Lunch – Australia 149 for 4, leading by 182 Quite the session. Four wickets well in a rush, either side of Warner and Harris scoring freely, then Smith taking the initiative back with quiet support from Green. There’s definitely a chance now for India to win, if they can take bulk wickets after lunch and keep the fourth-innings target under 300. Or if they can get one or two wickets, they can perhaps slow the scoring to a point that a draw firms in likelihood. But Smith has been in a mood, and the pitch still looks good to bat on aside from the occasional bit of erratic bounce. Australia could yet pile on a score. Love this series: it’s been blow for blow throughout. I’ll be back with you after putting some more fuel in the OBO machine. 41st over: Australia 149-4 (Smith 28, Green 4) Some shot from Smith! We know he likes to walk across his stumps and flick to leg, but with Natarajan’s delivery keeping low Smith shovels it out of his pads to deep midwicket for four. A real slap rather than a nudge. He remains the roadblock that India must remove, but he doesn’t get out of the way easily. A false shot from the final ball, edged on the bounce to gully, but well in front. That is the lunch break. 40th over: Australia 144-4 (Smith 24, Green 3) Saini bowls a no-ball, straight, and Smith gets two runs to midwicket. Then there’s a short ball down the leg side and Smith plays that lifting pull shot of his, catching up with the ball and sending it to fine leg for four. Saini is still bowling in the 120s, he can’t be of much use today. Despite the wickets Smith hasn’t put his shots away. 39th over: Australia 137-4 (Smith 18, Green 3) Natarajan will replace Saini, and hope to get the radar right. He had a lot of trouble with his line earlier today. Comes around the wicket to the right-handers this over. Starts wide, continues wide, but finally gets one right third ball. A huge appeal. That’s how they’ve got Green out in this series: the in-ducker into the pads. Natarajan slants the ball, has Green on the walk, missing as it stays a bit low and blows his front pad off, just below the knee roll on his slanted front leg. But he’s so far down the wicket that the ball looks like it will go over the top, and it looks marginal as to whether it hit in line. India go to DRS and that bears out exactly the live impression: umpire’s call on impact in line, and going over the bails by about a millimetre. 38th over: Australia 137-4 (Smith 18, Green 3) Another nothing-much ball from Saini, short and wide and 127 clicks, and Smith blithely reaches out to flip it over the cordon for four. A better line next ball and Smith draws the bat inside that line after walking across his stumps. In at the body, and Saini has got up to 129.5 on the radar. Up to 133 but too full at the pads and it’s a comfortable drive for a single. Green runs a ball into the gully but the captain Rahane slides over on his tummy like a happy seal and grabs it before there’s a run, then throws at Green’s stumps as the batsman has to get back. Green finishes with a run to midwicket. There are 14 minutes to the lunch break but Smith summons Will Pucovski with a towel and a change of gloves. The lead is 170. 37th over: Australia 131-4 (Smith 13, Green 2) Good pace from Siraj. Up into the 140s and up into the ribcage of Steven Smith, who manages to flinch a pull shot away for a single. This is an impressive spell from India’s unlikely spearhead. 36th over: Australia 130-4 (Smith 12, Green 2) Here we go, Navdeep Saini is on for a bowl. Had to abandon the field with a groin strain on the first day, but by now that’s settled to the point that he’s willing to have a go. He’s far from full pace, gingerly placing the ball down. He was picked as a 145 bowler and he’s more like 125 here. But he’s a variation, and he might help make something happen. He doesn’t let Green get a run. We’ve got an update on Australia’s tour to South Africa. 35th over: Australia 130-4 (Smith 12, Green 2) Siraj keeps up the quality to Smith. Makes him play, makes him play. Every ball. Hits him on the body. Smith looks as Smith-calm as ever, but this is the control that India’s quicks lacked this morning when they started. A maiden. 34th over: Australia 130-4 (Smith 12, Green 2) A full umbrella field on the leg side for Smith now, with mid on up close, short midwicket, another short midwicket, and a short leg. Take us on if you will. So he does, sweeps, nails it, and smashes Mayank Agarwal in the ankle at short leg. He might have a shorter leg if they have to lop that one off. He is of course wearing shin pads, but it gets him just on that arch when the pad goes over the boot. And that ball was utterly smashed at him. A long delay while Agarwal gets some magic spray to ease the swelling. India don’t want another one-legged batsman in the fourth innings. Though I guess it worked out alright last time. Eventually he’s ok to continue. Three singles follow from the over. The lead is 163. 33rd over: Australia 127-4 (Smith 10, Green 1) Good lift from Siraj! It surprises Smith, rearing from a length and taking the thick outside edge to point. He gets a run. Highest chase at the Gabba is 236, but I’m not sure that’s relevant on this pitch. Still looks very good for batting. 32nd over: Australia 126-4 (Smith 9, Green 1) Cameron Green to the wicket, and he nearly runs himself out against Sundar, coming down and then sent back by Smith as the bowler fields, and Green has a turning circle like a Mack truck but describes a vast arc and gets back. 31st over: Australia 123-4 (Smith 7) Double wicket maiden! Australia in strife. Siraj has had a very difficult tour on a personal front but he’s suddenly changed the game here. Australia 156 in front. Can Smith save the day again? WICKET! Wade c Pant b Siraj 0, Australia 123-4 What in the name of Hades. That’s a shocker. Siraj bowls about two feet outside leg stump, Wade goes after it, and instead of a comfortable glance for four he just gets a touch to the keeper. His last Test innings? Have to be a good chance of that. WICKET! Labuschagne c Rohit b Siraj 25, Australia 123-3 Another one down. Siraj comes back for a new spell and has Labuschagne reaching for the line outside off immediately. A thick edge for four through the gap in the cordon initially. But the next ball Siraj gives it everything, gets more bounce at Labuschagne, and instead of reaching for it he spars at it. Between first and second slip, and Rohit at second gets across to take an awkward catch, hopping in the air as he took it. Not good tekkers, that, but it doesn’t cost him this time. 30th over: Australia 119-2 (Labuschagne 21, Smith 7) Labuschagne backs away from the spinner again, he’s been doing it all summer. More controlled on the late cut this time, but Rahane pursues with vigour from slip and keeps him to two. No matter: the batsman skips down to the next ball and pops it over mid-on for four. 29th over: Australia 111-2 (Labuschagne 14, Smith 6) A present on leg stump for Smith, who clips Thakur away to deep backward square and runs a third thanks to a poor throw from the fine leg fielder. Labuschagne pulls out his best shot, the straight drive, making Saini run back and put in a very good attempt to save, but the replay rules that his foot had touched the ground beyond the rope before the ball had entirely left his fingers as he flicked it back into play. Four. Then more runs to finish the over, another one full outside leg stump that only needs a touch to run for four. Straight up: despite a couple of wickets, India have bowled terribly this morning. 28th over: Australia 100-2 (Labuschagne 6, Smith 3) Attacking stuff from Rahane early, I like this. Short midwicket, short leg, leg slip and regulation slip for the spinner, as well as backward point, mid off, deep midwicket for the sweep shot, and backward square. Labuschagne backs away and reaches for a ball just outside off, getting a nick wide of slip for four runs. Then down the track and whips a single square. Smith on strike for the first time. Same field. Down the track first ball and clouts over midwicket for three runs. The man in the deep saves it. Australia’s hundred comes up, the lead is 133. 27th over: Australia 92-2 (Labuschagne 1, Smith 0) So it’s the Twitch Brothers at the crease again, and Labuschagne gets off the mark with a darted single to midwicket from Thakur. The lead is 125. WICKET! Warner lbw Sundar 48, Australia 91-2 26th over: Australia 91-2 (Labuschagne 0) What a strange series of events. A decent ball from Sundar, around the wicket, gives it some flight but it kicks on straight after pitching. Warner is hanging back and misses with a defensive poke. It hits him on the back leg in front of off stump, and Warner walks as soon as the decision is given. But, Marnus Labuschagne chases him down and insists that he review it. So Warner signals to review. The timer is comfortably on zero, but the umpires must have been distracted by the rushing about, and they let him send it upstairs. As soon as Warner sees the first replay he keeps walking, and is standing by the boundary rope when the three reds come up. Labuschagne appeals for absolute nonsense when he’s fielding, thinking that everything is out, but now that he’s batting he thinks nothing is out. Two wickets in two overs, both from the sixth delivery. WICKET! Harris c Pant Thakur 38, Australia 89-1 25th over: Australia 89-1 (Warner 46) That’s against the run of play! First up Thakur tries a short ball but he doesn’t have the pace for it to Warner, who rocks back and nails a pull for four. But Thakur is not dissuaded, and from the last ball of the over Harris makes his short ball look unplayable. Harris starts to dip at the knees, thinking of uppercutting over slip, before bailing out of the shot, but late in the trajectory he pushes his gloves defensively at the ball while halfway down into his crouch. Had he been standing up he would have defended that off the back foot at perhaps shoulder height. As it is, he gloves a simple catch to the keeper. End of the over, and drinks. 24th over: Australia 84-0 (Harris 38, Warner 41) Interesting field for Harris facing Sundar: two short covers and a slip, really making it uncomfortable for him to play to the off side. So Harris obliges and tries to turn against the spin to leg, getting a leading edge that bounces back to the bowler. Nearly. 23rd over: Australia 84-0 (Harris 38, Warner 41) The batsmen trade singles from Thakur, then Warner sees out the over. Hasn’t played a super attacking shot, has soaked up some good overs, and still has 41 from 64. PR notwithstanding, he’s quite the operator. 22nd over: Australia 82-0 (Harris 37, Warner 40) Sundar burns through another over, and Warner hangs back and waits, not trying anything until the final ball when he opens the face of his bat and drives a single square. The lead is 117. 21st over: Australia 81-0 (Harris 37, Warner 39) Again Thakur is bowling well, beating Warner’s edge, but again Warner finds a way to escape the examination, slippery as anything as he gets a single to get off strike. Harris is looking more and more confident, and he drives solidly down the ground for four. 20th over: Australia 76-0 (Harris 33, Warner 38) Harris is being very cautious against the spinner, leaving Sundar repeatedly outside the off stump. Trying not to do anything rash, though Harris does love to clout a slow bowler. 19th over: Australia 75-0 (Harris 33, Warner 37) Unplayable from Thakur, who hits some irregular spot on the pitch and makes the ball do voodoo. It’s a straight ball at the pads, maybe a touch of inswing, so Warner is looking to play to midwicket with a closing bat face. But after pitching the ball lurches towards the off, and bounces big, flying past the bat handle more than the outside edge, and clearing middle and off stump. Such is Warner’s singlemindedness at the crease though that he just taps the next ball to cover and takes a run. Harris adds two more. 18th over: Australia 72-0 (Harris 31, Warner 36) A couple of runs to Warner, who reaches outside his off stump and flicks Sundar across the line to deep midwicket, a real IPL stroke. Then plays a similar shot with more force behind it, and the hobbled Navdeep Saini has to chase it back to the rope for three more runs. Then it’s Harris’ turn, reaching wide and getting a slightly edgy late cut away fine for four. Forget that part about keeping the runs down. Seven from the over, the lead is 105. 17th over: Australia 65-0 (Harris 27, Warner 33) Shardul and Washington, the duo from yesterday with their 123-run partnership, are keeping the runs down with the ball. Another maiden from Thakur, tight on the off stump to Harris who attempts one back-cut but can’t beat gully. Then beats a push on the outside edge. 16th over: Australia 65-0 (Harris 27, Warner 33) Big applause for Washington Sundar as the off-spinner comes on to bowl his first over of the day, second of the innings. A new fan favourite after his wonderful batting yesterday on debut, not to mention three wickets in the first innings, starting with one S. Smith. Unfazed, Warner takes a single first ball, and while Harris is beaten on the outside edge, he also manages to find a run to cover in that over. 15th over: Australia 63-0 (Harris 26, Warner 32) Siraj continues, and you can detect Warner’s discomfort with a drop-and-run single to midwicket. His usual sprint is not possible. Siraj ties down Harris for the remaining five balls, tight on the off stump. Australia’s lead is 96. 14th over: Australia 62-0 (Harris 26, Warner 31) The errant Natarajan gets banished for the time being, and the swing merchant Shardul Thakur replaces him. How will this man batted yesterday. He starts off by bowling at the stumps, which is an improvement, with nary an extra to be seen, shots played to most balls, and only a single taken. David Reynolds emails in, starting with a quote. “‘Never have I seen the equanimity of Statham’s temperament or technique rendered out of harmony for a minute,’ Neville Cardus wrote of Brian Statham, a legendary fast bowler who was also a (county) captain. Since I think we might with justification make the same claim about Cummins, I will rest your case. The Aussies need look no further than Pat. Might he also win this match? I am not ushering Paine out the door, though – if India are set the task of batting out a day to save the match again, I will be eager to see if the skipper has learnt anything from his recent Day 5 travails. But there I go rushing ahead again – Day 4 will provide its own drama first.” The glory of Test cricket: each day its own chapter in the tale. 13th over: Australia 61-0 (Harris 26, Warner 30) They keep feeding Harris on the cut shot, and he keeps biting the hand that fed. Siraj this time. Two slips and a gully and how Harris gets a deep point in position. The thing India really can’t afford is fast runs in a partnership. Wickets? Ideal. Big slow runs? Acceptable. But if an established pair starts to motor... Harris keeps the foot down, driving a full ball wide of mid off. India’s bowling this morning has been ordinary. 12th over: Australia 53-0 (Harris 18, Warner 30) Natarajan had a bad habit in the first innings of overstepping the front line with the first ball of an over. He does it again here, and sprays it, and Harris helps it to fine leg for four. The next ball is even further down leg and this time Harris can’t get a touch on it but neither can Pant. Four byes. Finally the bowler gets to the other side of the stumps, but it’s too wide and it’s short and Harris can lay into a cut shot for four more! The fifty partnership comes up in no time, and another single means 14 from the over. 11th over: Australia 39-0 (Harris 9, Warner 30) It looks like Warner is moving well now to Siraj. On his toes and playing the ball down into the gully, which is one of the variations of Warner’s pet shot. No run that time but he was confidently into position. Siraj completes a maiden. Matt Harris emails in. “What’s your sense of what winning/retaining the Border-Gavaskar trophy means to the teams, compared with winning the series? For example, I’m sure Australia or England would be happy to play for a draw to retain the Ashes at the expense of a possible series win. A drawn series in which one retains the Ashes is a success. But I assume the relative importance of holding the trophy vs winning the series is variable depending on the esteem in which the trophy is held. Would the teams be thinking about custody of the B-G trophy, or just the outcome of the series?” I don’t think that the trophy itself is that big a deal – as in, you wouldn’t see any front-page shots of David Warner in bed waking up with the Border-Gavaskar on his pillow. But the trophy symbolising the fact that the winning team from last time remains unbeaten is significant. And for India, the chance of retaining it in Australia after winning it in Australia last time is significant. So in the event of a drawn series, I think India would be jubilant and Australia deflated. 10th over: Australia 39-0 (Harris 9, Warner 30) Natarajan hasn’t got the line right to Harris, bowling too wide both sides of the wicket and letting the batsman leave most of the over. Adding a number to the ‘maidens’ column doesn’t always mean well bowled. 9th over: Australia 39-0 (Harris 9, Warner 30) Siraj bowling and this time Warner edges over slip for four. Living on their luck, this pair. He has that right-arm angle across him again, some away movement again from back of a length, and Warner just back-foot spars away from his body, and the slightly angled bat gives it just enough elevation to clear Rohit’s desperate fingers as second slip leaps up at it. Warner follows up by squashing a short ball to square leg for a couple more. 8th over: Australia 33-0 (Harris 9, Warner 24) Natarajan the left-armer from the Vulture Street end, over the wicket to the left-handed pair. Mirror-image cricket. Bowls to Harris who edges through slip for four. A tiny bit of away movement for Natarajan but Harris is playing early across the line, closing the face of the bat to midwicket and gets a leading edge more than an outside edge. It bounces just in front of Rohit diving across first slip, which unsights Pujara and the ball gets through both of them. The next boundary is out of the middle, an off-drive by Harris. He’s ruined the scoring ratios now. 7th over: Australia 25-0 (Harris 1, Warner 24) Mohammed Siraj has the ball at the Stanley Street end. Pace and some swing and seam first up, swinging across the left-handed Warner and then decking away towards the slips. Defended off the back foot by Warner second ball. The third though is floated up too full, and Warner waits on it before a no-fuss straight drive inside mid off for four. He’s in Bannerman-plus territory in these early stages, 24 runs out of 25. (I even did the maths in my head and that’s 96 percent. Very proud.) There was a light sprinkling of rain as I walked to the Gabba this morning. We may have interruptions through the day, though usually this ground is the fastest to drain in the world. The newly laid sod after the intensive AFL season did give us some problems on the second day, however. And for some more detail on that extremely fun day, in video / audio form, here’s me and Adam along with a tour of some Gabba artwork by the graf star Sofles. Here’s the AAP summary of the third day’s play. Get in touch The lines are open, my staff (me) are ready to take your call. By which I mean email. Maybe a tweet. The contact details are in the sidebar. Preamble Day four, baby. We are about to get into it. The first innings for each team is done, the difference was remarkably reduced to 33 runs despite India being six down when they were still 183 behind. Then David Warner came out and crashed a few boundaries before stumps to get the gap past 50. Now we have two days left, and some forecast rain around. Three options: the Australians bat as much time as they can to build a huge lead and ensure they can’t lose the game. The Australians bash some faster runs to pile up a mid-range lead lead and declare with three to four sessions left to bowl, while trying to win. Or the Indians bowl them out and a have a small target to chase. The ramifications: a draw means a series 1-1 and that India get to keep the trophy. But a loss means that Australia will fall out of the top two spots in the World Test Championship and miss out on the final, if perchance their South Africa tour either gets cancelled or goes badly for Australia. For India, a draw here would greatly increase their chances of making that same final. A win would be even better. So it’s not as straightforward as some series that have come down to a decider. Lots on the line. Let’s dance.