31st over: Australia 75-2 (Labuschagne 28, Smith 31) Siraj to Labuschagne, and again he’s too straight and is glanced away for two. Bowls fuller, the surprise ball at the toes, but Labuschagne defends it out to the off side and gets a run. 30th over: Australia 72-2 (Labuschagne 25, Smith 31) A maiden from Saini to Smith while I was typing that last response. The article that I posted further down the page has some more detail on that, as does the podcast link. The framing of the issue by Sehwag and company has made people accept the premise that something was happening and then debate whether it was wrong, when in fact the premise is false and that thing wasn’t happening. That’s about all I can usefully say on it. 29th over: Australia 72-2 (Labuschagne 25, Smith 31) Siraj to bowl in place of Sundar after lunch, pace for spin, and he starts a bit too straight, tucked away for a single and then a double. Ben Merlin writes in. “I keep hearing the Steve Smith defence of he does it all the time. He’s played 76 tests. If he does it all the time where is the footage of it? The telling thing about the Australian team is they are only ever apologising once they are caught. That’s not true contrition. Also. Would love to hear a stat on how often Australia wins the toss and how often they choose to bat first.” My response would be that in this case there was no “getting caught” and there’s no need for a defence. Nothing happened. I’m literally watching Smith as I type, marking his guard in the same way as he did on that clip. The notion that a player can remove a guard by marking guard doesn’t make any sense. The three guard marks are clearly visible on that video before and after Smith, because they’re scored into the pitch by days of players marking the same guards. They couldn’t be removed and they weren’t. The apparent offence was an invention, and one that couldn’t actually have happened. As to when Australia win the toss and bat, basically always. Except at The Oval last year and Trent Bridge 2005, for reasons no one will ever understand. 28th over: Australia 69-2 (Labuschagne 23, Smith 30) Saini has the ball after the break, and nails Labuschagne on the pad but it’s going down leg. The batsman responds with a drive through wide long-on. Siraj puts in a valiant chase and dive and save, but the corner of the ground is so long that they come back for a fourth run when they see the throw going wide of the keeper. Smith dives in at the non-striker’s end and makes his ground ahead of Pant’s throw to Saini, which leaves the bowler wringing his hands. “Has there ever been a drawn test at the Gabba in the modern era?” asks Tim Gilroy. The main one I remember was the one against New Zealand in... 2001, was it? It lost a lot of time to rain and Steve Waugh set a small target with a declaration on the last day and Chris Cairns nearly ran it down, then NZ shut up shop when they lost wickets. But there was also a rainy draw a couple of years later against India when Ganguly made a ton, and there were two very high-scoring draws to start the Ashes in 2010 and to start a South Africa series in 2012, when Ed Cowan made his Test century and when Rob Quiney made the famous Quiney Nine. The Ashes match had the Peter Siddle birthday hat-trick, then the England 1 for 500 or so. So yes. You can draw here on a flatty. The Gabba’s reputation for being fearsome is very overblown if you look at some of the scores made over the years. “Re bowlers not getting runs scored off. I seem to remember back in 1971 (I was there) Tony Dell didn’t get a run scored off him in the first 50 balls he bowled in test cricket. Mind you, the batsmen couldn’t reach about 48 of them.” Very good stuff from David Markham. Any advances on this? Speaking of Lyon, he’s out on the field right now throwing a rugby ball around. Went out to have a look at the pitch I think, and chat to some ground staff. Also trailing to the middle of the ground is a line of someone’s cricket equipment, I’d guess it’s the wicketkeepers. Looks like an Indian helmet and then a trail of gloves and pads. We’ll see who collects them. If you need to fill in the lunch break, that podcast episode I mentioned earlier covers all those Sydney issues: crowd abuse, Paine’s stroppy episode, and Smith marking guard while fielding. We usually aim for the sensible rather than the sensational view. An advisory that it contains... some language. It’s here. Lunch – Australia 65 for 2 after winning the toss Not what you’d call an action-packed session, but we saw enough from Smith to suggest that he’s in for another big day, and we saw enough from India’s new pace attack to suggest that they can be a handful if they get through the current pair. A lot resting on this partnership. Both openers fell pretty quickly this morning, and the scoreboard hasn’t moved much. 27th over: Australia 65-2 (Labuschagne 19, Smith 30) Sundar to Smith, who defends in the same manner that the Indians played Nathan ‘Nathan’ Lyon in Sydney: stepping back and working the off-spinner to the leg side. Last ball of the over comes off some combination of pad and keeper and flies to the fine leg boundary, but the umpire says dead ball as Smith wasn’t playing a shot. That makes three maidens in a row to start Sundar’s Test career. Lunch time. 26th over: Australia 65-2 (Labuschagne 19, Smith 30) Saini with the big arm bandages rolled down either limb, bustles in and pings down a good line at Labuschagne, back on strike after Smith glanced a single. Outside the off stump and angling in, while Saini is getting up into the 140s on the speed gun now. This is why India wanted him on this trip: he’s got place plus endurance. Two minutes till lunch, time for one more over. 25th over: Australia 64-2 (Labuschagne 19, Smith 29) Labuschagne is versatile this morning: he can face out maidens against pace, he can face out maidens against spin. Washington Sundar has got through 12 balls of his Test career without conceding a run. I’m not for a minute suggesting that this would be near a record, but I wonder what that record is? “Welcome (back) to Brisbane,” writes Christopher Ash. “Speaking of the Brisbane River, and your mention of ferries on this week’s The Final Word, the ferry fleet has been partially upgraded recently. Most of the old ferries have been taken offline over safety concerns, and instead there are now new ‘KittyCats’ (smaller catamarans than the CityCats) that run some ferry routes. Just to mix the animal imagery, the free KittyCat route is still called the CityHopper. Hope you get time to ride one.” I love me a Brisbane ferry, Chris. Those Sydney ferries get all the attention but there ain’t much better than sitting out the back of a CityCat late on a warm Brisbane night going under the glowing bridges all the way upriver. 24th over: Australia 64-2 (Labuschagne 19, Smith 29) Saini can offer width, and Labuschagne awakes from his long sleep and goes for it. Cuts hard but Ajinkya Rahane was awake to that risk and already has a deep point out for Saini. Something that many former captains on commentary won’t like but perhaps that’s Rahane trying to aid one of his bowlers in getting into the game. It saves India two runs on this occasion. Two slips and a gully are the catchers. Cover, mid off, mid on, square leg, long leg. One ball to come in the over and square leg drops deep. Saini bowls in at the ribs, and with that gap on the leg side Marnus can glove away a single. 23rd over: Australia 61-2 (Labuschagne 16, Smith 29) Double change! Here comes Washington Sundar on Test debut. An interesting bowler: off-breaks, fast bowling arm, very little front arm. He’s on the tall side and does a peacock strut to the crease, standing very upright, with his arms jutting front and back like crests. Draws a couple of false shots from Smith: a sweep that hits the arm guard, and a little outside edge into the ground at silly point. No run from his first over in Test cricket. 22nd over: Australia 61-2 (Labuschagne 16, Smith 29) First over of the day for Navdeep Saini, who had to wait hours in Sydney to get a bowl but is on earlier in Brisbane. He’s the only thing that changes though: the result is still a maiden faced by Labuschagne. 21st over: Australia 61-2 (Labuschagne 16, Smith 29) On the other hand, Smith is playing whatever shots he likes. Another expansive one to Thakur, this time a back-foot punch, played on the up, a little airy but square of the point fielder for another boundary. Smith is in some touch. Test century #9 against India coming today? Sure, I’ll go early. 20th over: Australia 57-2 (Labuschagne 16, Smith 25) Siraj to Labuschagne, who faces out another maiden. He seems very determined to play the long game today. Very rarely playing a shot, perhaps shots are for after lunch. 19th over: Australia 57-2 (Labuschagne 16, Smith 25) Shardul Thakur with half an hour until lunch, and he has Smith edging for four! Genuine nick, a thick one past gully. The bowler tries to repeat the dose but this time Smith is ready, and the line is a bit closer to him, so he drives it inside mid off four four more. Suddenly there are runs everywhere. Then from this over. Here’s my count of the players India are missing, through injury or absence. KL Rahul Hanuma Vihari Virat Kohli Hardik Pandya Ravindra Jadeja Ravichandran Ashwin Bhuvneshwar Kumar Umesh Yadav Ishant Sharma Mohammed Shami Jasprit Bumrah We’re a bit light on batting but that’s an XI that would smash a lot of teams. 18th over: Australia 47-2 (Labuschagne 15, Smith 16) It’s been about four overs without a run, but finally one comes as Marnus is able to work Siraj to square leg. That opens the gates, with Smith glancing a single before Marnus drives a couple wide of mid-on, before finished the over with a fierce straight drive for four! Big stride, full flourish. Labuschagne isn’t what I would call an attractive player to watch, he’s a bit nondescript, but his straight drive is usually his best shot, and that was an impressive example. 17th over: Australia 39-2 (Labuschagne 8, Smith 15) Shardul Thakur continues the patience game with Spud Smith, and it remains a stalemate. (Who are you calling stale, mate?) “Morning Geoff and all,” says Gervase Green. “That by my count is at least six ‘automatic picks’ from India’s starting line-up. (Not including Jadeja, who for some reason I can’t fathom seems in and out a lot). Plus the usual second drop bat, who can play a bit. This is the equivalent of playing Australia 1977-79 seems to me. A gutsy effort by India – I hope they go well.” 16th over: Australia 39-2 (Labuschagne 8, Smith 15) Siraj to Labuschagne, and the slightly manic start to this day has now settled into a bit of Test match rhythm. Labuschagne plays off his pads and there’s a flurry as leg slip scrambles across to stop that ball. India have bowled with that catcher in place to this batting pair through the series, and it’s got them both out before. Labuschagne with 8 from 47 balls after seeing off another scoreless over. Here’s an email from Jane worth a smile. “Lovely, funny and informative OBO commentary thank you – Aberdonian in New Zealand cheering for India – thinking my old dad will be following same from Aberdeen in the snow. Nice to think you connect us!” Nice to think we’re all connected by this, thank you for being here. Hello to Jane’s dad. 15th over: Australia 39-2 (Labuschagne 8, Smith 15) Shardul continues from the Vulture Street End, still getting a nice bit of shape in the air. Smith defends a couple, leaves a couple, Thakur working the channel outside off stump. No run from the over. 14th over: Australia 39-2 (Labuschagne 8, Smith 15) Down the leg side from Siraj after drinks, and swings away for four byes. That makes 10 extras out of 39. No, nobody went and marked Steve Smith’s guard during the drinks break. If you want some more depth on that entirely overblown story, here’s one I prepared earlier. Tane Aikman emails from across the Tasman. “Cracking series this. As a New Zealand fan I’m utterly overjoyed and slightly weirded out by how good our team is (when not playing Australia), but these are the two best Test sides in the world. If only because we don’t have a spinner close to Ashwin and Lyon’s level. Still, on a typical English wicket we’d be in with a good shout against either. Does anyone with more mathematical skills than me (ie any) know what the implications of this game for the Test Championship are? Will a draw keep both teams ahead of New Zealand, or would they need to get a winning record in their next series to make the final?” Great question. I think that Adam Collins and I worked this out on our podcast the other day. So, the WTC qualification this time around will done on a percentage of results out of the matches you’ve played. Because covid meant so many tours were postponed. Meaning that India’s upcoming four matches against England actually give them the chance to bomb out of the top two. Australia’s spot is pretty much set, I think, but India will have to either win three and draw two of their remaining five Tests, including this one, or win four and lose one. So if they do lose here, they’ll have to whitewash England 4-0 in India to avoid being jumped by NZ. If anyone thinks that’s wrong, correct away. 13th over: Australia 35-2 (Labuschagne 8, Smith 15) Hello, Steven Smith! He steps across his stumps so Thakur tries to do a Bumrah and kiss his leg stump. Smith does not want to be kissed. He smacks the attempt away through backward square for four. Thakur goes outside off next ball, pitched up and swinging away, and Smith reads the swing, steps to the line, and creams it through cover! The full stride and flourish. He looks very good, very quickly. Flicks a straight ball for two more to take the yield from the over to double figures. Drinks. 12th over: Australia 25-2 (Labuschagne 8, Smith 5) After a nervy first eight (attempted) deliveries, Natarajan is giving nothing away. The same can’t be said for his fielders though, who cost him a single and a brace in that over by fumbling ground balls. 11th over: Australia 22-2 (Labuschagne 6, Smith 4) Thakur is hitting a nice line to Labuschagne! Tempts him into a drive to a ball that swings and beats the edge. Gets the ball to keep swerving away from the bat, not a huge amount but visibly. A maiden over with some class. “Good morning Geoff,” writes Ray Murphy. “Surely Jackson Bird is still good enough for the AUS 2nd XI?” Good shout Ray, I’ll give him a cap for our imaginary injury squad. Saw him bowl like a dream in 2016 in... Wellington? Christchurch? Think it was the second Test. Suddenly that’s a long time ago in a cricket life. 10th over: Australia 22-2 (Labuschagne 6, Smith 4) Natarajan keeps trying to tempt Smith with the line across, and Smith outlasts him: eventually the bowler gets too straight and the batsman can tap him away for a single. Labuschagne follows with another to mid-on. 9th over: Australia 20-2 (Labuschagne 5, Smith 3) The wicket first ball brings SPD Smith to the crease. Another early entrance for him after Warner and Harris failed. Ashes flashbacks, anyone? Maybe he’s having them too, because he forces a drive down the ground for three to get going quickly. WICKET! Harris c Sundar b Thakur 5, Australia 17-2 Shardul Thakur with his first ball of the match! Well, well, well. On his Test debut in 2018 he got through 1.4 overs and couldn’t continue with injury. He’s had a long wait for another chance and he gets that sweet reward at the earliest moment, taking his first Test wicket. He’s a swing bowler, and he swings the ball into Harris’ pads, leading Harris to try clipping through midwicket. He’s partially beaten by the movement and clips it squarer and airborne to Sundar at square leg. 8th over: Australia 17-1 (Harris 5, Labuschagne 5) A maiden from Natarajan to Labuschagne, the left-armer angling it across repeatedly and being left. 7th over: Australia 17-1 (Harris 5, Labuschagne 5) In a shock for us all, Marcus Harris plays a huge slash outside off stump and is beaten by bounce from Siraj. Then accidentally gets bat on a ball that he’s trying to leave and nearly plays it onto his stumps. Gets a single from that, as does Labuschagne from another glance. Siraj isn’t coping with the switch from left-hander to right. So India won their last tour to Australia by having a squad of five fine quick bowlers. All of them are now injured: Bhuvi, Ishant, Shami, Umesh, Bumrah. Then they’ve lost their two best spinners in Ashwin and Jadeja. If Australia had suffered a similar toll they would have lost Cummins, Starc, Hazlewood and Lyon, then James Pattinson and Michael Neser, plus Mitchell Swepson. The bowling attack would currently be something like Lloyd Pope, Jason Behrendorff, Jhye Richardson and... comeback for Joe Mennie? Chadd Sayers? Chris Tremain? The contrast is interesting. 6th over: Australia 15-1 (Harris 4, Labuschagne 4) So India have used 19 players in this series, which Adam Collins is telling me is the most they’ve used in a series since the early 1960s. Presumably that was at home. Poor old Kuldeep, who took a bag of wickets against Australia two years ago but can’t get a gong this time around despite the injury toll. The rationale for playing Sundar, despite him being an IPL style fast spinner, is that he can bat, so he’s being backed at No7 to let India play four quicks. They could have added Prithvi Shaw to bolster the batting with Kuldeep at 8, and they may feel Kuldeep’s absence: SK Warne always says this was the best ground to bowl wrist spin. Natarajan bowls another five dot balls to Labuschagne after Harris glances a single. 5th over: Australia 14-1 (Harris 4, Labuschagne 4) Siraj to Labuschagne, who defends, defends, defends, defends, but as soon as Siraj drops short Marnus bangs the pull shot away to the square leg fence to open his scoring. His home deck, he knows how it plays. That surface smells like runs from here in the grandstand. It’s shining brightly in the Queensland sunlight. Bright day here, on the hot side. It’ll be hard work out there. 4th over: Australia 10-1 (Harris 3, Labuschagne 0) Another Natarajan over that starts with a no-ball, but doesn’t yield any other runs. The left-armer is bowling to the left-handed Harris, mostly straight, and Harris tries the on-drive a couple of times but can’t get it past mid on. Strikes them crisply though. The total versus runs off the bat split is 10-4, good buddy. 3rd over: Australia 9-1 (Harris 3, Labuschagne 0) Siraj continues with the wind in his sails, and he’s achieved what so many touring teams have not at the Gabba: get rid of Warner early. More often than not Warner has still been there in the third session at the right end of a huge score. Siraj bowls down leg side to Labuschagne who gets some thigh pad on it for four leg byes. Four runs off the bat for Australia, five extras. 2nd over: Australia 5-1 (Harris 3, Labuschagne 0) “Come on Marnus!” shout a few Queenslanders as the first drop makes his way to the middle after six balls. Thangarasu Natarajan, the left-armer who bowled so well in the limited-overs games last November and December, has the ball. A T20 debut, an ODI debut, and now a Test debut on the same tour. He’s more nervous about this one than any other, I’ll wager, given he starts with a no-ball, then bowls way down leg side, and finishes with one very wide of off stump, curling away from Harris. No runs off the bat though, that’s something. WICKET! Warner c Rohit b Siraj 1, Australia 4-1 1st over: Australia 4-1 (Harris 3) Siraj does the job in his first over! Warner takes the first ball of the match and scores a single, Harris slants three runs away in front of point, but from the final ball of the over Siraj strikes. Right-arm across the left-hander, pitched up full and straight but swinging away, squares up Warner who skews a catch into the cordon and Rohit from second slip comes sprawling across to his right to snare the dying ball just above the turf. Quality grab! A nice atmosphere walking up to the ground, lots of people milling around in their sun hats and summer shirts, so there is some festive feel to the Test match still. A few connection issues on arrival too, but we’re here and underway. Teams Changes galore. Harris in for the injured Pucovski for Australia. India will miss Ashwin, Jadeja, Vihari and Bumrah from the Sydney draw with injury. No Kuldeep Yadav, Wriddhiman Saha, or Prithvi Shaw. Instead Natarajan and Thakur will both play as part of a four-pronged bowling attack, Pant will bat six and keep, with Washington Sundar at seven as the spinner. Agarwal is recalled but in the middle order with Gill staying up top. Australia David Warner Marcus Harris Marnus Labuschagne Steve Smith Matthew Wade Cameron Green Tim Paine * + Pat Cummins Mitchell Starc Nathan Lyon Josh Hazlewood India Rohit Sharma Shubman Gill Cheteshwar Pujara Ajinkya Rahane * Mayank Agarwal Rishabh Pant + Washington Sundar Shardul Thakur Navdeep Saini Mohammed Siraj T Natarajan Australia win the toss and will bat Uh-oh for India! That toss is usually very important at the Gabba, a ground where big scores often come in the first innings. Tim Paine says “The pitch looks a lot drier than it normally does this early, and there’s already one big crack running down the middle.” Get in touch If you’ve stumbled into the OBO for the first time, rocking its batwing doors open only to have the occupants of the saloon turn to stare at you blearily, we welcome your correspondence. Observations, insights, takes of the unexpected. I don’t mind. My Guardian email address and my non-Guardian Twitter address are in a sidebar that you’ll find on your page. Unlike some, I have not been banned from the platform for inciting insurrection, and will not need to make my cricket observations via political press releases. Preamble Welcome to Brisbane, or Mianjin, specifically to the famous cricket ground in Woolloongabba just south of the river that twists and writhes like a great snake out towards the coast. It’s time for the Guardian over-by-over once more, with the fourth and final Test between Australia and India upon us. The Gabba ground is usually host to the first match of the summer, but in a viral age that was all turned upside down. The series sits at 1-1. Meaning, obviously enough, that whichever side wins here will win the series and the Border-Gavaskar trophy. If it’s a draw, India will retain the trophy as the current holders. We’re got a couple of sore and sorry teams coming into this game, with the Indians a bit more sore and the Australians a bit more sorry. More on that as we discuss the XIs as they come to hand. The toss will be in 20 minutes, play will start in 50. En garde.