major events
16th over: Australia 58-4 (Smith 17, Webster 6) Webster scored four runs. This is 14 runs in three balls for Australia and the first boundary for Australia’s budding all-rounder. It goes slightly over his head in the next over when he intercepts and sets one through cover, but is swiftly sent back by Smith. Strath! Bumrah was caught viciously on his fifth ball. He starts on the fifth stump line and goes past the leg bail!
15th over: Australia 53-4 (Smith 17, Webster 1) Australia is struggling in Sydney. Smith again has the famous Krishna around his neck. This is Krishna’s third Test for India and so far he has taken only two wickets for 65 runs. But he is long, hungry and fast, sending them down at speeds of around 140 kmph. Smith doesn’t care. He leans back and casually pulls it for a SIX! Now he goes the other way, swings towards the final ball and lifts it over the offside ring for four runs. Smith now needs 21 runs to reach 10,000 Test runs.
14th over: Australia 43-4 (Smith 7, Webster 1) Webster shore! He went hard at Siraj and the ball took a slant off the cue tip and fell just short of third slip. to close! Now the big all-rounder from Snug blocks one through cover and makes a mark in Test cricket. Siraj’s ball swings more than Austin Powers. He beats Smith for four but Australia’s No. 4 takes revenge in the next, going down the ground for three.
13th over: Australia 39-4 (Smith 4, Webster 0) Australia dominates SCG! Beau Webster was out in the middle for his first Test innings. But the first new boy to attack is the famous Krishna Steve Smith. His first ball hit the pitch and went into Smith’s hands. That was bad! Smith, a little nervous, drops the rest.
Wicket! Head c Jaiswal b Siraj 4 (India 39-4)
The chief comes. Head hit a four on the first ball. Head sideways…head goes! What a brilliant over for Mohammed Sira and a reward for some excellent fast bowling. Head did what Head does, hit the most brilliant four off his toes on his very first ball. Siraj bowled the next wide and full. It bounced towards Head, who took a thick edge while defending and sent it to the slip circle, where Jaiswal, who dropped three catches in Melbourne, took his second catch in three balls!
Wicket! Constas c Jaiswal b Siraj 23 (Australia 35-3)
Constas show ends! Excellent bowling by Siraj. He pushed it wide and Konstas pounced on it, but the swing weakened him and it went to Jaiswal at gully, who took a sharp chance. Australian fans disappointed but India are ahead!
11th over: Australia 35-2 (Contas 23, Smith 4) Constas brings Bumrah down the ramp! It was just outside the middle and it flew over the slip and bounced twice before hitting the rope. The crowd roars. Kid Dynamite is away from here. Seeing him coming at number two, Bumrah made the ball wide. Kontas would not back down. He swipes at the third, getting hit in the ribs. Another bounce on fourth down but doesn’t connect, instead taking the top edge to the infield for a run. Smith steps up to the last and gets four byes at fine leg. An eventful over!
10th over: Australia 26-2 (Contas 18, Smith 4) Siraj has swung it! He got off Konstas late and drew an oooooh from the slip circle. Constas, standing tall with lips moving, watches two scrambled seam deliveries go by. He waits for the wide one and Siraj delivers at fifth, which glances to fine leg. Australia trail by 159.
9th over: Australia 25-2 (Contas 17, Smith 4) Kontas hits a four! We saw that shot in Melbourne, coming down towards Bumnerah and driving across the ground. He attacks the next one too, down the edge to fine leg.
8th over: Australia 16-2 (Constas 12, Smith 4) Steve Smith has arrived. He needed 38 runs to reach 10,000 Test runs and a quick single from Bumrah made it 37 runs. Now he reached Siraj and punched him on the ground for three. Fast start to Smudge! And it is sad for Siraj that he broke his finger while trying to stop that drive. Blood on the wicket. And now almost run-out! Constas cuts it off his hip and Smith moves forward but Constas sends him back. Smith had to spread out to make his ground. There would have been a direct attack on him. Konstas gets another run, swiping through the gully.
Wicket! Labuschagne c Pant b Bumrah 2 (Australia 15-2)
Tick, tick…Bumrah! He has done it again. Brilliant bowling from India’s No. 1 man and Marnus made his way back to the pavilion quickly. He was a ball of pearl that bit and picked up, kissing the edge along the way. Sure enough, Snicko looks immobile and Labuschagne is gone. Australia in early trouble on day two!
7th over: Australia 15-1 (Constance 11, Labuschagne 2) Bounce for Bumrah! Labuschagne has done well to keep it down. That’s undone by the next. Tremendous appeal but no finger was raised from the umpire. India seems quite confident and will send it up for review…
6th over: Australia 15-1 (Contas 11, Labuschagne 2) Constas is defeated! Brilliant outswinger by Siraj. This is a set-up for wobbly seam deliveries on middle and leg. Constas puts it out. The fourth ball is wide and wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant lands on the ball in his tumble to stop the bye. He can’t stop her! Konstas sent another swinging ball through cover for two runs.
5th over: Australia 11-1 (Contas 9, Labuschagne 2) Jasprit Bumrah has come here. Marnus Labuschagne on strike. He blocks the first and moves to the second, driving for two. Positive start for Marnus. Bumrah gave him the next edge. There is still a lot of bounce on the first day on this SCG pitch. Bumrah, who is in search of the 32nd wicket for the series, has a speed of 135 kilometers per hour.
Fourth over: Australia 11-1 (Contas 9, Labuschagne 0) Run from the first ball! Siraj strays towards the pads and Konstas clips him square for two runs. This will calm the nerves – if this child has any. Straight balls meet the bat straight on the next two. India are chirping this morning, no one more vocal than Virat Kohli at first slip. Constas, with an Elvis lip curl, stops one, leaves one. We are away!
The players are on the field and we are about to take the field. Australia’s Sam Constas will face India’s Mohammed Siraj from the Paddington end.
This is the 112th Test between these great cricketing nations. Australia has won 47, India 33 and 30 matches have been drawn. There has also been a tie and one of the heroes of that 1986 thriller was Dean Jones whose innings of 210 in the 45C heat of Madras/Chennai has gone down in history as one of the bravest ever.
Shannon Gill has this charming feature about Dino.
We had over 47,000 fans at the Sydney Cricket Ground yesterday and the queues are growing again today, especially with Sam Konsta promising to bat today.
I’m not sure India will share Australia’s love affair with Kogarah’s Sundance Kid. Be it batting like a boy in the backyard, frolicking on the field or playing in front of the crowd, the 19-year-old is getting under their skin as only a bullied teenage boy can.
Here’s how Constas started his innings yesterday. Stone on this child…
Please feel free to send me an email during the day’s play. There were some strong opinions arriving in inboxes yesterday from all four corners of the world about the validity of Steve Smith’s catch of Virat Kohli, the consistency of Rishabh Pant’s Hector Protector and whether Usman Khawaja’s stoppage in the last over or Sam Konstanz’s lip service was to blame. Were staying. Jasprit Bumrah got his back up and executed the jaffa that cost Australia its first wicket.
And when you’re online, Please donate to the McGrath Foundation In this pink test.
On the first day there was arm and leg wrestling which almost turned into a barroom brawl. Here’s how that dramatic last minute unfolded…
For those who came late, Geoff Lemmon looks at what the first day looked like…
Preface
Angus Fontaine
Hello cricket fans and welcome to Day 2 of the fifth and final Test between Australia and India in Sydney, where the skies are blue and the fish are jumping.
The first day was very painful. India’s batsmen got battered – and got better – on the spicy Sydney green-top. They scored 185 runs, no batsman could go beyond 40 and they suffered the same number of injuries. Australia’s bowlers were tireless, with Mitchell Starc taking three wickets in 18 overs and Pat Cummins taking two. The quiet hero was Scott Boland who took 4-31 from 20 brilliant overs with eight maidens.
As we’ve come to expect from both sides, there was plenty of drama and controversy. Boland caught Virat Kohli’s very first ball and Steve Smith took hold of the grippers and lofted it towards Marnus Labuschagne, causing a general uproar… only for the third umpire to realize that a blade of grass had hit the ball. Was touched.
The second flashpoint came in the final minutes of the day when Jasprit Bumrah lost his cool with Usman Khawaja at the striker’s end. Sam Konstas, who kept the crowd engaged throughout the day with two catches and over 2000 selfies, took a slight turn in Bumrah’s path in support of his partner and the two passed each other. The umpires found a stopper in the collision but the bear was injured. Bumrah duly attacked with a demon ball that took the edge off Khawaja and left Australia 9-1 at stumps.
We left it like that. How will it start today? Konstas is not out on seven runs and he takes the very first ball of Bumrah’s innings across the boundary. Today that boy has a big target on his head. Can he survive and thrive as he did at the MCG? Or will India, who need a win to clinch the series, regain momentum?
Press them down and lift them up. We will know at 10.30 am.