Key events
Cameron Green is back. Boland was the last fully fit batter left. The risk of exacerbating Green’s injury, index finger of his right hand, seems high. I wonder if he’s here to swing hard for a short time, or whether they want longer support for Carey playing well.
WICKET! Lyon c Zondo b Ngidi 25, Australia 440-7
101st over: Australia 440-7 (Carey 31) Double change, Lungi Ngidi from the Shane Warne Stand end. His first ball smacks into Lyon’s pad via the edge. His second is a half volley, whacked down the ground by Lyon for three. Getting off the strike and scoring plenty: the perfect lower-order shot. Carey is happy to take singles thought and give it back. Lyon responds with a textbook drive through extra cover for four, then pulls the last ball of the over but finds midwicket to end an entertaining stay.
100th over: Australia 432-6 (Carey 30, Lyon 18) The ton of overs up for South Africa, a milestone they don’t want. Rabada and Maharaj have already raised their hundreds of runs conceded. Marco Jansen comes on to give Nortje a rest, left-arm over the wicket from the MCC end. A plastic bag drifts across the pitch, American Beauty style. Nobody appreciates its mundane majesty as they chase it around. Jansen is aiming in at the pads, Carey is knocking it leg side but not scoring. Finally does score from width, way too short, poor bowling and it’s uppercut for four.
99th over: Australia 428-6 (Carey 26, Lyon 18) Nathan Lyon’s highest Test score is against South Africa, that 47 that he slapped in Cape Town before being caught at cover going for the half-century. Well, perhaps he’s on for it today. Chips a couple of runs to leg from Rabada, misses a huge swing across the line, then picks up a pull shot from outside leg stump and lifts it for six! Same shot that he kept playing to Mark Wood last summer for the same result. I can’t remember ever seing him hit a pull in front of square, but he hits them behind square just fine.
98th over: Australia 420-6 (Carey 26, Lyon 10) Carey lights one up! On to 420 as he lays into Nortje. That ball wasn’t full but Carey swats it off a length, down the ground for four.
Andrew Benton is of a similar mind to me in his email. “Nortje’s got a brilliant 19th century moustache, don’t you think? Probably even better in black and white.” He also asks about Ben Stokes saying that there are too many internationals.
I don’t think it’s as straightforward as that. Most countries, remember, play very few. Emerging countries have sparse schedules because they can’t afford to host series, and certainly long-form cricket. So the big few countries play a lot and the rest don’t. If only there were some form of equalisation from a communal central body… no, that could never happen.
The English players have really banged on about that ODI series against Australia after the T20 Cup. But those were the only three ODIs in the whole Australian season from October to March. Is that too much cricket just because they didn’t want to play it? Not convinced. What would be better to shift, and what England have done lately, is having a bigger group of players to draw from rather than the same 15 or so all the time.
97th over: Australia 416-6 (Carey 22, Lyon 10) Pull shot for Carey, only one run, but that gives Lyon the chance to unfurl a quality flick off the pads for four. Follows up with two runs past the bowler. “I can’t bat,” is one of his go-to lines in press conferences. It’s not quite that straightforward.
96th over: Australia 409-6 (Carey 21, Lyon 4) Nortje with a shot at tailenders, if he can get Carey off strike. He nearly gets him out, Carey pushing at a line outside off stump. Good seam position and movement away from the lefty. He has bowled so well in trying conditions. Very upright run to the crease, knees high like a one-man cavalry, very 1800s moustache, then launches into his delivery stride with such power. Thrust and riposte, after five balls, as Carey leans back and thrashes four through the covers. Then takes a single off his toes to keep the strike. Quality batting.
95th over: Australia 404-6 (Carey 16, Lyon 4) Almost another for South Africa! Nathan Lyon pokes at Rabada and nicks him over the slips for four. It’s all happening at the MCG, says Bill Lawry somewhere.
WICKET! Cummins c Verreyne b Rabada 0, Australia 400-6
Another one! I don’t know about that one. Cummins prods, big appeal, not out. The visitors review it. The sound wave graph has a tiny burble when the ball is vaguely near the bat. So that’s enough to overturn the on-field call. Maybe it was a touch, maybe it was anything else to do with the batter’s movement. I still argue that the sound engineers running the tech should have some input into how sound waves are read, rather than leaving it to umpires. Different sounds have different sound signatures, and bat on ball is pretty specific.
94th over: Australia 399-5 (Carey 15, Cummins 4) What an over. Last ball of it, Cummins reaches for width and steers it for four. Australia from three down to five down, which may well be seven down effectively.
Cummins survives the hat-trick ball! Gets behind it and defends it away.
Pat Cummins to the middle. No Green or Starc as yet.
WICKET! Warner b Nortje 200, Australia 395-5
And there goes David Warner! Nortje on a hat-trick! What is this match? Same method really, except that this ball is fuller. It swings in to the left-hander a bit. Too fast, first ball of the morning. He misses it, bringing the bat across. It smashes into his ankle rather than thigh pad, and again ricochets back onto the stumps! Nortje had no luck with deflections yesterday, but it’s two in two today.
And here comes David Warner…
Resuming on 200 not out.
WICKET! Head b Nortje 51, Australia 395-4
What a delivery! One ball after Head hooks him for two runs to pass 50 for the fourth time this summer, Nortje gets a ball to jag off the seam. He has switched ends from yesterday, he’s bowling from the Members’ End, and finds a spot on the pitch. It’s on a length, Head is playing towards the leg side, the ball jags in, smashes his front thigh, and goes back onto the stumps. Beaten after another fun innings.
93rd over: Australia 393-3 (Head 49, Carey 15) Two slips, gully, deep backward point for Rabada, but none of them stop Carey playing a back cut that goes fine of the sweeper for four. Quality shot.
92nd over: Australia 389-3 (Head 49, Carey 11) Nortje to start, as was the case yesterday, and he picks up where he left off after Carey nudges a loosener for one run. Nasty bouncer over Head’s back shoulder, squaring him up and making him duck. Head gets off strike, Carey plays off the back foot, eventually picking up a run Warner style by dropping it down into the leg side.
The players are out and we’re about to get under way.
The rain looks to have stopped. Stay tuned.
“Green has a small fracture to his right index finger,” says CA. Will bat if needed, though. That seems foolish. Won’t bowl. Will miss the Sydney Test and try to get back for the India Test tour starting in February.
Speaking of Nortje, here was his own injury incident yesterday, after the broadcaster’s annoying cable camera smashed into him at high pace.
Ok, news just in: Green’s finger is broken. He won’t bowl again in the match. Doubt he’ll be flying around in the gully either. Hope it gets better in time for his IPL payday. It shows you how tough Nortje was to face yesterday.
The injuries are going to be a big factor today. Mitch Starc was originally ruled unlikely to bowl in the third innings with a sore finger, but that was when Cam Green was there as back-up. Green’s injury from batting looked more troublesome than Starc’s – his whole knuckle on his main bowling finger was swollen and cut open after being hit by Nortje. So if he’s out, does Starc come back into calculations? Or do they both sit out and it all falls to Cummins, Boland, Lyon, with some Labuschagne or Smith? That could still be enough to see off this South African side, but the visitors might have a chance to exert pressure the other way for once. I would guess that given those injuries, Australia will bat for as long as possible, no declarations.
As for yesterday: David Warner, 100th Test, under pressure, tough conditions, 200 not out. That’s the main bit. For the details, here’s my match report.
Preamble
Hello from Melbourne, on the day after David Warner Day. The forecast says that it might rain today. I can go you one better and tell you that it is already raining today. How can that be, you ask? Was it not 37 degrees only yesterday? Well, yes, it was, but often a really hot spell in Melbourne causes clouds to gather and precipitates… precipitation. Today is a substantial cool change day though, because it will drop through the afternoon the the point where after play it will reach 15 degrees. 37 yesterday, 15 today. The radar suggests that the a singular band of rain will pass over Melbourne in the next hour or two, then we should be clear to resume. We’ll keep you updated.
