97th over: Australia 283-7 (Smith 99, Starc 5) Hahaha. Starc facing Jadeja, four dot balls, then Smith gets strike for the last ball! This time it’s an outside edge from Starc, bouncing wide of slip and it gets him three runs. Smith faces... and defends back down the pitch. 96th over: Australia 280-7 (Smith 99, Starc 2) Saini bowls to Starc, and this is all action. A wide ball and a big swish, fresh air. A good bouncer that hits the front of Starc’s top glove, up in front of his sternum, and luckily for the batsman doesn’t flick up in the air but goes straight to ground. A length ball that Starc also swishes at and misses as it angles across him, left-handed batsman facing a right-armer. A bouncer down the leg side that Starc is nowhere near. Fifth ball, he pushes into the covers and runs! Gives Smith one whole ball to face... and it won’t bring a run! Jadeja at forward square leg swoops. 95th over: Australia 279-7 (Smith 99, Starc 1) Ha. Mitchell Starc to the crease with two balls to go, and his star batting teammate on 99, so he pushes the sixth ball for a single and keeps the strike. WICKET! Cummins b Jadeja 0, Australia 279-7 Provided some support, but he’s gone! A worthwhile bowling change, Rahane brings back Jadeja with his left-arm orthos. A few dots, then Smith forces a single through cover. Goes to 99. Cummins has three balls to face and wants to just block them all. That number stays at three as Jadeja gets called for a no-ball, overstepping. But the re-bowled delivery works in the bowler’s favour, as he floats up a delivery that lands right on the popping crease, underneath the batsman. Cummins just mistimes his defensive shot, playing directly over the top of the ball and getting the bat down half a second too late. 94th over: Australia 276-6 (Smith 98, Cummins 0) Smith again gets on top of the bounce of a ball outside off, hitting it hard behind point but there’s a sweeper who’ll stop the boundary. Smith adds two, moves to 97. So close to that ton now that he can taste it. Takes on a shortish ball from Saini, doesn’t middle it, drags a single to deep square and keeps strike. 93rd over: Australia 273-6 (Smith 95, Cummins 0) Bumrah continues, but Smith doesn’t look fussed. It’s really ominous for India, not just today but for his next three innings. This is implacable hungry Smith, this is non-giving-up school-guy Smith. Takes a single. Then four byes after Bumrah’s bouncer starts to swing late after passing the batsman and Pant can’t glove it. Max Bonnell has been in the stats books. “The answers to Mr Herman’s question that spring to mind are Jack Badcock and Frank Hayes. Badcock hit 118 on debut but six more Tests produced only 42 more runs. Hayes hit 106 on debut but in 8 more Tests never again reached 30 and ended up with an average of 15. I don’t count players with only one Test as they never failed!” 92nd over: Australia 268-6 (Smith 94, Cummins 0) After 23 overs for Bumrah and 25 overs for Siraj, the third fast bowler will finally get past 7 overs. Navdeep Saini on debut, picked up Will Pucovski’s wicket yesterday but hasn’t had many more opportunities. Second ball he overpitches and Smith drives through midwicket for four! Saini’s first two balls yesterday were boundaries as well. Smith is looking for another, flaying a wider ball behind point, but India have a man back for that. Cummins on strike and Saini pitches up at him, getting him stretching forward. 91st over: Australia 263-6 (Smith 89, Cummins 0) Smith is easing down the accelerator. Stands up tall and punches Bumrah off the back foot through cover for four. Hell of a shot. That’s difficult. Then gets a straighter ball and on-drives it for two, and adds a single next up. Seven runs against Bumrah with a new ball, solid work. 90th over: Australia 256-6 (Smith 82, Cummins 0) Now it’s Siraj producing a good ball, beating Smith on the inside edge. Smashes into pad, but it was the back thigh, too high and maybe just hit him outside the line. (A pointless Law, outside the line. Get rid of it.) The cordon really like the appeal but Siraj and Rahane decide not to review, correctly. Smith pulls a bouncer for a single, and Cummins sees out three balls with cautious defence. Cummins gave Smith great support in the Brisbane Ashes Test of 2017. Here’s hoping we get a Brisbane Test this year – the latest Australian city with a virus problem. 89th over: Australia 255-6 (Smith 81, Cummins 0) So the bowlers are into the bowlers, and predictably the first ball Patrick Cummins receives is a bouncer, down the leg side a bit, but still making the batsman tangle himself up to get bat and gloves out of the way. WICKET! Paine b Bumrah 1, Australia 255-6 Bowled! The Australian captain is gone! Bumrah is good before lunch, good after lunch, the perfect aperitif or the ideal dessert. And that delivery was peaches and cream. That was gorgeous. It starts from a wide angle, looks like it will pass well outside off stump, but swings in a touch and then seams in a mile. Paine is only pushing at it defensively but it beats his inside edge and hits the top of off stump. Perfection. 88th over: Australia 252-5 (Smith 80, Paine 0) The normal off stump line to Smith, and he doesn’t mind that. Gets back into his old rhythm of stepping across and knocking a run behind square leg. Two runs in fact. Siraj bounces him, but leg side and unthreatening. As soon as he bowls length Smith is working another run. That brings Paine on strike from the last ball, and he’s hit on the pad shouldering arms! Huge shout. That was probably too high, but that sort of non-shot deserves to be given out just on principle. A nice in-ducker from Siraj that flummoxed Paine completed. Rahane doesn’t want to review. 87th over: Australia 249-5 (Smith 77, Paine 0) Bumrah bowls a maiden to Paine, who leaves and blocks solidly. An email in from John Starbuck. “I reckon that at this stage of weather intervention this match will be a draw, which leaves the remainder of the series as a higher tension situation than we had a right to expect. Cricket: the gift that keeps on giving, if you have sufficient patience and a high tolerance threshold.Also, short-pitched bowling: as a fan of Harold Larwood, whom I once met, I agree that it is a part of the game. In the long-ago times I used to play, I was fairly tall but learned to duck everything except the wide stuff which begged to be hooked, being caught on the boundary notwithstanding.” “By the way, thanks for promoting me to Captain yesterday, though in the 1980s, at work, I was known as the Colonel because of wearing short-sleeved green shirts (with epaulettes) in summer. How are the mighty fallen and careers dwindled.” Here’s the thought process that took me addressing John as Captain Starbuck yesterday. Starbuck was Ahab’s first mate in Moby Dick. Then in early-season X Files, Dana Scully’s father was a former Navy man, and he used to call her Starbuck. He appeared to her in dreams after he died, wearing his uniform. So somewhere in my head, I conflated Scully Senior being a captain with Starbuck being a captain, and thence we arrived. 86th over: Australia 249-5 (Smith 77, Paine 0) Siraj to Smith, looking good off the back foot, punching to cover. Two slips, gully, point, cover, mid-off, and we’re back to a more normal off-side field rather than the strategy they employed with the older ball. A maiden over. 85th over: Australia 249-5 (Smith 77, Paine 0) Bumrah has one ball left in his over that was interrupted by lunch when the wicket fell. Paine leaves it outside off stump. Some great shots here. An email in from Murray Henman: “I’m in Brisbane, so I’m thinking one silver lining of this weekend’s lockdown is some uninterrupted weekend cricket watching. One question you or one of the readers might be able to answer: Who would be the player who had the least successful Test career after making a century on debut?” Well, logically it would have to be Andy Ganteaume, who was (and may well one day be again) the only player to average more than Bradman. He made 112 in his only innings for the West Indies. The only other player I can think of with one match and one ton was New Zealand’s Rodney Redmond. If there are any more, let me know. The reason that Andy lost top spot is that Kurtis Patterson currently averages 144 from two Tests, but he may get the chance to play again and reduce that record. Lunch – Australia 249 for 5 Oh, this has got interesting. With 84.5 overs bowled and a new ball in hand, India have worked their way through half the Australian batting line-up. We’ve got Smith at the crease looking very solid, and we’ll have the captain Tim Paine joining him after the break. The occasional ratty moment from this surface suggests that it will get harder to bat on later in the match. Australia still have the resources to bat big here and get 400 or more, or India could winnow through and keep them to around 300. Game very much on. WICKET! Green lbw Bumrah 0, Australia 249-5 Smith can’t save Green from Bumrah though! A few minutes left, time for Bumrah’s over and maybe one more, but India won’t need one more. Bumrah nails this one, seam movement cutting into the right-hander, beating his defensive push, hitting him just under the knee roll in front of off stump. Green doesn’t bother reviewing, and DRS would have shown it smashing the top of middle stump regardless. He’s lasted 21 balls and half an hour or so, a decent span in the middle, but Green has still gone for a duck. 84th over: Australia 249-4 (Smith 77, Green 0) Smith soaking up a lot of the strike here, which is probably in Green’s favour with five minutes to lunch. Flicks two runs from the final ball from Siraj. 83rd over: Australia 247-4 (Smith 75, Green 0) A funny looking pull shot from Smith to Bumrah, off balance, for a single. Bumrah holding firm, that’s the only score from the over. 82nd over: Australia 246-4 (Smith 74, Green 0) Siraj the new-ball partner, not Saini, who hasn’t had much work to do in this match: seven overs compared to Siraj in his 21st. Siraj is surprised by the outswing, which carries the ball so wide of the bat that it gets called wide. Then he bowls an in-ducker that Green leaves, not very far from his stumps. Green drives nicely but mid-on dives and saves, keeps him on strike. Siraj swings in at the pads and gets an inside edge into pad, false shot, lbw risk. 81st over: Australia 245-4 (Smith 73, Green 0) Swing from Bumrah with the new ball, mostly outside off and left. The last ball Smith has no choice about leaving, it screams past his bat. Angled in and it jags massively, and takes off from the surface. Smith does a re-enactment with his hand of that savage bounce. There’s something to this, though is it just an Australian thing? Something I reckon we’ve seen across a few teams in the last ten years or so. The number of times you see players get genuinely badged, or get through the shot while turning and be hit on the side of the helmet while standing in the line of the ball, seems frequent. Maybe it’s more an approach of standing and delivering rather than moving out of the line? 80th over: Australia 245-4 (Smith 73, Green 0) Ashwin gets through an over for a run to Smith, and now the new missile will be brought out by fourth umpire Claire Polosak, who in this role is the first woman to be on the roster for a men’s Test. 79th over: Australia 244-4 (Smith 72, Green 0) Jadeja drops short again, he’s bowled a few of those today, and Smith nails the cut shot for four. He doesn’t tend to get out from this stage of an innings, Smith. Now he’s into the 70s with another cut for four! Not quite as short but well played. India put a fielder back, and Smith drives square to that man for one. Green drives solidly to mid-off, no run. New ball due in one over. Use it, or more spin? Give it to your spinners? 78th over: Australia 235-4 (Smith 63, Green 0) Smith plays a couple of straight drives, either side of the wicket, for two and then for one. Green defends the rest from Ashwin, a big stride forward. Ashwin gets one lbw shout away early, but anything that hits the giant Green above the knee roll must be going over the stumps. 77th over: Australia 232-4 (Smith 60, Green 0) Cameron Green to the middle, defends the last ball of the over. WICKET! Wade c Bumrah b Jadeja 13, Australia 232-4 That is such a waste. Wade has looked a million times better coming in down the order than he did opening: he hits a crisp straight drive for four against Jadeja, then nails yet another sweep shot into the pads of Vihari. But those were along the ground. Wade forces two through cover. But still, having taken six from the over already, he decides he wants six more in one hit over midwicket. Charges, tries to swing across the line, Jadeja darts it in flatter, Wade isn’t to the pitch of the ball, but carries through with the attempted loft regardless. Gets a big skew high towards mid-on, exactly the same way that he mis-hit the ball in Melbourne trying to smash Aswhin. Bumrah has a much easier catch than Jadeja did that day, though. Nonsensical dismissal from someone who is hitting the ball so well. 76th over: Australia 226-3 (Smith 60, Wade 7) Now Vihari’s in the firing line again! He’s at short leg for Ashwin bowling to Smith, and this time Smith sweeps four that may have taken a small deflecting from Vihari’s shin pad down near the ankle. On the bounce, not a catching chance. 75th over: Australia 222-3 (Smith 56, Wade 7) Now, this is interesting. Wade gets down low to Jadeja and nails a sweep, and hurts Vihari. Ow, that’s coming up on Hot Spot: the ball clipped Vihari’s finger before nailing him in the calf. He saves four runs by accident. Jadeja bowls wider next ball and Wade cover drives for four! Gorgeous shot, all alone the carpet. Third ball, another sweep, and hits Vihari again! Ouch, this time it comes up off the fielder’s forearm. To backward square. Another boundary saved. Then a third sweep! But this one just misses Vihari, on the bounce to backward square. Wade against lots of spin early is interesting. He loves the sweep and the paddle. He plays them destructively. And when England tried a spin-heavy attack at him in the second innings at Edgbaston, he made a ton. Admittedly, Moeen and Denly aren’t quite Ashwin and Jadeja. But there’ll be action to come. 74th over: Australia 218-3 (Smith 56, Wade 3) A third run for Wade, a little single nudged away from Ashwin to midwicket. 73rd over: Australia 217-3 (Smith 56, Wade 2) Jadeja after the break, and he keeps Smith quiet right up until the last ball, when Smith opens the blade and square drives past a leaping silly mid-off to the point boundary. Had to reach for that, could have been another slip catch had it turned a bit more. In the time that took me to ponder, we’re coming back onto the field to resume play. Right then, that gives me time for this very complicated email from Rosie Piper. “Love reading the OBO all day and trawling through the Final Word archives is getting me through the work days; a nice substitute for actually being able to watch the cricket. My query is as follows: there is so much content out there featuring former players naming their all-time test XI and it gets a bit boring (considering it’s almost always the same collection of players). As a broadcaster, I’d love to hear your all-time commentary dream team. With split TV rights in Australia at the moment, there’s arguably as much debate about which team you’d rather talk you through the day as the one you’d like to see on the pitch. So, let’s say three in the box, who ya got?” Let’s have a think. For me, the dream team that actually worked together was early 2000s ABC radio: Jim Maxwell, Tim Lane, Glenn Mitchell on ball-by-ball, with experts like Kerry O’Keeffe, Peter Roebuck, maybe Geoff Lawson, then with visitors dropping in like Harsha Bhogle or Fazeer Mohammed. In contemporary times, Alison Mitchell is clearly one of the very best, and the best prepared. Ricky Ponting’s game analysis is excellent. From South Africa I really enjoy Neil Manthorp, Natalie Germanos, and Mluleki Ntsabo. In terms of former players, Nasser Hussain is outstanding, and Ian Bishop really nails the big moments, while in Australia I’d say Kristen Beams has emerged as a radio expert with a lot to offer, as did Dirk Nannes a few years before that. Gerard Whateley conducts the orchestra of story during a match better than almost anyone. In terms of having fun on air, it’s hard to go past some of the BBC callers like Ebony Rainford-Brent, Charles Dagnall, Dan Norcross. As far as picking three in the box... well, I don’t like three. They trip over one another. Two in the box, and mine are tilted far more towards radio than television. My number one duo would be Jim and Kerry, but really you could put together great combos from any of the above, plus a dozen or so more. And now it’s raining again. Fifty! Steve Smith 51 from 116 balls 72nd over: Australia 213-3 (Smith 52, Wade 2) Steve Smith is back! And he doesn’t want to let the wicket help Ashwin get on top. He shuffles his feet to a full ball and just swipes at back down the ground, a straight drive that was more clear-the-foot-and-drag rather than classically elbow-high. Nails it, raises his milestone. 71st over: Australia 208-3 (Smith 47, Wade 2) No dramas for Wade with one ball to come in the over: he steps across his stumps and sweeps it fine for two runs. WICKET! Labuschagne c Rahane b Jadeja 91, Australia 206-3 Labuschagne is gone! And that’s due to a risk that he’s been taking all summer: backing away from the spinners to create runs. He gets a short ball from Jadeja early in the over and cuts four, feeling good about himself, raising the 100 partnership and going into the 90s himself. But two balls later Jadeja bowls on the off stump again, not quite as short, but Labuschagne is already going back and wanting to force through the off side again. He has to play that with a straighter bat, trying a big square drive rather than a cut, with a bit of turn away from the bat, and off balance while backing away he gets a fat edge to the right of Rahane at slip who takes an excellent snare down around ankle height. 70th over: Australia 202-2 (Labuschagne 87, Smith 47) Ashwin in, just a single from the over to Labuschagne. Apologies to those who’ve sent emails that I haven’t got to – two spinners in tandem tend to make the OBO a speed and endurance exercise. 69th over: Australia 201-2 (Labuschagne 86, Smith 47) Labuschagne keeps motoring, cutting three runs behind point. Jadeja into the pads, Smith whips it nicely into the gap between square leg and backward square. Just as Bumrah did yesterday, Ashwin nearly loses his feet from under himself as he tries to stop on the wet outfield. And notably, those runs take Australia past 200 for the first time in this series. 68th over: Australia 195-2 (Labuschagne 83, Smith 44) Ashwin the off-spinner to bowl from the other end, the duo at work. Twice Smith backs away from the ball to force through cover, which is an interesting risk. Labuschagne goes over mid-on with a weird little chip shot: bails out of a bigger drive halfway through and instead lobs it very high but safely into a gap. 67th over: Australia 192-2 (Labuschagne 82, Smith 42) Jadeja starts with an error after the delay, dropping short and Labuschagne cuts a boundary. He’s into the 80s. The only Australian batsmen with a Test century against India since the Sydney Test of 2015 finished? Steve Smith and Glenn Maxwell. The latter of whom has still never been picked for a Test in Australia. Labuschagne looking good to add himself to that list.