Key events
16th over: Australia 31-0 (Khawaja 21, McSweeney 4). It’s Akash’s birthday, but Nathan McSweeney gets all the presents. Six dots into the pot, but none of them made the ram play. India were folding and McSweeney, already a heavy stone mason, was not going to let his hand fall if he didn’t have it.
15th over: Australia 31-0 (Khawaja 21, McSweeney 4). He ran away first! And it’s a decent back foot through Khawaja’s swish covers. Two escapes. Bumrah was a tad short yesterday and starts day two in the same vein. No sign of movement of the seam or even further. Bumrah squares up to Khawaja in the next over – a good return from the live master who starts the seventh over with 0-10. A big shout in the third as Khawaja misses a straight one, but my line was audible. Perhaps Jasprit was just warming his tonsils. He finishes with a flourish, slamming it shut with two zingers. Game on!
14th over: Australia 29-0 (Khawaja 19, McSweeney 4). Today is Akash Deep’s birthday and he gets the four balls above to celebrate first. His first ball was wide. So is the other. Two spectators for McSweeney – what a gift for a shaker who starts the day with four of 33 deliveries and 11 runs. The fifth ball is no ball. It is the last license. So it ends up being over 22 hours to finish.
Here we go, folks…. buckle em up and fat down!
As the players prepare to take to the field under increasingly blue skies here at the Gabba, it’s great to hear Melbourne’s very own Hunters & Collectors (street name: “The Hunnarians”) providing the soundtrack for this summer’s cricket festival thali.
Brisbane is not the only Test cricket city dealing with the unpredictability of its weather patterns. England and New Zealand battle it out in the final Test of their series in sweltering heat and high winds. Here’s how Ali Martin saw day one in Hamilton.
With the series squared off at one all and the Trophy now down to the limit – a three-Test shot – both teams are eyeing a good prize spot in the World Test Cup, almost against the ladder leaders of the South. Africa
Yesterday’s rain gave us a lot of time to make changes if the weather intervenes in this match. As Martin Pegan saw:
India are most at risk of paying the price if the rains spoil this match with the two WTC runners-up at the time, so if they win all three remaining tests against Australia, they must simply qualify for the second final. If Australia regain the trophy for the first time since 2014-15 from Border-Gavaskar, they will almost certainly return to the final after beating India in the 2023 decider. Australia could still qualify for the final if the series against India is drawn 2-2, with two Tests to play in Sri Lanka early next year.
Our Geoff Lemon has plenty of time on day one to discuss where the fortunes of both teams are on the flip of a coin…
The beginning
Fontaine of Angus
Good morning cricket fans and welcome to today’s two live coverage of this third Test between Australia and India for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Angus Fontaine here is the first piece of the story (touch wood) before Jonathan Howcroft takes you to the logs.
First things first: it’s not raining at the Gabba. It is cloudy and windy. It is hot and humid. Hell, there are also a series of weak blue heads. But there is no rain. If all goes well, the games will resume this morning with action to get under just 9.50am local time (10.50am AEST).
Today’s forecast is the best week ahead. Things don’t look so bright on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Showers and thunderstorms are possible in the next few days, although no significant rainfall is expected, the bureau told us.
But let’s live today and be prepared that the umpires are at least 98 cricket umpires. Rain has condemned us to a measly 13.2 overs from India in one day, all in the first session, as 81 millimeters have been dumped on Brisbane in what the astrologers called a “rain bomb”.
That torrent has moved flooding across Queens and there are fears that the city could be devastated by floods like the record floods of 2022. to bowl and win the bowl on the green top of the Gabba.
Despite the incessant rain, the opening pair of Usman Khawaja (19 not out) and Nathan McSweeney (4 not out) kept the dust dry, forming the highest opening partnership of the series and going to lunch safe and sound with the scoreboard at 28. -0.
From the little we saw, India’s bowlers were a touch short, allowing three-Test rookie McSweeney to hang lent again after his excellent 39 in the second Test, as he left Jasprit Bumrah prudently and eked singles where he could.
Meanwhile, his normally dour senior partner Khawaja showed impressive concentration, laying back and delivering two of the most delightful shots we’ve come to expect from him. Australia fans will be hoping for more from this day two.