Right, that’s it from me. Thanks for your company, your tweets and your emails. Stick around on site for all the reports and reaction from the SCG. And join us again for the final from Melbourne on Sunday. But for now, cheerio.
And here’s Michael Clarke:
“I was really proud of the execution under pressure from our bowlers.”
“We’re playing some really good cricket at the moment. Losing to New Zealand gave us a kick up the backside.”
“We have to play our best to beat these great teams and New Zealand will be no different.”
Here’s MS Dhoni, who has no plans to retire just yet:
“Overall Australia played very good cricket. Over 300 is a difficult score to chase. I felt the fast bowlers could’ve done slightly better.”
“We got to a good start. Shikhar’s dismissal was on the softer side. But there is pressure when you’re chasing 320.”
“I’m 33. I’m still running, I’m still fit. I’ll decide after the World T20 next year whether I can carry on to the 2019 World Cup.”
Here’s the man of the match, Steve Smith:
“We thought 330 was around par, we knew we had to bowl and field well and the boys did a great job. Bring on Melbourne. It’s going to be one helluva day.”
Australia win by 95 runs
Pretty comprehensive really. India had their moments, but the final flurry from Johnson and Faulkner with the bat just took the target too high. The chase started well but the loss of Dhawan and Kohli in quick succession meant India were always struggled to stay up with the required rate.
So, it’s a New Zealand v Australia final.
WICKET! Yadav b Starc 0 (India all out 233)
Starc catches Yadav in the chin with a short ball. The bowle, Michael Clarke and David Warner are quickly over to him to check that he’s OK. Good to see. A couple of balls later it’s all over, Starc clean bowling the No11 to put India out of their misery.
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46th over: India 232-9 (Shami 0, Yadav 0) 97 required from 24 balls A double wicket maiden from Faulkner.
WICKET! M Sharma b Faulkner 0 (India 232-9)
Mohit Sharma goes first ball to Faulkner, who is on a hat-trick. Not that anyone in the UK saw that live, as the TV broadcasters were showing an advert for Russell Crowe’s latest film.
WICKET! Ashwin b Faulkner 5 (India 232-8)
The SCG begins to empty as India’s fans give up the ghost. Faulkner sends down three dots at Ashwin, then the fourth beats the bat and clatters into the stumps.
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45th over: India 232-7 (Shami 0, Ashwin 5) 97 required from 30 balls Dhoni had given up on the run, but he wouldn’t have got home even at full tilt.
WICKET! Dhoni run out (Maxwell) 64 (India 231-7)
That’s that! Sensational fielding from Maxwell who has one stump to aim at from midwicket … and strikes it. Dhoni’s gone and so have India’s gossamer-thin chances.
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44th over: India 228-6 (Dhoni 63, Ashwin 3) 101 required from 36 balls Johnson pegs Dhoni back with the first, and he’s only able to clip a single to leg from the second. Ashwin pierces the off-side field, but again it’s only a single. The fourth is another accurate delivery, and again Dhoni can only squeeze the ball out for a single. Yep, a single from the fifth. And the last … ANOTHER SINGLE. All played in orthodox, passive fashion. It was a good over from Johnson, but that good?
43rd over: India 223-6 (Dhoni 60, Ashwin 1) 106 required from 42 balls SIX! Dhoni brings up his half-century by advancing down the ground and crashing Watson over the covers. SIX! And he follows it up with another, this one straight down the ground. He swats a full toss away for a single from the third. Ashwin plays-and-misses at the fourth. He lofts the fifth down to third man that puts the captain back on strike … but Dhoni can only dig out a single.
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42nd over: India 208-6 (Dhoni 47, Ashwin 0) 121 required from 48 balls There’s been very little in the way of panicked slog from Dhoni, which you can read either as a sign of the ice in his veins or as a strange misjudgment, depending on your point of view. That wicket surely finishes this contest (if it wasn’t already over).
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WICKET! Jadeja run out (Smith) 14 (India 208-6)
Steve Smith is having the game of his his life. He’s scored a 100, heard a nick that owls would’ve struggled to pick up, and now he’s run out Jadeja with a direct hit from backward point.
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41st over: India 204-5 (Dhoni 45, Jadeja 14) Into the final 10 overs: 132 required. Dhoni helicopters Hazelwood into the Sydney night sky. Clarke makes the ground … but shells the catch. He was running at full tilt in fairness, but it was very catchable. You’ve (really not) just dropped the World Cup. Hazlewood drops a touch short and wide to Jadeja, who late cuts for four. Eight from the over.
40th over: India 196-5 (Dhoni 42, Jadeja 9) A great stat: Dhoni has been not out 40 times in India ODI run chases – of those they have won 38 and tied one. Again they just deal in singles here as Faulkner continues. Four from the over.
“An onwards India nudge and nurdle, towards the England dressing-room of Thirteen-An-Over,” suggests Steve Anthony.
39th over: India 192-5 (Dhoni 40, Jadeja 7) Dhoni skitters for two from the first ball of Starc’s latest over, then bunts a single into the off side. Ones and twos won’t be enough here, though. And, as type that, Starc sends a full one down the leg side and Jadeja flicks economically to fine leg for four.
38th over: India 183-5 (Dhoni 38, Jadeja 3) Faulkner restricts the batsmen to a couple of singles from his first three balls. And a couple of singles from the final three balls.
“Oh, can I do one?” writes David Griffiths. “The required run rate has just entered the fizzing outer reaches of the cockroach-infested post-nuclear-accident urban barnacle of Twelve-An-Over.”
37th over: India 179-5 (Dhoni 36, Jadeja 1) Maxwell and Smith were the pair on the off side that suggested the review for Rahane’s wicket. Very well played. And very well played Mitchell Starc – another superb over, just two from it. His figures read: 6-0-17-1.
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WICKET! Rahane c Haddin b Starc (India 178-5)
Mitchell Starc, with five overs still to bowl, charges in again. Rahane gropes rather blindly at one outside off. There’s a strange delay as everyone looks at each other, then very quietly we get a review from Australia. There was no appeal from the bowler, no appeal from the keeper, but someone out there has played a blinder for Australia. Snicko shows a tell-tale spike and Rahane has to walk.
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36th over: India 177-4 (Dhoni 35, Rahane 44) Faulkner rumbles in to send down the first over of the batting powerplay. A play-and-a-miss from Dhoni and a play-and-a-miss from Rahane sandwiches a couple of singles. From the fifth ball, Dhoni finds the gap backward of point for four, and there’s a single from the last.
Seven from the over. The required run-rate has left the plague-ridden hamlet of Ten-An-Over and is just entering the outskirts of the abandoned funfair of Eleven-An-Over.
35th over: India 170-4 (Dhoni 29, Rahane 43) Johnson once more. It’s good stuff from the left-armer, denying the batsmen room. The batsmen take three singles off the first five balls, then From the last Rahane cuts loose with a flail over point … but Starc makes a decent stop on the rope and they can pick up only two.
34th over: India 165-4 (Dhoni 27, Rahane 40) Another 172 runs required off the final 17 overs. Not impossible. Very unlikely, but not impossible. Rahane skips down the track to Watson and lofts him down the ground for four, then can’t get the ball away for a couple before guiding to third man for two more. A big flailing pull drops well short of Hazlewood at deep backward square and they run a single, so Dhoni has one ball of the over to face … and it’s another single.
33rd over: India 157-4 (Dhoni 26, Rahane 33) Tick, tock, tick, tock. Time is running out for India here – the required run-rate has arrived wheezing and spluttering in the plague-ridden hamlet of Ten-An-Over. Johnson returns and finds Rahane’s edge but the ball flies just wide of Michael Clarke’s dive at slip. The ball runs away for a boundary Rahane’s first, but he’s gobbling up deliveries like a microbe gobbling up prawns* on a two-day old seafood pizza.
*Please note: I am not a microbiologist.
32nd over: India 150-4 (Dhoni 25, Rahane 28) Dot, dot, dot, dot. Rahane is piling the pressure on his team here as he struggles to get Watson away. He does get the fifth away uppishly towards cow corner for a single. Dhoni adds a single off the last.
Stat! “I have bad news for India supporters,” writes Brendan Jones. I ‘looked at the data’ and India’s best score-doubling effort in this World Cup so far was against Bangladesh in the quarters, where they doubled their score after 33 overs and five balls - moving from 151-3 to 302-6. The half-way score required here is 165, they are four wickets down, and we are there or thereabouts overs-wise.”
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31st over: India 148-4 (Dhoni 24, Rahane 27) OOF! Dhoni tees off against Hazlewood, skipping down the track and crashing the ball to the rope at long on. He follows that up with a gentle cut away for a single. Rahane can’t get him away for a couple, but then taps him to leg for another single. And from the last there’s too much width – Dhoni sends a top edge down to third man for his second boundary of the over. Ten from it.
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30th over: India 138-4 (Dhoni 15, Rahane 26) Shane Watson gets the chance to turn his arm over for the first time. Dhoni continues to keep his powder dry. Five from the over.
The required run-rate leaves the desolate windswept industrial town of Nine-An-Over and heads off in search of the plague-ridden hamlet of Ten-An-Over.
29th over: India 133-4 (Dhoni 14, Rahane 23) Hazlewood returns and Dhoni skews one high but short of third man. Again the bowler finds that nagging line-and-length that is so difficult to hit. Just three from the over.
Can't fathom this approach by India. Sure, the bowling's good. But to need 9 an over and be prodding dots and singles? #CWC15
— Geoff Lemon Sport (@GeoffLemonSport) March 26, 2015
28th over: India 130-4 (Dhoni 11, Rahane 23) Maxwell (4-0-13-0) enters his fifth over as this pair continue their rebuilding work. More nudging and nurdling. The required rate has left the quiet riverside village of Eight-An-Over behind and arrived in the desolate windswept industrial town of Nine-An-Over.
27th over: India 125-4 (Dhoni 7, Rahane 22) Dhoni is a yard short of holing out at deep square leg, but Warner can’t quite make the ground. Otherwise India stick to quiet accumulation.
Also in the YouTube round-up is this cracking camera phone footage of the final ball of the other semi-final …
26th over: India 121-4 (Dhoni 5, Rahane 20) Maxwell continues. And this time India are able to get some proper milking done – six singles worked all around the wicket.
In other news, this week’s freshly minted Classic YouTube features a man hand-making a cricket ball in the 1950s.
25th over: India 115-4 (Dhoni 2, Rahane 17) Faulkner needed that wicket and he’s a different bowler this over. Rahane works a couple of twos into the leg side to keep the scoreboard ticking over.
24th over: India 110-4 (Dhoni 1, Rahane 13) So MS Dhoni. If he can lead India to victory from here it would go down as his crowning achievement. He’s off the mark straight away as Maxwell continues to twirl, but things are looking pretty bleak for India.
23rd over: India 108-4 (Dhoni 0, Rahane 12) And that’s over.
In other news, somebody has mentioned microbes. I’m not eating the pizza.
WICKET! Raina c Haddin b Faulkner 7 (India 108-4)
James Faulkner returns in far more felicitous circumstances than his earlier spell. He disappears to the boundary once more, with Raina belting him sweetly down to cow corner for four. From the next, though, he’s gone. A nothing shot outside off to a ball that just holds its line sees the batsman send an edge through to Haddin, who makes no mistake. That’s twice now that Australian bowlers have followed boundaries with wickets from the very next ball.
22nd over: India 102-3 (Raina 2, Rahane 11) Maxwell again. Raina gets off the mark (I mistakenly awarded him a run a couple of overs ago, apologies) with a single that takes India to three figures. And singles is all the batsmen can muster on this occasion. The required rate has crept over eight an over.
Updated
21st over: India 98-3 (Raina 0, Rahane 9) Rahane flaps wildly at a Starc bouncer; Haddin appeals for a catch, presumably just for something to do. The bowler finds a bit of reverse swing from the fourth ball – there was a definite wobble there. From the fifth, Raina blocks out a full ball, Starc picks up and throws back at the stumps, the ball slaps the batsman on the pad, and Starc appeals for comedy effect. I get the sense that Australia fancy they can psyche out Raina. He’s faced five balls without getting off the mark.
20th over: India 95-3 (Raina 0, Rahane 8) Maxwell gets the chance to turn his arm over for the first time, with Clarke perhaps thinking he can sneak a couple of quiet ones in from his lesser bowlers while India are looking to recuperate. He drags one down but Rahane can’t find the gap on the leg side and misses out. Just the single from the over.
19th over: India 94-3 (Raina 0, Rahane 7) Clarke sniffs blood in the water and brings back Mitchell Starc. Rahane plays out three dots then guides a straight drive down the ground for a couple.
A problem: Every email I get that says “Eat the pizza” makes me not want to eat the pizza. “Why do they want me to eat the pizza?” I think. Every email saying “Don’t eat the pizza” makes me want to eat the pizza. “Screw you, I’ll eat what I want,” I think.
Although to be honest the main tone has been: “Why would you get a seafood pizza? What is wrong with you?” Which is fair enough.
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18th over: India 91-3 (Raina 0, Rahane 4) Advantage Australia.
WICKET! Sharma b Johnson 34 (India 91-3)
What a comeback this is! A bat-pad comes in as Johnson looks to test Rahane with some more chin music. Well, chest music perhaps. I’d call it rib music, but for some reason that just brings to mind the sort of plinking piano you might listen to while eating a steak. Anyway, the batsman just about copes on this occasion, flapping the second ball away for a single. The fifth ball is smashed into the stands at cow corner by Rohit Sharma. But the last ball of the over is a jaffer, a fizzing delivery that tears through the defences and crashes into middle stump. What a response.
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17th over: India 82-2 (Sharma 27, Rahane 2) Hazlewood continues into his seventh over and again he’s bang on the money. The fifth ball again pings off Rahane’s fingers – those digits are being pummelled. Just two from the over, giving Hazlewood very handy figures of 7-1-20-1.
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16th over: India 80-2 (Sharma 26, Rahane 1) Rahane gets off the mark in the most uncomfortable fashion possible – a Johnson bouncer jams his fingers against the handle. Still, a run’s a run and India need a couple of collective deep breaths.
“The question you should be asking is why would anyone leave a pizza for two days on a desk near you, knowing full well that you would be OBOing through the night and thus starving hungry by the morning,” writes Andrew Benton. “It’s a test, but whoever they are, they’re not telling you what you’re being tested on … play it cool, I say.”
It was me. I left it there. Now I’m confused.
WICKET! Kohli c Haddin b Johnson 1 (India 78-2)
Virat Kohli looks to go after a Johnson short ball, but it gets too big on him and he can only send a top edge steepling into the Sydney sky. Haddin jogs round towards square leg an takes a straightforward catch. A 13-ball one from India’s No3. Not what many of us were expecting.
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15th over: India 77-1 (Sharma 24, Kohli 1) This has been an excellent spell from Hazlewood. For such an inexperienced bowler on such a big occasion, he’s been superb. Here he has Kohli playing-and-missing outside off. And he’s finding that probing McGrath-esque line-and-length. (McGrath, by the way, was raving about Hazlewood a couple of years ago). That’s a maiden, the first of the innings.
14th over: India 77-1 (Sharma 24, Kohli 1) Johnson sends down two three four five dots at Kohli, who gets off the mark from the last with a little tickle to third man.
A question: there is two-thirds of a seafood pizza on the desk next to me. It’s been there for 36 hours. Is it a) safe to eat two-day old seafood pizza? And, more importanty, b) acceptable to eat two-day old seafood pizza at 8.50am?
13th over: India 76-1 (Sharma 24, Kohli 0) The replays show that shot from Dhawan just squirted away from the batsman – he was aiming a fair bit straighter. Anyway, Australia are back in the game.
Updated
WICKET! c Maxwell b Hazlewood 45 (India 76-1)
The breakthrough! And what a big wicket this is. While Johnson and Faulkner have taken some tap, Hazlewood has tied down an end very nicely. Rohit just gets enough on a pull after a bouncer rushes him a touch and picks up a couple, then dabs to third man for a single. Then Dhawan looks to go over the top of extra cover. It’s just too much of a 50-50 shot: not quite the full-blooded lash over the top, too uppish to be a nice safe chip for one. Maxwell’s out there in the deep and makes no mistake with the catch.
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12th over: India 73-0 (Sharma 21, Dhawan 45) Clarke sticks with Faulkner, Dhawan says “Don’t mind if I do”, and plays a straight drive so elegant and proper it should be wearing a three-piece suit and a titfer. He follows that with a shot that rips off the three-piece and reveals a pair of tiny tiger-print underpants: a clubbing blow down the ground for four more. Faulkner needs to get out of the firing line here. Thirteen from the over, leaving the Australia all-rounder with figures of 2-0-29-0.
11th over: India 60-0 (Sharma 20, Dhawan 34) Sharma takes a single from the first ball of Johnson’s over and well he might with Dhawan in this mood. Some people out there will remember Brian Lara Cricket on the Mega Drive and the way a batsman could shuffle across his crease after it was clear where the bowler was going to pitch the ball:
… thus giving the batsman something of an advantage and there’s something of that about the way Dhawan is moving around the crease here, as if he’s picking each ball before it’s bowled. It’s a mixed bag from Johnson here – he’s not quite found his mojo. Five from the over.
10th over: India 55-0 (Sharma 19, Dhawan 32) Michael Clarke throws the ball to James Faulkner, who oversteps by half a yard for a no ball and a free hit. Sharma, though, tries to smash the ball with the power of Thor’s hammer and can only skew it away for a single. Next up Dhawan shows him how it’s done, dancing down the track and gloriously thumping through the covers for four. Fine shot. And he repeats the trick next up for four more.
From the fifth ball Dhawan steps across his stumps and hoiks Faulkner into the stands at square leg for big six. Sixteen from the over and some concern for Michael Clarke.
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9th over: India 39-0 (Sharma 18, Dhawan 18) Johnson goes left-arm round to the left-handed Dhawan, looking to slide the ball in the direction of the two slips. Dhawan, though, uses the pace to economically guide him just forward of point for four. Experiment over.
8th over: India 33-0 (Sharma 18, Dhawan 12) Hazlewood continues into his fourth over. Dhawan shuffles across his stumps threateningly … but then bunts into the off side. Just three from the over. Definitely a conscious effort in platform construction here from Dhawan, in particular.
7th over: India 30-0 (Sharma 17, Dhawan 10) Mitchell Johnson, who hit a nine-ball 27 at the end of the Australian innings, replaces Mitchell Starc. The second ball is a bumper fizzing in towards the eyebrows, but Sharma hooks the thing into the stands for six! I think you call that a statement of intent. A six and five dots from Johnson’s first over.
6th over: India 24-0 (Sharma 11, Dhawan 10) Hazlewood and Dhawan go shoulder to shoulder as India skitter through for a quick single. Dharmasena is clearly concerned about things kicking off as he’s straight in from square leg to cool the situation down, though there were smiles all round from the two players anyway.
Dhawan pushes the final ball of the over through the covers for a couple. There’s a real calm-before-the-storm feel at the SCG.
5th over: India 20-0 (Sharma 11, Dhawan 7) Huge appeal as Dhawan is slammed on the pad by a Starc full toss. It’s going down so Clarke and co do well to opt against the review.
Here’s Jonathan Sexton: “We’re following the world cup very closely here in Dubai and as you might imagine there’s a lot of very excited Indian supporters working in our office today.
“Despite having full access to the official CWC website for the last six weeks, they came into work this morning to find it mysteriously blocked “because of inappropriate content, security reasons, or bandwidth utilization”
“We’ve concluded this is either down to the corporate killjoys depriving staff of even the slightest spark of happiness during a miserable day at the coalface , or because our IT team are all from Pakistan.
“Either way, I’ve introduced several new readers to the Guardian OBO which I’m pleased to report remains thoroughly unblocked.”
I’m not sure whether we should be delighted or offended by the fact that the OBO isn’t considered “inappropriate content”.
4th over: India 15-0 (Sharma 8, Dhawan 6) Dhawan rocks back and pulls Hazlewood wide of midwicket for four down to cow corner. From the next … DROPPED! Dhawan looks to drive hard and Haddin supermans to his left but can only get his fingertips to it and the chance goes down.
Here’s one of our men on the ground at the SCG, Ben Doherty, on that Rohit catch: “A well-received third umpire’s decision. Not like the Finch one which is still causing much gnashing of teeth and beating of breasts in the ‘nosebleed section’. Speaking of music, the decision pending ‘tune’ (I use the word in the loosest possible sense) is the most grating sound known to humankind.”
3rd over: India 9-0 (Sharma 7, Dhawan 1) A stray balloon floating across the sightscreen delays the start of Starc’s second over. Plucky effort from the little guy there – most inflatables will have been burst or beer-soaked by this stage. Sharma punches away a low full toss for a single and from the last Maxwell looks to throw down the stumps at the non-strikers’ end. Johnson does a decent bit of work backing up.
2nd over: India 7-0 (Sharma 6, Dhawan 1) Josh Hazlewood takes the new ball at the other end. Quite a moment for this young man. He finds a tight line just outside off to Rohit, who is a touch fortunate to escape for a second time when a scoopy-pull goes wrong and the ball plops a couple of yards away fromt the scampering Haddin.
1st over: India 4-0 (Sharma 4, Dhawan 0) Off we go then. Rohit Sharma has scored three ODI hundreds in Australia this year but his opening effort against Starc is a play-and-miss from the first ball outside off. From the fourth ball Rohit plays a lackadaisical drive and edges to Watson at second slip. It’s dying on the fielder and no one’s quite sure whether the ball has carried. Watson isn’t sure, Dharmasena isn’t sure. And the replay is the classic has-he-got-his-fingers-underneath-the-ball-we-can’t-quite-tell-so-the-benefit-of-the-doubt-goes-to-the-batsman. The TV umpire reckons the ball has definitely hit the turf, but you can barely really discern that.
Rohit celebrates the reprieve with a slightly squirty drive square of the wicket for four, but the final ball sees another edge fly well short of Clarke at second slip.
What's that old thing about Johnson bowling well after batting well? I'll back that in. He's due in any case. Really well played. #AusvInd
— Adam Collins (@collinsadam) March 26, 2015
Out stride the players as the sun sets over the SCG. What a sight.
Cheers Geoff, and hello everybody. As for getting down, I take it everyone enjoys folk-country? Anyone for a bit of Jim Croce? No? Just me then …
This is beautifully poised. In normal circumstances you’d make Australia huge favourites but there’s something about the big stage that brings the very best out of this India side.
Geoff Lemon here, live from the SCG, and it’s time for me to hand over to m’colleague in the Old Dart, John Ashdown.
I’ve greatly enjoyed your emails and tweets over the day, thanks for joining in. Please do keep that up for john.ashdown@theguardian.com, or @John_Ashdown.
To finish with a couple of winners that have come in over the day:
@GeoffLemonSport Reading in Zanzibar. The pubs not open and cafe hasnt paid their TV bill! Dont forget Mongol hiphop! http://t.co/K4XenYpf28
— Mongolian Bling (@mongolianbling) March 26, 2015
.@GeoffLemonSport .@GuardianAus Aussie Cricket slams Aussie Hip Hop. 77 times over. #AUSvsIND #CWC15 #GoogleTrends pic.twitter.com/zYj0jrQchr
— Google Australia NZ (@googledownunder) March 26, 2015
And by email from Ronan Mellen: “Purist niche you say? I’ll see your Aussie Hip Hop, and I raise you Scottish (specifically Glaswegian) Hip Hop. Try this on for size.”
A language warning on this last one.
That’s it.
Lemon out, time to get down with Ashdown.
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This thought in from our man on the ground, Ben Doherty: “If one was looking for a form line for this year’s IPL, you could do much worse than the Chennai Super Kings. Five of the undefeated Indian side turn out for Chennai: Jadeja and Ashwin, a certain M.S. Dhoni, Suresh Raina, and Mohit Sharma. Add to that a bloke called McCullum from the top of the New Zealand order and there’s the spine of a fair club.”
Classical knowledge and backhanded praise from Eush Tayco: “In the Iliad (Book 7, I think), Hector and Ajax are fighting, and it looks like Ajax is winning until night falls and they have to quit. (Fighting at night is a big Iliad no-no.) I’m sure one could draw parallels in cricket to rain delays/other breaks halting one team’s momentum. Love the commentary, keep it up. (I don’t know anything about cricket, though. Take this as you will.)”
It’s been a hell of an entertaining innings, and here’s hoping it’ll be just as good in the second half.
@GeoffLemonSport Stay in bed and miss India win a thriller or get up and watch India get thrashed. #SchroedingerCricketMatch
— Deepak Puri (@deepakpuri) March 26, 2015
Australia set India 329 to win
It was an innings that seesawed all day. India struck early to get rid of Warner. Smith, with the support of Finch, kept things steady until the 35th over, and looked to have given Australia a platform to launch toward 350. Then India struck three times in the last 10 overs and looked like they might keep Australia under 300. But Watson and Faulkner did enough to keep the scoring rolling and to clear that mark, and then Johnson came in with a blazing flourish at the end, taking 27 from his 9 deliveries faced, and pushing Australia closer to their desired total than to India’s.
329 to win is a massive ask. But India have the two greatest chasers in the world, in Dhoni and Kohli, and a partisan crowd behind them, on a pitch with no obvious demons. There was enough pace and bounce there to do something for the faster Indian pacemen, so expect Australia’s mob to get something out of it. India have chased 350+ scores against Australia a couple of times in recent years, but this will be much harder away from their home pitch and conditions.
50th over: Australia 328-7 (Haddin 7, Johnson 27)
Two runs to Johnson from a soft push to the on-side, but it went to a nice gap and they got back. Single to the deep on the leg-side. Haddin gives him the strike back.
Dropped! Haddin slogs to deep midwicket where Kohli diving forward can’t cling on despite several grabs at the pinballing sphere. Eventually he lands on the ball and it touches the ground. Three balls to come, one run, Johnson on strike.
Four! Hit that. Slow high full toss from Mohit and Johnson just drives it casually, straight, to the fence.
Six! Johnson flying, gets a length slower ball, leans back and absolutely crushes it over wide long-on.
A single from the last ball as he’s cramped for room, Mohit charges in to field and that, as they pointlessly say, is that.
49th over: Australia 313-7 (Haddin 6, Johnson 13)
Shami to Haddin in the penultimate over. Dot ball as the Aussie keeper drives to the field. Then a very hairy single, pushed toward cover and there wasn’t really a run there, but the throw to Dhoni running in to the stumps was wild.
Four! Mitchell Johnson chimes in with that big true swing of his, clouting the full ball over mid-on.
Four! Now for the other side, as he drives over cover. Shami is giving him length and Johnson is equal to it.
Four! Johnson backs away, looking for a cross-bat smash over cover, but top-edges down to third man. He pushes a single to finish off. Hi, Mitch.
As Manas Phadke wrote in a while ago, “This is quickly turning from mauka mauka (opportunity) to chauka chauka (boundary) for India. Indian readers of the OBO who are aware of the Indian broadcasters WC campaign will get this.”
There’s been plenty of chauka chauka, but India have also been taking their mauka mauka. Seven wickets down, and a score of 350+ that was on at one stage has been considerably reeled in.
48th over: Australia 299-7 (Haddin 5, Johnson 0)
Four! Mohit comes on to bowl as Dhoni’s attack starts to resemble a carousel. It hasn’t helped the bowler in this case, he plonks down a length ball, so Watson makes room and drives through cover. Shot.
Slower ball next, Watson is top-edging an attempted shot to leg, but it lobs the infield. Two runs. Then four more as Watson pulls powerfully, intimidatingly to wide long-on, where it splits the midwicket and long-on fielders.
Watson holes out from the fifth ball, and Haddin knocks a single from the last ball, after he’d crossed with Watson before the catch was taken.
Updated
WICKET! Watson 28 (30 balls), c Rahane b Mohit
Another one down, as Watson takes on the short ball, looking for a six but can’t clear deep backward square. It’s been a big over already though for Australia, the 300 looms.
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47th over: Australia 288-6 (Watson 18, Haddin 4)
Faulkner mashed a Yadav full ball through midwicket for four, then was bowled trying to repeat the dose. Haddin smashes his first ball back to the bowler for a crowd catch, then is cramped by Yadav and can only find cover. Dot balls sprinkle the score book like tiny gold nuggets.
Enough of them, says Bradley Hadley, as he clears his front foot and digs out a smash down the ground for four! It wasn’t even a bad ball, nearly a yorker, but just bounced enough for him to collect it. Wasn’t far off bowling him though.
Re Indian cricket coverage back home, Uma Venkatraman writes in. “Traditionally, the back page is not the main sports page in Indian newspapers. So all the cricket news would be on the first sports page with the sports masthead, which is an inside page. At least, that’s how it used to be. I’m not in India anymore so I can’t say if the practice has changed.”
Says Sarah Bacon, “I can’t speak for the Indian newspapers, but certainly in the UAE, India CWC news has dominated. I think some other countries have been involved in the contest, but couldn’t prove it based on what’s in the sports section. But in the last week, along with the usual salivation over today’s semi, stories have centred around Anushka Sharma.” (Kohli’s lady friend, you know.)
WICKET! Faulkner 21 (11 balls), b Yadav
Nice and simple - full enough, straight enough and with Faulkner trying to go long enough, Yadav scatters the stumps. Jimmy Forks has just about done his job, now the Indians need to get rid of Haddin who has been deadly from the few balls he’s faced in this World Cup.
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46th over: Australia 279-5 (Watson 17, Faulkner 17)
Sixer! Down to the corner shop for half a dozen goes Jadeja, as Faulkner gets down on bended knee and marries the ball with the boundary rope, over midwicket with the slog sweep. Faulkner drives well through cover but Raina times his dive to save a boundary, only one run. Jadeja does well to tie Watson down, conceding only one more run from the next four balls.
Four overs to go.
The ground DJ goes a bit folk-pop this time - The Lumineers.
45th over: Australia 271-5 (Watson 16, Faulkner 10)
Shami is bowling now, Dhoni ringing the changes like a two-dollar shop cashier. Three runs as Watson goes over cover. Four runs as Faulkner edges a pull over the keeper. Four more as Faulkner perfectly places another pull between the fine leg and the deep backward. That’s class. A final run as Faulkner tries to flick down leg and misses - was that bye, leg bye, inside edge? Don’t know. They got one, anyway.
“Forget hip hop,” says Phillip Goldswain, “the Venn diagram overlap between Greek epic poems and cricket would be pretty small. Can you slip in a reference to a Grey-eyed Athena? Does Watto have blue/grey eyes? Probably not a god of wisdom…”
No, but it’s a little-known fact that Watto was born by springing fully formed from the axe-hewn head of his father.
Actually I’m sure there’d be plenty of overlap between classicists and cricketers. Lovers of the epics would find plenty of similarities in both. I saw an involved conversation on Twitter the other day deciding which cricketers were which Homeric characters: I was impressed with de Villiers as the outrageously advantaged yet ultimately fallible Achilles, and with Misbah-ul-Haq as noble, doomed Hector.
44th over: Australia 258-5 (Watson 13, Faulkner 1)
Ashwin is about to bowl out. His first ball turn in to Watson and gives him no room to play. Second ball, Watson is advancing but can only push with the turn to midwicket, no run. Third ball, struck to cover, no run. Advantage Ashwin.
Fourth ball, Watson finally gets to the pitch and drives to deep midwicket. Two runs. Fifth ball, too dangerous is the decision and Watson defends. Indian fans cheer.
Sixth ball? It’s the six ball. Down on one broad padded knee goes Watto, and the slow-sweep clout sends the ball higher than it does long, but long enough to sneak over the fence into the first couple of rows. Advantage Watson.
43rd over: Australia 250-5 (Watson 5, Faulkner 1)
“Come on Aussie, come on” is the chant from a small but enthusiastic corner of the crowd after Clarke’s dismissal from the first ball of the over. James Faulkner comes to the middle. Seven and a bit overs left for him. He usually takes a couple to get set, then he can go big. Can he do that today? India scrapping for every run. Faulkner’s first ball is a bunt to cover for nothing. Then a slightly shorter one that strikes high on the bat for nothing. Then a dashed single to a defensive shot that went almost nowhere. Watson digs out the attempted yorker for a single, Faulkner is cramped by the final ball and can only push it to midwicket for a dot ball.
Two runs and the wicket in the 43rd over, what a comeback for Mohit!
WICKET! Clarke 10 (12 balls), c Rohit b Mohit
Caught Rohit, bowled Mohit, and don’t you know it, that’ll do it. Mohit’s first ball of a new spell, it’s one of those crap short balls, not short enough, but Clarke’s balance is off as he tries to pull, and he just prods it to the catching midwicket 20 yards from the bat.
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42nd over: Australia 248-4 (Watson 4, Clarke 10)
Four! Gorgeous shot from Clarke, there’s the captain’s class as he approaches Jadeja and whips through wide midwicket for four. So much similarity between Clarke and Smith, the younger man has had a good example to model his game on. Three singles and they have seven from the over.
41st over: Australia 241-4 (Watson 3, Clarke 4)
Shami comes on for his eighth over. He’s been so good throughout the tournament, but hasn’t yet got a wicket today, and is going at about six an over. Watson cracks a square drive but some brilliant fielding at backward point keeps the scoring to one run. India want this bad. Shami finds some spice, with a sharp bouncer past Clarke’s grille that has the crowd up and running. Clarke gets a single to third man next ball. Watson cracks another drive straight to point, then gets his own bouncer past the helmet. He can’t do anything with the last ball, and it’s another over down with only two from it.
This is turning into a brilliant game.
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40th over: Australia 239-4 (Watson 2, Clarke 3)
India clawing back ground withe tenacity here. Jadeja returns, goes for four singles from his first four balls, but is able to hold up Clarke from the final two balls of the innings. This is turning into a real contest. 10 overs to go - a run a ball gets Australia 300, a better finish gets them a fair way past that, but can India turn the screws?
39th over: Australia 235-4 (Watson 0, Clarke 1)
Clarke has come to the wicket now, rather than promoting Faulkner or Haddin. Right move, if he’s going to play then he should play. He pulls a single first ball and is off and racing. Big Shane Watson, the Human Plinth, faces off against Yadav. Short balls expected? Yadav double-bluffs by pitching up, twice, Watson pushing into the covers for no result. A wide and Clarke’s single are the only runs from the over.
Says our man on the ground Ben Doherty, “Three wickets have livened up the Brewongle Stand. Going bonkers now, it’s a roiling sea of tricolour flags. An attempt by a few Australians to get a wave going was immediately smothered by a bellicose ‘India Zindabad’ chant.”
If they’re so keen on it, shouldn’t it be India ZindaGOOD?
I’m here all week...
WICKET! Finch 81 (116 balls), c Dhawan b Yadav
Two big strikes for Team India, the set batsmen are gone. Finch gets cramped by Yadav’s faster short ball, better bowling there, he doesn’t seem sure what kind of shot he’s trying to play and he ends up spooning it away to mid-on.
Updated
38th over: Australia 233-3 (Finch 81, Maxwell 23)
Shane Watson comes in to bat, and Michael Clarke’s practice of bumping himself down the order continues. It just doesn’t sit right - he’s taken George Bailey’s place in the team, but Bailey would be right at home coming in anywhere in the order. Two runs from the Ashwin over.
WICKET! Maxwell 23 (14 balls), c Rahane b Ashwin
That’s the one they need more than any! Dhoni had a couple of overs of Ashwin up his sleeve, he went back to spin and it has worked. Ashwin bowled on middle, turning to leg, and Maxwell down on one knee made good contact with this slog sweep, he might have six on some grounds but the catch was taken just inside the rope at deep backward square.
Updated
37th over: Australia 231-2 (Finch 79, Maxwell 23)
Yet another big appeal against Finch, again slightly missing, this time down leg. And again Finch nearly causes a run out, this time his own, as he hesitates in going for the leg bye that was available. The throw at the stumps from cover misses, and it would probably have caught him an inch short.
Four! But forget Finch, it’s Maxwell Time. Maxwell Ball. This is Maxwell House. Why do they keep bowling short? He pulls, in the air, between fine leg and deep backward for four. Then smashes six over midwicket from another ball that wasn’t short enough.
Then four more straight, a real swat there, clearing the front leg to bludgeon a fuller ball just over Yadav’s head to the straight boundary. Had it not been travelling so quickly Yadav might have had a chance at getting a hand to it, but as it is that might have cost him a finger.
15 from that over, Australia are flying.
Here’s an interesting one from Sam Roggeveen. Any Indian readers who can shed light on this, please write in. It’s referring to Ian’s first email of the day.
“Just saw the email from Ian Forth about the Melbourne back pages being filled with footy rather than cricket. I returned from my first ever trip to India last week, and was surprised at how modest the press coverage of the ICC World Cup was. I was told that the Times of India, the country’s largest paper and maybe the world’s biggest by circulation, had sent only one correspondent to Australia. And over my nine-day visit, what did I see most often on the back page of the major English-language papers? The EPL, not the ICC World Cup.”
36th over: Australia 216-2 (Finch 79, Maxwell 9)
That’s it, he’s faced four balls, Sensible Maxi Time is over. Glenn is facing Mo Shami and backs away, trying to slew a short ball somewhere or other with the cross-batted swipe, and top edges to third man for two runs.
Single to third man, then four as Finch leg-glances fine.
Asks Ian Forth, following my lead, “Should Finch use Australia’s appeal against himself, given the opportunity?” But Ian and I will need to have patience, Finch is slowly making up ground. Dangerously. Unconvincingly. Dodgily. But making it.
To wit, he insists on a single after a misfield at midwicket that nearly sees Maxwell run out, then Maxwell pulls in the air to reach backward square on the bounce. 10 runs from it.
Danger zone.
35th over: Australia 206-2 (Finch 73, Maxwell 5)
What the crowd wants, the crowd gets. Glenn Maxwell, the Jolly Good Show, comes to the wicket. Yadav dishes up a couple of wides to Finch, as the batsmen have crossed. Then a leg bye. Maxwell spoke in an interview a couple of days ago about having learned to take five or six balls to play himself in. So conservative these days.
Four! No need though, as Yadav dishes up a leg-stump pie and Maxwell just has to turn it away fine of the fine leg fieldsman.
Then a third wide, Yadav can’t get his line right at his pace. India need him. Good full ball next up, 143 km/h, and Maxwell wants the Red Bull Run to cover but Finch politely informs him that his plan is ill conceived. Maxwell chops into the ground to point. Then cuts to point. Then takes a single to finally finish off the over.
As far as Venn Diagrams go, Penny Sheehan has done some fine detective work to dig up this.
If you love cricket or reggae check 'Fire in Babylon'. Amazing film.
— Hilltop Hoods (@hilltophoods) June 16, 2011
WICKET! Smith 105 (93 balls), c Rohit b Yadav
Smith may be confident, but he’s still out. Finally a short ball works, but this one was delivered by Umesh Yadav, who can send them down with more intent. It was a proper bouncer, Smith hooked, a steepling top edge flew up to high-five the sun, then descended like Icarus to crash into the palms of Rohit Sharma. The wine-dark Aegean swallows Smith whole, but he’s done enough soaring for one day.
Updated
34th over: Australia 197-1 (Finch 73, Smith 105)
“Does Finch need to start swinging his bat now?” asks Jonathan Siu. “If it comes off, he gets runs, and if not, well, someone in better form might?”
He’s listening.
Six from Mohit Sharma, uppercut over point. Absolute wallop. This is reminding me of Zaheer Khan in 2003, just bowling short without any real menace behind it or any real thought.
Single. Four to Smith, straight down the ground, a sort of slapped drive. Single.
Four! Finch is responding now, as he plays the ramp shot over fine leg. Getting the spinners back on! That over has just gone for 16, that’s 30 from the last two. India are leaking.
A thought from Brendan Jones. “I’ll put a slightly controversial proposition out there – New Zealand have already played their World Cup final. As well as they have played in this tournament, I think they peaked on Tuesday, and I can’t see them doing it all over again on Sunday on the expanses of the MCG. Whoever wins today will be supremely confident.”
Smith certainly is.
CENTURY! Smith 100 (89 balls), 10 fours, 2 sixes
33rd over: Australia 181-1 (Finch 62, Smith 100)
It’s been a while, but Shami is back on to bowl.
Four! All timing, a little leg glance and that streaks away to fine leg.
Six! What a shot there. Just enough room to get under it, and Smith cleared the front leg and lofted that over midwicket and over the rope.
Four! Short from Shami, not short enough, and Smith pulls away behind square to raise his century. What a performance, and what a stage to do it on. John Farnham’s voice rings around the SCG. “We’re not gonna sit in silence” could be a clarion call to the outnumbered Australian fans. Smith has certainly found voice, hitting all the right notes. 14 from the over.
To match the good mood AND tie in with retro Australian hip-hop, here’s a cheery favourite. Resin Dogs and Good Buddha collaborating from the days before digital cameras. “Get ready for the take off,” says the song. Sound advice for all of us watching Mr Smith.
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32nd over: Australia 167-1 (Finch 62, Smith 86)
Finch is getting desperate. Dhoni is happy to keep Ashwin going, and Finch can’t get him away. After the batsmen trade singles, Finch pulls out a reverse sweep for two, not hit cleanly. Then he tries again, misses completely, and survives yet another huge appeal. Then he backs away, exposes his stumps and once more is lucky to make contact, slamming the ball away to cover for no run.
Six from the over, but plenty of luck to get them. You feel like the best thing for Australia would be Finch getting out in the next few overs and Maxwell coming.
31st over: Australia 161-1 (Finch 57, Smith 85)
Four! Mohit smacked straight down the ground by Smith. The in-form Aussie nicks a single. Finch, as has been the case all day, doesn’t find it so easy. Dot, dot, then he’s nailed on the pad for yet another massive appeal. Again, this one was probably just going over the top. He finally gets a run to finish the over.
30th over: Australia 155-1 (Finch 56, Smith 80)
Ashwin is having a blinder. Seven overs for 26 runs. Two singles from this over, but again he ties down Finch for delivery after delivery. Presumably the Australians are happy to target the others.
29th over: Australia 153-1 (Finch 55, Smith 79)
Mohit Sharma returns and pace almost does the trick, beating Smith’s attempted forcing shot and zipping through to the keeper. Smith picks up a couple through cover, then there’s a chip to midwicket for one that didn’t look entirely controlled. Some adjustment after all those overs of spin. Finch gets a single, Smith pulls two. Good Lord, he’s almost in the reckoning for a century now.
On other tunes, Daniel McDonald writes in: “Over the PA in the NZ/SA game I heard Powderfinger’s ‘Passenger’, REM’s ‘Everybody Hurts’, and Joy Division’s ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’. Was this a pre-emptive playlist of miserable melodies to match South Africa’s expected mood?? And everybody praised them for playing fair...”
28th over: Australia 147-1 (Finch 54, Smith 74)
Ashwin continues to keep the lid on, four runs from the over, knocked away exclusively to the leg-side with the spin.
Some gold in from Ben Dohety, panning furiously.
“Two enterprising fellows behind have brought pieces of paper on which to write their thoughts on the match. One’s written in capital letters on his piece of paper: ‘Pick up ur game India, we paid too much for these tickets.’”
“The guy next to him has drawn a big arrow pointing to his mate. His sign says: ‘They’re free!’”
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27th over: Australia 143-1 (Finch 51, Smith 73)
Half century for Finch. 50 from 82 balls, five boundaries. Not his usual style but he’s providing valuable support. Singles flowing.
Four! Gorgeous, Steve Smith. That shot had spent an hour in hair and make-up before it came on the show. Spud skips down the pitch like a merry spring lamb, gets to the pitch of Jadeja’s offering, and sweetly lifts it out to deep midwicket on the bounce.
26th over: Australia 135-1 (Finch 49, Smith 67)
As well as Smith is playing, Ashwin is a good enough bowler to keep him quiet at times. Two defensive strokes, then Smith drives into the stumps at the non-striker’s end via Ashwin’s hand. There’s a replay, but Finch is in his ground. Smith eventually gets off strike, and Finch swings two runs away behind square.
I didn’t necessarily intend to turn this into a forum on cricket / Aussie hip-hop, but if you think the Hilltops Hoods can’t write, I tender you these three lines.
“I’m unstable like a cradle bridge - so don’t cross me.”
“My foot’s always in my mouth, I just can’t stomach defeat.”
“I lose it every time I put it down, like car keys.”
Ok, maybe I just like puns. Or puns to a beat.
25th over: Australia 132-1 (Finch 47, Smith 66)
Big appeal for a bat-pad catch against Finch, declined. He takes a single.
Six! As Smith leans back and crashes Jadeja over deep midwicket! He’s in fearsome touch today. Beware, beware, tie flowers in your hair.
Says Phil Withall, “You’re a brave man introducing Aussie hip hop into the mix (pun possibly not intended). A more divisive genre of Australia’s musical canon I am yet to find. For some reason a lot of people don’t like it, almost purely because it’s Australian and therefore doesn’t ‘keep it real’. I tend to disagree with them, even as an ageing lover of punk, I see it’s merits, and actually own a couple of Hilltop Hoods cds.”
Ageing punks are probably my favourite punks.
24th over: Australia 124-1 (Finch 46, Smith 59)
Ravi Ashwin to Hat Smith. Doesn’t he look comfortable? He and Michael Clarke loved Sri Lanka’s spinners at this ground a couple of weeks ago. Three runs on the cover drive, then they work three of singles. Smith is El Confidente.
95, 62, 75 and 59* in his last four games.
23rd over: Australia 118-1 (Finch 44, Smith 55)
Jadeja is rushing through his overs. A single apiece to the batsmen, then there’s a massive appeal as Jadeja strikes Finch on the pad while the batsman tries to sweep.
India review! A long conference between five players, then they go upstairs.
And that’s as tight as it can be. The ball misses the edge, it’s hitting middle stump cleanly, but the impact on the pad was umpire’s call as to whether it struck him outside the line.
I don’t get that rule, I really don’t. It’s going on to hit the stumps - it’s just out. Wake me when we scrap this rubbish about where it pitches or hits the pad.
22nd over: Australia 114-1 (Finch 42, Smith 53)
Finch pays back a litte of the credit extended to him, swatting Ashwin’s short ball through point for four. Then he works a ball behind square, and energetic running from both batsmen turns this into two runs. A single to finish the over, Finch is up by seven.
21st over: Australia 107-1 (Finch 35, Smith 53)
Smith takes a single first ball, and I hate to say this but Finch is really soaking up strike and momentum. He’s the Fun Sponge in the dinner party of the Australian innings. 35 from 63 at the end of that over, as he can only take a single from the last ball. He owes the team a few.
20th over: Australia 105-1 (Finch 34, Smith 52)
Ripping through the overs with two spinners. Smith is batting in his cap. Ashwin beats Finch a couple of times, the second yielding three leg byes down the leg side. Add two runs from the bat, in singles, both to Smith.
19th over: Australia 100-1 (Finch 34, Smith 50)
Ravindra Jadeja, the man who looks like he should be pillaging galleons or otherwise engaged in the buckling of swash, settles into his spell as well. Only two singles from the over. Not bad, Moustachio.
The Australian hundred comes up, and Smith now has exactly half of those. 53 balls, six boundaries.
18th over: Australia 98-1 (Finch 33, Smith 49)
Ravi Ashwin is on, and immediately settles into a testing line for Finch. Ashwin dots him up for a while, then once Finch gets off strike with a single to long on, Ashwin draws a thick inside edge from Smith’s attempted drive, and it deflects past the stumps to the fielder behind square.
Knew I’d find one. Here’s Andrew James.
“Hip hop Guardian reader checking in. Yes, in the venn diagram of life there is crossover between cricket and hip hop, albeit small. And on the subject of the birth of Oz hip hop - I hate to say it but a little formative group known as Sound Unlimited Posse may disagree with your Nosebleed Section props. Hilltop Hoods must wish they came up with a better rhyming couplet than Cosby Sweater, am I right?”
But of course - there were many prior and formative acts. But the Hoods’ album The Calling marks the point where Aus hip-hop crossed into mainstream consciousness and became a viable genre rather than a purist niche.
17th over: Australia 96-1 (Finch 32, Smith 48)
Mohit, hydrated and refreshed, bowls to Smith. Smith runs hard to make one run into two as he steers the ball to third man. Then a single through square. Finch, blocky and stocky, takes his guard. The sun shines on. Goddamn it’s a nice day. Finch thinks so too, as he gets a rank wide short ball and bludgeons the cut shot for four.
Too easy, cobber.
Matt Harris is always there to expose my secrets. “As a fellow member of the Kumar Sangakkara Man-Crush Society, I hope you’re going to fly the flag for Sanga.”
Sanga has to be in the top couple of candidates. It’s not his fault that literally none of his teammates supported him - if they had, he’d have made a decent score in that quarter-final, and making it to the semis would have made him a lock for the position.
But I think in a batsman-dominated tournament we have to pay due credit to Messrs Boult, Starc and Vettori - the latter hasn’t been quite as lethal with the ball but has also won two games for his side with the bat.
Updated
16th over: Australia 89-1 (Finch 28, Smith 45)
Smith drives a single to cover. Jaddu bowls very wide the next ball, and even the most out-of-form Aaron Finch will destroy you there. Slapped through mid-on, dragged away for four runs. A couple of singles make it seven from the over. How easy is that?
That’s the drinks break.
Ben Doherty punches in a lunar update. “The value of Warner’s wicket was apparent in the reaction of the Indian fans in the Brewongle (about 85 per cent of its population). The whole stand erupted as soon as the leading edge left his bat, and went crazy when he was caught. In other news, the moon is out above the SCG, a waxing crescent those nearby assure. Perhaps offering some late swing?”
15th over: Australia 82-1 (Finch 23, Smith 43)
They’re settling in now, ticking over the singles against Mohit Sharma. Still a lot of balls short of a length, but not threateningly. It’s almost obscene how easily Smith pushes singles off the back foot through cover. The run rate is 5.5.
Harking back to The Nosebleed Section, here’s the song that marked Australian hip-hop’s coming of age. I’m sure there are plenty of Oz hip-hop fans on the Guardian. Right? Right?
14th over: Australia 77-1 (Finch 21, Smith 40)
Jadeja is on, Dhoni holding back Ashwin. They’ll want some Powerplay overs from him. Finch gets a risky single as he backs away, cuts a ball off his stumps, and strikes it in the air just past point. Not high-percentage strokeplay for one run. Smith and Finch trade singles, then Smith whips three more through midwicket, such a productive region for him with that grip of his angling his bat to the on-side.
Six from the over, and in no time Smith is threatening a half century.
Ben Doherty has put together a piece on the fan atmosphere at the ground. The stands are filled to the back, only a handful of empty seats scattered throughout.
Were the Swami Army a real army, their conquest of Driver Avenue would be complete, and the tri-colour would be waving over the Brewongle stand.
The SCG has been washed blue for the evening. And it has been a noisy annexation.
Live Cricket World Cup 2015: Australia v India semi-final – live!Over-by-over report: Australia and India face off in Sydney with a place in the final at stake. Join Geoff LemonRead more
Hours before the game begins, rapturous cheers erupt from the stadium just for 11 Indian men going for a lazy jog across the turf to warm up.
“This is going to be like a home game for us,” Ganesh Jaygan, bedecked in a blue Team India shirt, says in a broad Australian accent, momentarily confusing your correspondent.
India, he clarifies, is his team. “It’s where your heart goes, that’s who you have to support. It doesn’t matter your citizenship, it’s where your heart goes.”
13th over: Australia 71-1 (Finch 19, Smith 36)
Four! India need to give away the tentative short balls. Finch creams this one from Mohit on the pull shot. Takes a single, gets off strike. He’s battled through and is building. Strike rate of barely 50. Not his usual role but perhaps with Warner gone he’s rethought things. Smith takes a single, Finch is tied down for the remaining three balls, only a leg bye from the last of the over.
12th over: Australia 64-1 (Finch 14, Smith 35)
What devilry is this? Virat Kohli is on to bowl the 12th over. About as fearsome as AB de Villiers. He bowls club meds off a few steps. The first couple are pretty good, struck to the off-side field for dots. Finch knocks a single down the ground, Smith cracks a short ball for four, beating the midwicket dive. A couple more singles and it’s seven from the over.
Peter Leybourne emails in to ask for nominations for Player of the Tournament.
“McCullum is my pick. One miss amongt an awful lot of boundaries.Boult? Rohit? Starc? Maxwell - for sheer unorthodoxy?”
11th over: Australia 57-1 (Finch 12, Smith 30)
Dhoni stands calmly behind the stumps with his hands behind his back, having instructed Mohit Sharma to come on for Shami. Mohit gets some respect from Smith after a Finch single, with a couple of balls to wait and watch this paceman that Australia didn’t face during the Test series. Mohit even tries a slower ball at 104 km/h. Five dots to Smith, good start, though Smith has shown how quickly he can catch up.
10th over: Australia 56-1 (Finch 11, Smith 30)
Yadav continues...
Four! Short, smacked through the covers.
Four! Short and a bit wide but Smith still goes leg-side, getting this through midwicket on the pull.
Four! Shortish, into the ribs, but Smith is so quick to swivel on this and he hits it perfectly cleanly along the ground through square. There was a square leg in place but he had no chance to stop that.
Four! And again. Same ball, same shot, a touch finer.
The dam breaks, the pressure dissipates, the memories of earlier this summer come flodding abck for India. Smith, 16 from the over, telling India that if they want to bowl short, they’re very welcome.
9th over: Australia 40-1 (Finch 11, Smith 14)
Shami keeps it tight - two singles from the over. Finch’s skewed off the bat as he was in two minds about whether to hook a bouncer. Smith’s was controlled through midwicket. Once again Smith looks to be facing different bowlers on a different pitch, but he’s remaining cautious against Shami.
I like this enthusiasm.
@GeoffLemonSport reading live commentary instead of going to bed in Boston, MA. Don't even really understand cricket.
— Alex Toumar (@AlexToumar) March 26, 2015
8th over: Australia 38-1 (Finch 10, Smith 13)
Yadav is turning up the heat. Smith gets a single through cover, but didn’t look confident in the shot. Finch edges along the ground to point. Yadav is approaching 150 kilometres per hour in this spell. Short run, muscular, shoulder-led action and he’s ripping them down. Shortish mostly, the batsmen take a single apiece from a glance and a pull, but both shots were hurried. They make it through the over though, which is the main thing.
7th over: Australia 34-1 (Finch 8, Smith 11)
This batting pair are just keeping their heads down at the moment, there’s some tight bowling going on. A wide and a single from a short ball is all that Shami concedes from the over, as he has Smith defending and leaving a range of good deliveries.
6th over: Australia 32-1 (Finch 8, Smith 10)
Yadav has another hearty lbw appeal, this time against Smith, that again was probably going over. Smith edges a run. Plenty in this for the bowlers right now but they need one of these fractional chances to become a fully fledged one. Finch nearly edges a full ball through to the keeper, then miscues a pull along the ground to mid-on. Dicey.
Our reporter Ben Doherty is on site, and getting deep into the action around the ground.
“The man who paints himself and (now that the Little Master has retired) with the words: ‘Miss U Tendulkar’ is here, as ever, right against the fence. His warm-up was to wave a massive tricolour above his head for an hour-and-a-half before the match. Sitting next to him is a kid in an Australian team shirt who, sadly, might not see much cricket past that flag.”
There’s an interesting profile on that guy on Wisden India, by Anand Vasu. Worth a read.
5th over: Australia 31-1 (Finch 8, Smith 9)
Four! Finch’s first true shot of the day, as Shami pitches up searching for movement and Finch drives dead straight past the stumps. Then he whips two, a meaty leg glance fine of fine leg. I’ve never seen a batsman clobber a leg glance before but Finch has somehow managed it.
Shami pushes off the paint at the edge of the fielding circle. Finch drives edgily for a single. Smith twitches, walks to square leg, taps his pads, brushes his nose, texts his Mum to see whether he left the over on, and whips three runs through midwicket with maximum economy and minimum fuss.
The Nosebleed Section by Hilltop Hoods comes on the PA. Choon.
“I work next door to the SCG, making the next Lego movie,” says Matt Everitt. “It’s almost impossible to get into our building due to the huge number of Indian fans - Outnumbering the Aussies by about 100-1. Go India!”
I’m guessing Matt’s a Kiwi.
4th over: Australia 21-1 (Finch 1, Smith 6)
Here’s the key contest of the day. India’s tormentor this summer, Steven ‘Spud’ Smith, walks to the crease. All eyes on him.
He tap, tap, taps, drives two through gully, then drives four through a misfielding Kohli at mid-off. Yadav gets shorter, attacks the ribs. Punch, counterpunch. Lull. Breathe.
Two slips, leg slip. Backward point, mid-off, mid-on, midwicket. Third man, fine leg.
WICKET! Warner 12 (7 balls), c Kohli b Yadav
There’s the breakthrough. Yadav bowled a little short at the body, Warner tried to turn it away to the leg-side, he was through the shot a little early and gets a leading edge that balloons to mid-on. Kohli is into the game , he’ll relish that.
Updated
3rd over: Australia 15-0 (Finch 1, Warner 12)
Finch is all at sea against Shami to start. A swipe at a ball that he nearly edges down leg side. A booming drive that he nearly nicks and that equally nearly bowls him. A massive shout for lbw that is turned down, no review, perhaps a touch high. A hugely wide ball, full outside off, that Finch tries to cover-drive and somehow inside-edges to square leg. Yep.
The only score from the over is the wide. Finch could have been out four times.
2nd over: Australia 14-0 (Finch 1, Warner 12)
Shot from Warner - Yadav’s first ball is overpitched and Warner caresses the straight drive, perfect timing that sees it streak down the ground for four.
Warner taps a single. Finch defends a couple, then gets a big edge wide of the slips down to third man for one. Probably a fourth slip line.
Six! Last ball of the over, Finch is looking shaky so Warner wants to take the power back. That was a true swing of the bat across the line of a not-very-short ball, that sort of pick-up shot that Warner plays so well, and the ball soars over deep midwicket to just clear the rope.
We're underway!
1st over: Australia 2-0 (Finch 0, Warner 1)
Massive cheers as the first ball is bowled, and Mohammed Shami is right on the mark as he has been all tournament. Finch plays and misses as it seams away - cheer. Finch defends the next - cheer. Finch misses the third, survives an lbw appeal as it’s sliding down leg, takes a leg bye - cheer, cheer, cheer. Warner plays and misses, then gets a single into the covers, and Finch can’t do anything but defend the last ball.
Ian Forth emails with the subject line “Dutch elm disease blithe confidence”, which wins him many points because it’s a reference to my article this morning about the various shades of perfection that these two teams have shown. Ruthless self-promotion is what this blog is about.
Says Ian, “Lead articles on the back page of [Melbourne newspaper] this morning - the morning of a World Cup semi final featuring Australia, taking place in Australia? An argument over AFL broadcast negotiations. And “Jobe Watson on the Bombers’ purgatory”. I’m not sure Australia deserve to win this match for all the interest they’re taking in it.”
Oh man. There is some serious Chariots of Fire bizzo going on here. Massive dramatic music over the loudspeakers, shades of some sort of Soviet rally. Kiddies with massive flags - when does that ever get old - have come out onto the ground, one flag for each of the competing nations. The Aussie and Indian flags are brought out of the circle as the two teams emerge and line up facing the Members side of the ground, with the flags positioned behind them. Even the press pack stand for the anthems. Am I supposed to stand and type? This is awkward, chiropractically and patriotically.
Updated
You, like Chris, can send me an email, or a message on Twitter. Do it. Live a little.
“Not front row in the concourse I hope, Geoff?” asks Chris Martin. “The air con in the press box too chilly for you?”
Yes, I’m signalling the OBO up to someone in the box with an elaborate system of flags and mirrors. Expect the security and corruption officials to keep a close eye on me. Apparently they gave one fan a thorough grilling at an earlier match for tweeting too much.
Updated
Unchanged teams for both sides
Australia
Finch
Warner
Smith
Clarke*
Watson
Maxwell
Faulkner
Haddin†
Johnson
Starc
Hazlewood
India
Dhawan
R Sharma
Kohli
Rahane
Raina
Dhoni*†
Jadeja
Ashwin
Shami
M Sharma
Yadav
The World Cup song comes on. I may be the only person in the world to say this, but I’m not sick of it yet. I only wish they’d play more than that 20-second clip.
Dance. Floor. Banger.
Australia win the toss and will bat
Michael Clarke calls correctly at the toss. Batting first is Australia’s preferred method. MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli are the world’s pre-eminent exponents of the ODI chase. Should Australia make anything under 300, you’d think India are well in the frame. Australia need another massive first innings, employing the kind of strokeplay that has seen Glenn Maxwell average a strike rate of nearly 190 across the tournament.
Walking into the ground today was a surreal experience. Even a couple of hours ago, before most of the gates had opened, the Sydney Cricket Ground was surrounded by Indian fans. Blue shirts up and down the length of the concourses, brass bands, flags and banners, a riot, a cacophony of colour and sounds. Glimpses of Aussie gold (and don’t you forget it) were few and far between, though below me now in the stands there are a few more splashes of the home colour to be seen. Home colour, but it’s almost an away game in Sydney for Australia.
Updated
Hello world! Geoff Lemon here from a front-row seat at the SCG on a flawless late autumn day, and let me say without any hint of hyperbole that the atmosphere is, as suspected, electric.
Geoff will be in his seat at the SCG shortly, ready to bring you regular updates on the second semi-final, but before he arrives, have a read of his match preview.
A certain blithe confidence has infested Australian punditry, spreading through the chatter like some conversational Dutch elm disease. Since the first semi-final came to its blazing conclusion there have been casual references to an Australia-New Zealand final, with little concession that a team as quietly effective as India still stand in the way.
Read the full story here.
