22nd over: Australia 48-3 (Labuschagne 14, Head 2) Less attacking field for Jadeja: slip, short leg, and a short cover about ten paces from the bat. Marnus hits the field with a couple of shots and can’t score. 21st over: Australia 48-3 (Labuschagne 14, Head 2) Labuschagne keeps trying to back away and cut Ashwin, and he misses another one that has the keeper interested. Watch out for a catch from that shot today. After another failed attempt he finally gets one sufficiently out of the middle, all the way to the long boundary in front of the Ponsford Stand. Too short from Ashwin. In these extraordinary times, the Guardian’s editorial independence has never been more important. Because no one sets our agenda, or edits our editor, we can keep delivering quality, trustworthy, fact-checked journalism each and every day. Free from commercial or political influence, we can report fearlessly on world events and challenge those in power. Your support protects the Guardian’s independence. We believe every one of us deserves equal access to accurate news and calm explanation. No matter how unpredictable the future feels, we will remain with you, delivering high quality news so we can all make critical decisions about our lives, health and security – based on fact, not fiction. Support the Guardian from as little as $1 – and it only takes a minute. Thank you. 20th over: Australia 43-3 (Labuschagne 9, Head 2) Before lunch on day one at the MCG and we’ve got spin at both ends. Jadeja’s left-arm ortho to complement Ashwin’s off spin. Get ready for some short posts. When these two bowled in tandem for most of four Tests in India in 2017, my keyboard was giving off smoke. Jadeja swarms Australia over there, he just bowls straight and waits for the pitch to create variation. It’ll be tougher work here, but he can still tie things up. Slips one down leg side that has Head at risk of a stumping. Just a single apiece from the over in the end. 19th over: Australia 41-3 (Labuschagne 8, Head 1) Ashwin will continue to Head, surrounded by the four close catchers. He makes Vihari pay at silly mid-off, driving hard and hitting the fielder who turns his back and takes the blow on the back of his thigh. Stops any run. Then there’s a big appeal for caught behind as Head prods, but misses, the ball turning past the edge and Rahane says no review. Head smothers the next ball. Ashwin around the wicket is varying the line and spin, turning some away and getting some straight at the pads. Head drives hard again but Jadeja at a deep-set mid-off won’t be beaten, diving across to keep the scoring to one. Another batsman off the mark. That just means he’ll have to face more spin, with Jadeja preparing to bowl. 18th over: Australia 40-3 (Labuschagne 8, Head 0) There’s a lot riding on Marnus now. The big scorer of last summer. Was out of sorts at Adelaide, but these are conditions far more suited to batting. If he can ride out this Bumrah-Ashwin double then life should get easier. He’s across his stumps to Bumrah, crouching, defending, intent. Another half-shout when he’s hit on the body, but even the bowler knew that was too high. Hasn’t been able to beat Labuschagne with a ball pitched up yet. The over finishes as a maiden. 17th over: Australia 40-3 (Labuschagne 8, Head 0) Ashwin to Head: two slips, silly mid-off, short leg. Four surrounding the bat. Head jabs a ball to an empty leg slip. Three regulation fielders on the off side protecting the cut and drive, then a square leg and midwicket on the leg. No one on the boundary. Head defends through it. 16th over: Australia 39-3 (Labuschagne 7, Head 0) Huge shout from Bumrah on Labuschagne, and India use their first DRS challenge. Might as well, they have three of them, and this would have been a vital wicket. Wicked seam from Bumrah again, bursts through the defence and nails Marnus on the pad, but just a touch high and the projection has the ball clearing the off bail by a centimetre or two. After Marnus gets a single, Bumrah absolutely roasts Head with a ball that seams away from his edge, the left-hander groping at it, stuck on the crease and going nowhere. Very lucky not to nick. 15th over: Australia 39-2 (Labuschagne 6, Head 0) Now Ashwin has another left-hander to work on, with Travis Head to the middle far earlier than anyone in the Australian camp wanted. Survives his first three balls. Smith since the 2019 Ashes: 4, 36, 43, 16, 85, 7, 63, 1, 1*, 0. WICKET! Smith c Pujara b Ashwin 0, Australia 38-3 Whaaaat is going on! Suddenly Steve Smith can’t make a run! Gone at leg slip again. He nearly gloves one down leg side to Pant off his hip, runs a couple of byes after the keeper deflects it off a forearm, then the very next ball Smith turns it away and straight into Pujara’s hands. Three down, there are those wickets! Game on. 14th over: Australia 35-2 (Labuschagne 5, Smith 0) Bumrah back immediately, I wonder if that was the planned rotation or if it’s to give him a shot at dislodging Smith. They play out a cagey opening bout, Smith defending everything. Bumrah right on line. 13th over: Australia 35-2 (Labuschagne 5, Smith 0) With Ashwin bowling, and Labuschagne trying the back-away cut shot, and Wade sweeping a lot, it felt like a wicket chance was on. But not like that, not the random six-hitting attempt before drinks on day one. That means The Twins are together again. WICKET! Wade c Jadeja b Ashwin 30, Australia 35-2 That is unbelievable. That might be the best catch I’ve ever seen. Trying to avoid hyperbole, but that’s sincere. It doesn’t involve a huge dive over the boundary or anything, but in terms of performing under pressure... Wade, for reasons best known to him after having already swept a boundary from this over, comes down the wicket and tries to plant Ashwin into the seats. He slices it high towards deep wide mid-on. Two players are running back for it: Jadeja and Gill. It’s very high and swirling away. They have to keep tracking back and running a curve. It’s clearly Jadeja’s catch, always his catch, but Gill is green and excited and keeps running. Jadeja calls. Gill doesn’t hear it. Jadeja at full tilt, tapdancing to try to get into position under the ball, sees it coming down to him... and then Gill arrives, diving across Jadeja, falling in front of him, almost tripping him over. And still Jadeja takes the catch! Under all of that interference, he makes up perhaps 40 metres, gets in the right spot, and isn’t distracted by a whole human being thrown at him like this is a circus act. That’s what Jadeja can bring to a side. 12th over: Australia 30-1 (Wade 26, Labuschagne 4) Wade has been happy to take on Umesh most of the day, and again drives a triple into the cover gap. Labuschagne is must more cautious against the fast bowler, facing out five balls before glancing a very wide one to fine leg for a run. I’m getting that vibe, Gary, but there’s the sense that it hasn’t been easy this morning. If India can make use of it and grab another couple quickly before the ball gets older... 11th over: Australia 26-1 (Wade 23, Labuschagne 3) The tall off-spinner will start from the Southern Stand End. Bowling around the wicket to Wade, who comes forward and defends across his front pad. Then sweeps a run to deep backward, leaving Marnus to glove up a ball behind square but it lands safely! Rahane has short leg and leg slip but it goes between them. Labuschagne follows by backing away and missing a cut shot outside off, then stabs on the bounce to short leg. Wow. Ashwin looks like he’s really in the game already. “Hello! Aussie and Yank watching from London. We’ve had Christmas dinner, are currently on gin and tonics, but are using caffeine mints to stay awake. So what I’m saying is we’ve re-invented Four Loko,” writes Meghan Purvis. “By the by, if you want to feel the true pain of the modern nomad, try being an American living in Britain explaining you’re a cricket boor but for Australia. The tiniest violins in the world, all playing for me...” Four Loko. Now that summons some memories. Or more honestly, some non-memories. The shape where memories may have been. 10th over: Australia 25-1 (Wade 22, Labuschagne 3) Another cover drive for Wade, another three runs. Marnus pulls out the lightsabre leave for Umesh as a special treat. Wishes he didn’t choose to leave the last ball of the over though, which seams in a long way and gives him a stinger on the inner thigh. Ten overs done, and Ashwin is about to get a bowl. 9th over: Australia 22-1 (Wade 19, Labuschagne 3) Marnus is using his Smith-lite method to combat Bumrah, not coming across his stumps every ball, but sometimes doing it to cover an off-stump line. A full cordon of five slips waiting, so why not! I like this from Rahane, willing to attack while the ball is new. The other fielders are a deep-set gully – making six in the cordon – along with cover, midwicket, long leg. And for some reason Bumrah bowls a short ball, hooked luckily for India to that final fielder for two runs. The second and third non-Wade runs of the day. Thanks for all the correspondence, lovely to see. 8th over: Australia 20-1 (Wade 19, Labuschagne 1) Umesh to Wade, giving the ball plenty of width now, perhaps challenging Wade to take him on with the cordon stacked. Wade opts for discretion at this stage. From the fifth ball Umesh gets it to curl into Wade and smash him on the thigh pad, prompting an appeal, but even on the fun-size Wade that was hitting him too high. Still, a maiden over for Umesh. 7th over: Australia 20-1 (Wade 19, Labuschagne 1) Bumrah produces another, this time decking into the left-hander and not missing off stump by much as Wade leaves. That means that next time Wade tries to cover the incoming line and has it beat the bat, away off the thigh pad perhaps via an outside edge. Hard to see from behind the batsman. Third ball, Bumrah is straight but a touch too full, and Wade is able to push into the midwicket gap to run three more. He’s enjoying this opening gig. 6th over: Australia 17-1 (Wade 16, Labuschagne 1) Maybe this is Wade’s day. The ball from Umesh isn’t even that full, but Wade drives on the up, through mid-off for four. Then taps a single to the off side, before Marnus gets off the mark with a leg glance, the first non-Wade run of the day. You see this dynamic, the way the scoring pressure comes off when Umesh has the ball. Sends down some fearsome deliveries, but just enough that can be scored from. Wade has three conventional slips now as well as a floating slip, and a deep-set gully. Short cover, mid-on, square leg, long leg. He works it backward of square for another run. 5th over: Australia 10-1 (Wade 10, Labuschagne 0) That’s pretty classic Burns, when it’s not working. The line was too wide to play, and his front foot hadn’t landed before he played the shot. Langer has been sweating over Burns’ technique in the nets, but it hasn’t fixed that problem yet. Labuschagne comes in and is immediately squared up by another excellent Bumrah delivery. Imagine if this bowler still had Ishant partnering him with Shami first change... WICKET! Burns c Pant b Bumrah 0 Gone for a duck! Oh, Joe. That goodwill and confidence from the Adelaide 50 will start to hiss slowly out of a puncture. India have an attacking field for Burns: four slips, gully, short leg. Only a cover and a midwicket in front of square. They’re confident. Then Bumrah bowls him another of those beauties, the ball that decks away hard. Back of a length but Burns reaches for it regardless. Touches it through, and walks as soon as the finger goes up. 4th over: Australia 10-0 (Burns 0, Wade 10) Umesh to Wade, edges past slip! Not sure you can call that a drop, it’s dying towards the turf and it’s well to the left of Gill on debut, who lunges across and gets a fingertip to it just as the ball is meeting the ground. A proper nick from Wade, who scores two, but as seems to be the way so often, crashes a boundary next ball with an elaborate cover drive, down on one knee and striking the ball airborne into a gap. India with two slips and two gullies, where a third slip would have held that chance. 3rd over: Australia 4-0 (Burns 0, Wade 4) Bumrah has Wade to work at now, and does the job just as nicely. Teases him outside the off stump, then cuts a ball back savagely off the seam to tenderise Wade’s thigh pad. Draws a thick edge squirted into the gully from the fifth ball for a single, then has a solitary ball at Burns and beats him with an absolute pearler, the ball angled in and seaming away past the edge. Burns was nowhere. 2nd over: Australia 3-0 (Burns 0, Wade 3) Runs before wickets in our scoring, remember. Umesh Yadav to Wade, Australia with the coveted right-hand left-hand combination. Umesh bowls right-arm over the wicket, a nice line to Wade, a little bit of swing back into the lefty, who leaves a few that get progressively closer. Umesh lacks the repeatability of Bumrah though, and eventually overpitches one for Wade to drive economically through cover for three. Those long square pockets at the MCG, the goalsquare ends if you will, get their first use. 1st over: Australia 0-0 (Burns 0, Wade 0) An interesting shuffle, Joe Burns facing first ball of the match after Wade did the job in Adelaide. A bit of confidence back into the Queenslander, it seems. Jasprit Bumrah has the job first up with the ball. Testing out Burns around the off stump, very consistently through the first over. A nice line that has Burns pushing a couple of times. Burns plays the over circumspectly until the final ball, when he schhhwings through a cover drive and misses the lot. They just played an Indigenous Language version of You’re The Voice (you know, young Johnny Farnham and all that) over the loudspeakers at the MCG. I did not know that this song existed. That is such an excellent crossover. A little time with Michael Googlé tells me that the cover was by Mitch Tambo and was sung in Gamilaraay. Awesome. I feel this. It was so good walking down to the ground just now. Streams of people walking in. All still doing the masks and caution thing, but the happiness was palpable. A couple of women ran over to greet each other with those noises that only people who are really happy can make. “It’s such a great day!” said one. “I just have this feeling already that it’s going to be a great day.” Australia won the toss and will bat Tim Paine ends up on the right side of the coin and will bat first. No surprises there on a track with history of epic flatness and on a sunny day. The pitch has some green tinges but I suspect they may be flattering to deceive. Matt Page the curator is very skilled, but he can only work with what he has. Let’s see. A couple of guys on the train were having a conversation about where Peter Siddle took his Ashes hat-trick. They couldn’t remember. Have to tell you, it took every fibre of my strength to resist launching across the aisle to get involved. Ohh, we are looking up into a proper Melbourne blue sky today. If you’re somewhere in the depths of winter, just close your eyes for a minute and try to remember the feeling. It will come back. Teams As might be expected when one team rissoles another for 36, there are no changes for Australia and plenty for India. David Warner still isn’t fit to come into the home team, which will force a change when he does. For India, Virat Kohli has gone home to meet a baby, as has Mohammed Shami with a broken arm, while Prithvi Shaw and Wriddhiman Saha have been dropped to bolster the batting. Into the team will come Shubman Gill, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja and Mohammed Siraj. Australia Joe Burns Matthew Wade Marnus Labuschagne Steve Smith Travis Head Cameron Green Tim Paine Patrick Cummins Mitchell Starc Nathan Lyon Josh Hazlewood India Mayank Agarwal Shubman Gill Cheteshwar Pujara Hanuma Vihari Ajinkya Rahane * Rishabh Pant + Ravindra Jadeja R Ashwin Umesh Yadav Jasprit Bumrah Mohammed Siraj Get in touch If you’ve read the OBO before, you know the score. Tell me what’s happening. What you did or did not do in the days leading up to Boxing Day. What your traditions for this Test match might be, where you’re watching from, whose company you’re enjoying or whose company you’re missing. Today is for the most human of pursuits, when we come together to seek solace or joy, and if you’d like to share yours then I’d like to read it. There’ll be time to publish some as well, so let me know if you’d rather keep the correspondence between us. My email is in the sidebar and so is my Festive Bird App delivery tube. Preamble Merry Boxing Day! I hope that you had a wonderful Boxing Day Eve, or for those of you in timezones where it is still Boxing Day Eve, enjoy. For those of you who find this time of the year more difficult than merry, I’ll wish you steadfastness and peace. The good news from Melbourne is that despite a year that almost all of us would gladly scrub from memory, there is a Test match happening in this town that seemed impossible only a few weeks ago. Now it’s here, and what’s more it’s happening on a clear sunny day under a blue sky. The thermometer is climbing up towards 30 after a cool day on the 25th and a wintry couple of days leading up to it. Who can predict Melbourne, but who can resist when Melbourne smiles? I’m on the train into Jolimont, where the mighty MCG rears from the parklands like some crashed spacecraft. The attendance is restricted to one-third capacity at the G but the train is filling up as we pass station after station. People are ready. Shorts are on. The tough off-duty tradies at the outer suburban stations now drink Emma & Tom’s smoothies rather than half-litres of energy drink, you may be interested to know. It’s a different feeling in 2020. Ready for it? I’ve been ready all year.