 not out.
Warner’s scores since his return to Test cricket looks like the kind of maths puzzle even Max Fischer couldn’t solve: 2, 8, 3, 5, 61, 0, 0, 0, 5, 11, 154, 335*.
DAVID WARNER FINISHES ON 335 NOT OUT!
127th over: Australia 589-3 declared (Warner 335, Wade 38) Warner waves Iftikhar for a single to move to 335, the second highest score in Australian Test history, and Tim Paine decides to leave it at that. Warner walks off to a standing ovation from the crowd and a guard of honour from his team-mates. After all he’s been through in the last couple of years, that is a thoroughly lovely moment.
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126th over: Australia 582-3 (Warner 330, Wade 36) No sign of a declaration, which suggests Australia will bat on after tea. The 400 might actually be on. For now, Warner is five away from the second highest Test score for Australia - Don Bradman and Mark Taylor, famously, both made 334.
“I’ve got to say, it’s been a privilege to watch this whole knock live,” says Damien McLean. “Say what you will about this Pakistani attack, but you still have to make the runs. This hasn’t been the Warner I’ve watched in the past, who used to make a hundred then just try and hit the bowlers out of the park. Great to see what he can do when he puts his mind to playing long. The running between the wickets has been the highlight for me; running as hard now as early yesterday.”
As an England fan, the sheer ruthlessness of Australian batsmen never ceases to amaze/fascinate/depress me.
125th over: Australia 579-3 (Warner 329, Wade 34) “Good morning,” says Matt. “So I am following the match, still learning about the sport, and my question is how many days long is a match?”
A Test match is usually scheduled to last five days, but sometimes it’s four. And some of them finish in three or even days. There are also one-day matches, but they occasionally go to a second day. Confused? Splendid. Now lie down on the couch and tell me about your schooldays.
124th over: Australia 574-3 (Warner 325, Wade 33) Musa Khan returns to the attack, the poor sod. Five from the over.
123rd over: Australia 569-3 (Warner 323, Wade 30) Warner cuffs Iftikhar for four more. His Test average in Australia has gone past 67, which is a record for an opener in home Tests (minimum 10 innings). He has had his moments away from home, most notably those storming hundreds in South Africa in 2013-14, but he will be remembered as a devastating player in home conditions.
“Good work,” says Michael Barker. “But when will they declare, Rob?”
I suspect it will be in the next 10-15 minutes, though Tim Paine must be tempted to give Warner a chance of making 400. They would still have time for an hour’s bowling tonight.
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122nd over: Australia 560-3 (Warner 315, Wade 29) Wade runs down the wicket and launches Abbas miles in the air. The ball teases midwicket and deep square leg before plopping safely. It was in the air so long that the batsmen were able to turn for the third.
Warner then shows Wade how to do it with a blistering pull into the crowd. That’s his first six of the innings. He heaves violently at the next ball, slicing it over the solitary slip for four more. Warner is trying to get as many as possible before the declaration. He is 315 not out.
121st over: Australia 543-3 (Warner 301, Wade 26) Thanks Geoff, evening everyone. Wade slaps Iftikhar square on the off side for four to continue this orgy of runs in Adelaide. The most euphoric moment may be yet to come: David Warner is 99 away from you know what.
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TRIPLE CENTURY! David Warner 300 from 389 deliveries
120th over: Australia 537-3 (Warner 300, Wade 21) He’s done it! Warner plays an on-drive, rolling towards the rope. It teases the fielders, teases the crowd, then runs into the rope. Three hundred for Warner! What a return to form. He’s been prolific, but this would have been beyond even his dreams. Batting long, going huge, those have never been big parts of his batting career. But here, he has. The luck has been there, the skill has been there, and the fortitude has been there. David Warner joins the slender ranks of those with Test triples. And as if to prove that he’s not done yet, Warner sets up again to leave and defend the next five balls of the Abbas over.
And with that, what better time to hand over to that famed lover of all things Warner, Rob Smyth.
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119th over: Australia 533-3 (Warner 296, Wade 21) Warner moves quickly towards his triple, clobbering Iftihkar for four through square leg, then adding two more through cover.
118th over: Australia 526-3 (Warner 289, Wade 21) Abbas comes back into the attack. By now it’s less an attack than a gentle request. Wade doesn’t care for the parsimony of Abbas, so he whacks a couple through point and four through the covers.
117th over: Australia 519-3 (Warner 288, Wade 15) Yasir’s horror run continues, as Wade decides that he’s going to channel 2012 Warner. Gets into position early, feet apart, weight down, ready to heave, and launches a pull-slog into the stands. High and long, no finesse about that but plenty of contact. Yasir is about to bring up his own double-century.
116th over: Australia 510-3 (Warner 286, Wade 8) Warner’s placement through cover has been a real feature of this innings. Again he leans forward and drives, again he finds the finest of gaps to stream to the boundary. Shaheen can do nothing.
115th over: Australia 505-3 (Warner 281, Wade 8) Yasir is having a miserable old time at the Adelaide Oval, much as Imran Tahir had at the hands of Warner back in 2012. That was more gung-ho, this is more relentless. Less relentful? You get the idea. Warner sweeps another boundary, ticks another single. Wade slogs a couple of runs. Yasir keeps going at worse than 6 runs per over.
114th over: Australia 496-3 (Warner 275, Wade 5) Shaheen is right on the spot to Wade, landing his length really well. The over is quiet until Wade edges along the ground for a boundary.
113th over: Australia 492-3 (Warner 275, Wade 1) Suddenly things quiet down, with just a couple of singles from the Yasir over. Wade is immediately sweeping, as is his wont.
112th over: Australia 490-3 (Warner 274, Wade 0) Matthew Wade is next in, after some decent runs at Brisbane last week. He’s immediately the subject of a DRS challenge, having pushed at Shaheen outside off, but there’s no contact between bat and ball on the forensics. Shaheen has 3 for 79, and has tried hard.
Wicket! Smith c Rizwan b Shaheen 36 (Australia 490-3)
What’s this? Another modest score from Smith! He’s made 40 in the series while his teammates have rattled up about a thousand between them. And this was to another yahoo shot. He doesn’t seem at his best when Australia is right on top and he’s supposed to cash in. He aims a huge swipe at Shaheen, apparently aiming somewhere over wide long-on, and gets a faint inside edge having completely lost his shape. Shaheen does the big Starman celebration pose. Maybe save it for when the oppo isn’t 500 ahead, champ.
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111th over: Australia 490-2 (Warner 274, Smith 36) That was less conventional from Warner. Gets a ball spinning into his pads from Yasir, and whips across the line at it, all wrists after reaching around his front pad, and somehow middles it for four. That’s a fairly high-risk stroke though. Safer when Yasir drops short and Warner cuts a couple. Two more through cover.
110th over: Australia 481-2 (Warner 266, Smith 35) Warner is happy to continue against Shaheen in his safety-conscious style. Nothing extravagant, leaves and defends a few, then seizes on the overpitched delivery to off-drive it for four.
109th over: Australia 477-2 (Warner 262, Smith 35) The break has ended, and Yasir has the ball. There’s a big appeal from him and Rizwan in concert, though no one else joins in, when the ball beats Smith’s bat and flicks the flap of his pad. But I fancy it hit him outside off and was turning away. A couple of singles are added.
Tea – Australia 475 for 2
An extraordinary start to the day for Australia. Warner and Labuschagne were flying through the first overs, and with Smith ended up piling on 173 runs in a session extended by half an hour. Pakistan had a moment of happiness when Shaheen castled Marnus with a lovely ball that swung into him, but one wicket did not yield anything further.
Warner this international summer has 702 runs for two dismissals. He’ll continue in a moment, and so will we.
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108th over: Australia 475-2 (Warner 261, Smith 34) Last over before the short tea break, which comes first in day-night matches, and Warner is happy to see off Shaheen after Smith takes a single first ball.
107th over: Australia 474-2 (Warner 261, Smith 33) Warner nearly run out, but he’s fast and he dives just as he does so often in T20 cricket. Two more runs to his total after once more helping Yasir through fine leg. He goes further into one-day mode, playing the reverse-sweep to Yasir’s over-the-wicket line. Knowing there’s a large gap behind point, Warner makes the most of it for four.
106th over: Australia 468-2 (Warner 255, Smith 33) Shaheen is bowling decently, again excited as a ball moves back towards Smith’s off stump, but again it’s a ball that looks good but isn’t really threatening. Just a Warner single from the over.
105th over: Australia 467-2 (Warner 254, Smith 33) Three for Smith and then three for Warner off Yasir, both of them working the leggie away through fine leg. The TV replay picks up that Warner didn’t actually ground his heel for the third run, but the umpire didn’t notice. In the book, he has now made a new highest Test score, passing his 253 against NZ at the WACA four years ago.
250! David Warner 251 from 330 balls
104th over: Australia 461-2 (Warner 251, Smith 30) Another edge for Warner, this one seemed more deliberate: soft hands, played down, along the ground into the gap. So softly played that the ball rolls to a stop just inside the rope and only profits Warner by two runs, but that’s enough to raise another milestone. Shaheen is not impressed.
103rd over: Australia 459-2 (Warner 249, Smith 30) Smith just does what Smith does. Waits back, steps across, plays anything through midwicket that can be played through midwicket. Twice Yasir lets him work the ball for doubles. Dismissal number eight for Yasir doesn’t appear to be imminent.
102nd over: Australia 455-2 (Warner 249, Smith 26) Musa is taken off to go and listen to some Fall Out Boy or whatever teenagers do to deal with angst. I don’t know, I’m ancient. Shaheen has Warner defend one ball, then slash another over the cordon. That was much more about luck than control for Petit Davide. Wide and chased. As is another ball, fuller, that leaves Warner on one knee outside off as he misses. It’s a good over from Shaheen, bowling to his heavily off-side field.
101st over: Australia 451-2 (Warner 245, Smith 26) That’s lovely, Steven. Waits for the leg-break that Yasir tosses up. Watches it dip. Shimmies slightly to be in position, then whips the drive off his toes through midwicket for three. You won’t see many right-handers play leg-spin better than that. In two hours they’ve added 148 today.
100th over: Australia 446-2 (Warner 243, Smith 23) Musa, the frustration continues. Yet another no-ball, pitching full to Warner from around the wicket. Then an edge from Warner that rolls away for four. The bowler’s pace is still good, mid-140s, but he can’t get the rest of his game together. Warner gets off strike, then Smith pulls a short ball for his 7000th Test run, raised in his 126th innings.
That’s four more runs than Bradman ever got. And so it makes Smith, by my reckoning, the fastest to the milestone in terms of innings faced.
Can confirm that: Wally Hammond took 131 innings. Sehwag 134, Tendulkar 136, Sobers, Sangakkara and Kohli 138.
99th over: Australia 438-2 (Warner 237, Smith 22) Smith is getting his on-side game working to Yasir, moving across to knock the leg-spinner square. But it’s not without its risk, as he finds when he gets squared up trying the same shot, gets a thick outside edge and sees it bounce into the gully.
98th over: Australia 434-2 (Warner 236, Smith 19) Another no-ball from Musa, and nearly got Warner with that one at all. Seam movement, beat the edge by a fraction, and costs Pakistan a penalty run. What is it with Warner and no-balls? It seems that on good batting days, the bowler’s best delivery to him is always an overstep. Did he once visit a shaman with a photo of Mohammad Amir, or what?
97th over: Australia 433-2 (Warner 236, Smith 19) Yasir to Smith, but the batsman gets the upper hand in this over. Whips a boundary through midwicket, then gets off strike to cover. Nyah-nyah.
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96th over: Australia 426-2 (Warner 234, Smith 14) You’ll never guess what happens next... David Warner is caught off a no-ball! It was the young Naseem on debut in Brisbane, here it’s Musa. Fortunately he doesn’t have the ecstasy / agony bit of finding out via a wait and a replay, because the umpire calls the no-ball in live action. So there’s no celebration as Warner drives away from his body and sends a thick edge straight to gully. Instead, Babar throws his head back, and Musa puts his head in his hands. Should have had Warner, but that basic error costs Pakistan again. Warner celebrates in his own style, seeing a bouncer, playing a wristy uppercut from well above his head over first slip for four. Then tucks away a single. Flourish and humility, one after the other. Ten runs from an over that should have brought a wicket instead.
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95th over: Australia 416-2 (Warner 226, Smith 13) Right, it will be Yasir Shah changing to the Riverbank End. Bowling to Steven Smith with a slip and a short leg. A short cover as well, 15 paces from the bat. Backward point, deep point, regulation cover, mid-off, id-on, midwicket. No one deep on the leg side. Don’t bowl short... Yasir doesn’t, flighting the ball and landing it full, around the off stump. Smith keeps stretching forward to defend. This shapes as a good battle already, there’s a bit of extra fizz in the air. Smith walks across and hits hard on the bounce into the short leg fielder, presumably Masood under the scone-box. Line of fire. He ensures the over is a maiden.
94th over: Australia 416-2 (Warner 226, Smith 13) No he wont, because Muhammad Musa Khan has come back on. This is a weird move from Azhar Ali. Unless Yasir wants to switch ends and replace Abbas after a lengthy spell. Smith lashes through point but sees his shot saved, then drives through cover and gets three. Warner ducks a bouncer. Then drives to deep cover, where Shan Masood saves well after being wrong-footed. Two runs.
93rd over: Australia 411-2 (Warner 224, Smith 10) Another good over from Abbas, using the seam and trying to cut the ball into Warner, with a fairly close fielder square on the leg side looking for a catch I fancy. Warner gets a couple of leg byes and can’t lay bat on ball throughout. Smith will face Yasir in the next over.
92nd over: Australia 409-2 (Warner 224, Smith 10) Ok, so Azhar brings Yasir Shah on try getting an edge over Smith. Except that Yasir bowls the full over to Warner. And Warner pulverises a long-hop for four, punches two more through cover, and survives the one threatening ball as Yasir zips a straight one through that beats the edge when Warner is expecting turn.
91st over: Australia 402-2 (Warner 217, Smith 10) Abbas draws an edge from Warner, but the left-hander plays it softly enough that he grounds the ball for three runs rather than edging it in the air. He bowls nicely to Smith as well, seaming the ball a couple of times. Smith gets tangled up while trying to play to the leg side, and in the end the ball beats his outside edge even as he tries to play across the line, and thunks him on the thigh pad. That’s the best over that Abbas has bowled in the Test. He was forthright in the press conference last night, saying that he was upset at missing the Brisbane Test, but that he couldn’t get into rhythm with no Tests for nearly a year. Drinks break.
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90th over: Australia 399-2 (Warner 214, Smith 10) It’s easier to score off Shaheen than Abbas, with his pace on the ball and his higher likelihood of mistakes. He gives Warner width and Warner gives him the treatment. Cut for four. Shaheen predictably responds with a bouncer, but Warner just ducks, then cuts the next ball into the point gap for one.
89th over: Australia 394-2 (Warner 209, Smith 10) Abbas has bowled very economically: 24 overs now, 69 runs. But he hasn’t threatened a great deal with the ball. Smith is watchful against him, guards against seam movement with the new ball, takes another single with his default scoring shot. Warner prefers the off side, scores one to point.
88th over: Australia 392-2 (Warner 208, Smith 9) And Smith doubles his score again! The fine leg merchant, walking across to Shaheen this time and diverting the path of the ball away for a boundary. Smith has gone 1, 2, 4, 8. Can he score 16 from his next ball? I wouldn’t rule it out.
Nope, he ruins the sequence with a single. Warner thanks him for the strike by driving perfectly through extra cover for four, splitting a tiny gap in the field. In just over an hour the Australians have added 90 runs.
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87th over: Australia 383-2 (Warner 204, Smith 4) Smith doing what Smith does. Walking across, making space on the leg side. Abbas bowling a bit too short as well. Glanced for two, deflected off the pad for three. Smith doubles his score again.
86th over: Australia 378-2 (Warner 204, Smith 2) A decent start from Shaheen, who gets some seam movement to beat Smith’s edge. Smith was pulling inside the line though, and Shaheen started too short to take the edge. That ball was Joey in Friends: looked good, didn’t achieve much. Smith doubles his score with a single to mid-on.
85th over: Australia 377-2 (Warner 204, Smith 1) Smith is practicing all of his shots and leaves and nudges at the non-striker’s end, as Warner plays a for-real cover drive against Abbas, almost on the back foot and then coming forward suddenly through the ball, on the up. You have to be seeing them well to do that. The Pakistanis are excited when Abbas nearly gets pad, but there was plenty of bat involved as well.
Double century! Warner 200 from 260 balls
84th over: Australia 373-2 (Warner 200, Smith 1) A wicket, sure, but David Warner on the cusp of a double, and Steve Smith walking to the middle. Tasty tasty times if you’re a devotee of Australian cricket. Smith knocks away a single first ball to give Warner back the strike with three balls to come. Warner works it through square leg and will get... two, with the aid of a misfield. Thought of the third, couldn’t quite risk it, and he walks away to square leg to clear his head on 199.
Two balls left in the over. Blocked to the off side. No run.
One ball left. And he gets it! Knocks it to square leg, takes the single, and that is David Warner’s second double century in Test cricket! What a remarkable force o concentration and discipline he has been this summer. The runs keep coming.
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WICKET! Labuschagne b Shaheen 162 (Australia 369-2)
Shaheen, the pick of Pakistan’s attack yesterday, shares the new ball and he strikes after just two deliveries, castling Labuschagne with a beautiful in-swinging delivery that did for the middle of off stump. A superb delivery to end a superb innings.
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83rd over: Australia 369-1 (Warner 197, Labuschagne 162) The new ball IS now taken and Abbas, after that over of looseners, takes it from the river end. It’s a very Abbas over; moderately paced, on a decent line and length, and utterly unthreatening. Warner displays the patience of a man who knows a score of unimaginable magnitude is on offer today, leaving or dead-batting five deliveries then pushing firmly through the covers for two.
More stats 😅
— #7Cricket (@7Cricket) November 30, 2019
Warner and Labuschagne now own the highest partnership for any wicket for Australia v Pakistan in Tests #AUSvPAK pic.twitter.com/wTYVeC9hx4
82nd over: Australia 367-1 (Warner 195, Labuschagne 162) Turns out we were misled and Pakistan did not take the second new ball after all. Quite why they didn’t, nobody seems able to fathom. The outcome is another pointless over from Yasir that’s too fast, too flat, too short, and too full of runs. “This is rubbish bowling,” says Ricky Ponting on TV, “absolute rubbish”. Labuschagne doesn’t mind, bringing up the 350 partnership with a brace of cut boundaries. This ceased to be a contest many hours ago and Azhar Ali doesn’t seem remotely concerned.
81st over: Australia 357-1 (Warner 194, Labuschagne 153) The new ball is taken immediately and the game enters its next phase, hopefully one more competitive than the last few hours of one-sided drubbing. Abbas takes the new pink Kookaburra and settles into his groove on a length around that fourth or fifth stump line but Labuschagne is ready for it, standing tall on his toes and controlling drives into the off-side. A couple hit the field, one pierces the gap for two runs.
The partnership now inside the top 10 of all Australian Test partnerships....
— Ric Finlay (@RicFinlay) November 30, 2019
150 to Marnus Labuschagne
80th over: Australia 354-1 (Warner 194, Labuschagne 150) Marnus Labuschagne’s introduction to Test cricket may have arrived in unconventional circumstances but he is to the manor born. The Queenslander brings up his 150 with a nudge off Yasir, a milestone celebrated by Warner by dispatching the Pakistan leggy over cow corner for six of the most contemptuous runs you could find. That’s followed soon afterwards by a rank long-hop being pummelled to the square leg fence for four. If this was a title fight the referee would be giving Pakistan a standing count.
Another record ✅
— #7Cricket (@7Cricket) November 30, 2019
Warner & Labuschagne pass Cook & Trott for the highest second wicket stand for all tests in Australia #AUSvPAK pic.twitter.com/xM82V81DnJ
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79th over: Australia 342-1 (Warner 183, Labuschagne 149) Both teams are rattling through their work this morning, Iftikhar with a nondescript over, Australia tipping and running to keep the circulation flowing. The tourists are nearly into the new ball.
78th over: Australia 339-1 (Warner 181, Labuschagne 148) Another one for Marnus! The runs keep flowing. Gallops down and plonks Yasir over mid-on for four. They’re going to have some fun today.
77th over: Australia 333-1 (Warner 180, Labuschagne 143) They are not hanging around this morning. Warner creams Iftikhar’s short ball away with a pull shot. The off-spinner replaced the young pace bowler after one over. Curious. Two more runs to fine leg for Marnus. The scoreboard is whirring.
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76th over: Australia 325-1 (Warner 175, Labuschagne 140) Yasir starts the over well, just conceding a couple of singles, but Labuschagne finishes it well by carting him over midwicket for four. No hanging around for Australia with the sun shining for the moment in Adelaide.
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75th over: Australia 318-1 (Warner 173, Labuschagne 135) If Warner starts fast, Labuschagne starts faster. A four, a two, and a three, all worked through the off side. The boundary was edgy, but the rest were controlled. 11 runs from Musa’s first over.
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74th over: Australia 307-1 (Warner 171, Labuschagne 126) Warner started slowly on the second morning in Brisbane. No such approach here, as he gets a gift from Yasir Shah in the form of a short ball, and whacks it to the boundary.
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Here is the wires report on the action yesterday, if you want the detail.
Preamble
Today is David Warner Day. Sorry if you didn’t get the note. That costume looks great though, Keith. And the Toyota badging is a nice touch. We’re all just playing it by ear, trying to work out something new. Which is what David will be doing, too. See, Davey used to have a particular style. Score big, score fast, put his feet up. For a long time his highest score was that 180 he made in about 15 minutes when he pogoed India all around the WACA. He never batted through a Test day until 2016 at the same ground, when he made 250 against New Zealand. But he got out first thing the next morning. Then last week at the Gabba he went through the day again, and got out without adding much the next morning too. Now in Adelaide he’s had his third bat-through day, and his third chance to go on the next day to a truly huge score. Will it help that the next day is starting in the afternoon, not the morning? Maybe he’s a post-prandial guy. We’ll find out. Because it would be interesting to see what D. Warner can do if he really goes on with an innings. Two days of pain, that sort of thing.
Pakistan are sore, sorry, and have once again bowled through a Test day for only the wicket of Joe Burns. Hopefully they rested well and did justice to the breakfast buffet. Australia: 302 for 1 after the first day.
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