23:55
4th over: Australia 8-1 (Pulaski 1, Labuschagne 2) A great moment for Siraj, breaking the initial partnership and forcing the player on debut to adjust to a new partner and the loss of a senior presence. Here comes Marcus Labuschagne, and he is quickly wrong to look at two legs.
23:50
SHUTTER! Warner c Gujarat b Siraj 5
Alls that talk and Warner falls! Siraj moves the field to indicate that he is pitching straight, then accidentally I imagine very wide bowls. That ball starts out off the stump, but keeps going further. Warner has already committed to big momentum, but does not account for movement and only gets a thick lead on the third slip. Gone!
23:48
3rd half: Australia 6-0 (Pulaski 1, Warner 5) Once again, Pulaski faced most of the finale, still smooth against Burma after Warner dropped a cover single in his usual style.
Updated
23:48
2nd plus: Australia 5-0 (Pulaski 1, Warner 4) Mohammed Siraj with the new ball for his partner Burma and Warner gets to work immediately! Kick your back foot through the decks for two runs. That gets Siraj wrong about the pads and Warner takes a look at another run. Comfortable start for him. Siraj is also on the move. Pulaski gets his first test cricket run with a push to the legs.
23:38
1st half: Australia 0-0 (Pulaski 0, Warner 0) Will Pulaski manages to face the first installment and start his work from the beginning. Burma gets a false start to his career, then a rusty start with a very wide ball drifting away. He returns to the goal from that point on, letting Pulaski hit the ball on defense for the first time. There is a notably Burma swing. Pulaski defends a few with soft hands, then receives his first short ball and shapes to play but fails.
23:13
“Is this where the starters win the test?” asks John. It could almost be summed up that way. Warner’s return feels very important to Australia; in fact, I wrote about it yesterday. Surely Steve Smith will find some clues very soon? India has also had a shortage of races, and it was Rhine’s standout entries in Melbourne that prepared them to claim that Test.
23:08
Teams
We already had the India team last night, and Australia is going as expected – leaving Travis Head to move Matthew Wade down and bringing in a new opening partnership. “He hasn’t done much wrong Heady, we just changed our team’s balance with an off-roader, so he’s out of luck,” says Paine.
Australia
David warner
Will Pulaski (debut)
Marcus Labuschagne
Steve Smith
Matthew wade
Cameron green
Tim Paine * +
Patrick Cummins
Mitchell starc
Nathan Lyon
Josh Hollywood
India
Rohit sharma
Shubman gill
Cheteshwar Gujarat
Ajinkya rahane
Hanuma Vicar *
Richard Pants +
Ravindra Jadeja
Ravichandran ashwin
Navdeep Saini (debut)
Esprit bumrah
Mohammed Sir
Updated
23:02
Australia won the toss and hit
The coin lands again for Tim Paine. He did it in Melbourne and that didn’t help, with India winning the home team for 195, but Australia has another chance here.
22:57
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22:50
Preamble
A new day dawns and a new test is approaching. This is one that is attracting more attention than most, and not just for the sake of cricket. Much political argument about whether it should take place in Sydney and whether a hearing should be allowed. The Australian Medical Association thinks no, the New South Wales government says yes, for those who keep score. The problem is the recent spread of the coronavirus in Sydney. For those in places like the UK or US, the numbers in Australia will seem small, but as we often see more optimistically in the sport, humble beginnings can lead to things of greater magnitude.
The deal in practical terms is that the SCG is limited to a quarter capacity, which I think means 10,000 people max. Whether 10,000 people will still show up is another question. The MCG had a maximum of 30,000 on Boxing Day and did not reach it.
On the cricket side of the equation, we have a series leveled at 1-1 with two games to play. We have an Australian team desperate to stay on the hunt for a trophy after being crushed in Melbourne, and an Indian team feeling surprisingly good after the total 36 debacles in Adelaide not long ago. Two big names are back at the top of the order: David Warner and Rohit Sharma. But this is not Hyderabad v Mumbai in Abu Dhabi. Both have returned from an injury in a test match and need to deliver immediately. Two years ago India made over 600 here and forced Australia to keep going, but stopped winning because of the rain. This time … we’re about to find out.
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