91st over: Australia 386-3 (Head 48, Carey 9) This has not been Rabada’s day, and the peak end rule will not serve him well as the sidebars are penned, with his final over enlivened by Alex Carey spanking a cover drive for four and Travis Head helping a leg-side leaker to the fine-leg fence.

90th over: Australia 377-3 (Head 44, Carey 4) Ngidi does only last one delivery, limping from the field to attend to his cramp. Maharaj completes the formalities, and Head looks in charitable mood, dabbing away a series of nude nuts, until he cannot help but swing a leg-stump half-volley away for four. That reminded me of the time our labrador nicked a whole joint of roast pork. We tried to prise it from his jaws. He looked apologetic. But something primal was at play that was bigger than all of us. There was just no way that meat was ever being released from that dog’s clutches.

89.1 over: Australia 372-3 (Head 40, Carey 4) Ngidi gets to put his body through one final burst before the close. Or maybe just one delivery as it happens because he hits the deck in his follow through and calls for help to deal with cramp in his right leg. Another long delay. Not that it matters much in the grand scheme of this match, or series, but we’re going to be about ten overs short of the 90 today.

89th over: Australia 372-3 (Head 40, Carey 3) Oh Kagiso Rabada, what are you playing at!? For the umpteenth time this series he begins a new spell with a rank bad ball. This one is short and wide and allows Head to spank three through extra cover. It just isn’t good enough for a bowler of his quality, and must drive his captain mad. By delivery six Rabada’s up to speed, making Head hop and fend at the crease, but that only serves to reinforce the sense of frustration.

88th over: Australia 368-3 (Head 37, Carey 2) Not a thriller of an over from MJ. In fact, you could say it was bad. Australia, with two batters retired hurt, are pleased it was not dangerous. Travis Head looks invincible. I will soon be history at this rate.

87th over: Australia 367-3 (Head 36, Carey 2) The TV blokes spend their time reminiscing about the time Just Langer (“Jayell”) put England to the sword in 2002, so uneventful is the action unfolding in front of them. Ricky Ponting (“Punner”) casts his eyes pitchward to observe Alex Carey has new stickers on his bat and branding on his gloves.

86th over: Australia 366-3 (Head 36, Carey 2) Jansen hasn’t delivered after being entrusted with the new ball, and he is unthreatening again here. This day’s play is dribbling out of oomph with 25 minutes still to go.

85th over: Australia 365-3 (Head 35, Carey 2) After that long delay, Alex Carey gets off the mark straight away with a firm drive past the non-striker for two.

84.4 overs: Australia 363-3 (Head 35, Green 6) Nortje is bowling straight and back of a length to Green, cramping him for room, targeting the allrounder’s gloves. Short-leg is very much in play. After two deliveries bang on target there’s a delay while Green removes the glove on his right hand to reveal a bloodied index finger. Out come the medicos to patch up the big fella. Australia’s doctors have been busy this Test, dealing first with Starc’s finger, then Warner’s cramps. On that subject, confirmation has come through that Warner will not bat again today, but he should be ok to go again tomorrow once the cramps have subsided.

42,614 at the G today.

84th over: Australia 362-3 (Head 34, Green 6) Lovely off drive from Green, capitalising on Jansen searching for swing with a full length. He didn’t try to overhit it, held his shape, and looked a million or three bucks in the process.

I enjoyed this piece of punditry BTL.

Disenchanted189

27 December 2022 6:05am

Dave Warner had provided some answers to the fair criticisms of his recent performance with today’s monster double ton performance on a very hot day, clearly battling dehydration and heat exhaustion towards the end.

Like him or hate him, you have to admire his guts and determination today, as well as his drive to come up with answers to questions being rightly asked of him.

83rd over: Australia 357-3 (Head 33, Green 2) Nortje almost accounts for Green but the big allrounder just manages to block a defensive parry wide of short leg. He gets off the mark soon after, dabbing his 13th delivery for a couple.

82nd over: Australia 351-3 (Head 33, Green 0) Marco Jansen deservedly shares the new ball in a move that should serve as a livener to Rabada, and put Ngidi’s place in the XI under serious scrutiny. The lanky leftie doesn’t start smartly though, dropping a half-volley on Head’s pads, allowing the in-form Australian room to swing with his arc and deposit a six over square-leg. The follow-up is better though, Jansen slipping a ripper past Head’s grope. The No 5 is unperturbed, clipping another boundary – for four this time – over mid-on. Head has raced to 22 from 29 deliveries.

81st over: Australia 345-3 (Head 23, Green 0) Nortje is deservedly handed the new ball and he hurries up Head with a bumper then rips a jaffa past Green’s outside edge. South Africa have endured a miserable day, but the speedster can hold his head high. That is despite being knocked off his feet by the Fox Sports camera earlier in the day.

80th over: Australia 344-3 (Head 22, Green 0) Another over, another Travis Head off-side slash for four. Maharaj completes his dirty work and the new ball can be taken. That was a dreadful couple of hours for South Africa. Can they restore some pride late in the day?

79th over: Australia 339-3 (Head 17, Green 0) Head has played see-ball hit-ball all summer and that mantra continues, slashing at some width from Ngidi and earning consecutive off-side boundaries. Awful bowling; awful captaincy to remove Nortje two overs ago.

78th over: Australia 330-3 (Head 8, Green 0) In unexpected circumstances Australia now have two new batters at the crease. The lead is north of 140, so it matters little in the match, but it adds a frisson of excitement to the final hour of play, especially with the new ball due shortly. In less interesting news, Maharaj now has figures of 0/98 from his 24 unbroken overs.

Warner is now receiving treatment for cramp and dehydration. He can barely move.

76th over: Australia 319-3 (Warner 195, Head 2) Maharaj continues into the 23rd over of his spell, only now venturing around the wicket to the left-handed Warner. The change works, of a fashion, as the over goes for just three singles.

vr1777

27 December 2022 5:28am

ABC radio commentary pointing out that 64 South African players not available for this tour as they are playing elsewhere. Makes things truly hard for the poor buggers.

75th over: Australia 316-3 (Warner 193, Head 1) Nortje deserves a better top-six, and a captain who trusts him with the new ball and important spells. After the wicket he fires one past Warner, then has the centurion defending from the crease before slipping in a sharp bouncer to make sure Travis Head know he has to keep his wits about him – from one end at least.

Smith and Warner park their rear ends on some Bunnings patio chairs and take in fluids. Warner looks in all sorts as he’s massaged and draped in damp towels.

74th over: Australia 314-2 (Warner 192, Smith 85) Maharaj continues his futile over-rate padding, so Warner batters him straight for four, then over cow for six. Still the runs are sprinted, or more accurately limped, as this action morphs from a contest into a statistical exercise. The next milestones to observe are Warner’s double-century, then Joe Root’s tally of 218 – the current highest total by a batter in their 100th Test.

73rd over: Australia 298-2 (Warner 177, Smith 84) Nortje is thrown the ball for the first time since tea – bafflingly, he’s sent down only nine overs today before this spell – and he immediately hurries up Warner, jagging one into his midriff then beating an attempted pull for pace. The bowler reckons that delivery might have clipped an inside edge on its way through but the wasted REVIEW clearly shows the ball brushed the bullock’s buttock not his bat hoick.

72nd over: Australia 295-2 (Warner 174, Smith 84) An exhausted-looking Warner has entered T20 mode, battling fatigue by battering Maharaj for six over cow corner. The runs continue to pour like an avalanche coming down the mountain.

71st over: Australia 284-2 (Warner 167, Smith 80) Warner’s playing mind games now, dumping Rabada back over his head for four with a stroke dripping in disdain. He tries again later in the over but earns only two for his chutzpah.

Trevor Tutu, you have made me giggle. He emails: “I woke in the middle of the night to take care of some ‘old man’ problems, and realised that I was doing myself no good looking at the OBO. It’s now quite a godly hour in Cape Town, but the news from the OBO is no better! Surely you should be making a better effort to cheer up South Africans suffering from loadshedding and other ills?”

Here you go Trevor, take your mind off the cricket for a minute or two.

70th over: Australia 275-2 (Warner 160, Smith 79) Two singles from another Maharaj over that can charitably termed innocuous. The second of those runs brings up the 200 partnership.

69th over: Australia 273-2 (Warner 159, Smith 78) After giving Warner and Smith five overs to get their eyes in after the break, Elgar calls on Rabada. But the South African strike bowler lets his skipper down, dropping short and wide and allowing Warner to throw his hands at the ball and send it careering into the extra-cover fence. Then he encourages Smith to demonstrate his textbook pulling technique. This is unraveling badly for the Proteas.

67th over: Australia 253-2 (Warner 144, Smith 73) Ngidi begins the 67th over with a delivery so short and wide Warner does well to reach it, let alone guide it through gully for four. Then the bowler invites Smith back to the buffet with a delivery that sits up and begs to be spanked like a Conservative MP from the late 1980s.

66th over: Australia 244-2 (Warner 139, Smith 69) Just the single from an over of Maharaj throw-downs. This is the session touring sides dread when they visit Australia.

65th over: Australia 243-2 (Warner 138, Smith 69) Is Dean Elgar taking the p155? Sharing duties with Maharaj after tea is Ngidi, AKA the two least threatening men in South Africa’s five-man attack. Smith treats this disrespect with the appropriate amount of disrespect, pulling a short ball with contempt then back cutting with surgical precision. In between, Ngidi does get one to lift and rap the batter on his right thumb, but it’s thin gruel.

64th over: Australia 234-2 (Warner 137, Smith 61) South Africa have yet again missed a trick, easing Smith and Warner back into their work by bowling Maharaj straight after the interval. This series has not reflected well on the Proteas’ brains trust.

Tom Hopkins meanwhile has overdelivered on my request before tea to identify instances of individuals outscoring entire XIs. “I’m not up to the statsguru challenge (and I think that might be quite a long list),” he emails, “but I note that at Headingley 2019 Marnus topped England’s first innings score twice and still ended up on the losing side. Must be a rare achievement?” Marvellous stuff.

The players are back out for the final session. It will last either 2.5 hours or 39 overs, whichever comes first.

Public service announcement: For anyone previously struggling to access the scorecard, please refresh your device, it has returned.

Also, for any Statsguru geniuses out there, Robert Smithson has emailed in asking for the list of instances when an individual has outscored the entire opposition – in advance of David Warner doing just that before the close of play.

I’ll leave you to sip your brew and nibble your noms with some lovely words from the previously mentioned Robert Wilson. His piece contains the very image of David Warner that will surely one day be immortalised in bronze, in lieu of a trademark stroke.

63rd over: Australia 231-2 (Warner 135, Smith 60) Jansen’s brief burst in the crazy heat is ended by the recall of Ngidi. He does his strong shouldered thing for five deliveries and slips in a cute slower ball that Smith inside-edges away for a couple of runs.

62nd over: Australia 228-2 (Warner 134, Smith 58) Maharaj is rattling through his work like a kid stuffing pennies into one of those end-of-the-pier machines that they turned into the TV gameshow Tipping Point. Not a lot of presence in the action and about as likely to hit the jackpot.

61st over: Australia 226-2 (Warner 133, Smith 57) Jansen remains unable to make anything happen. The partnership ticks beyond 150.

Robert Wilson is awake. “Most of the toppest of the top lot in the batting Hall of Fame have a signature shot that can be recognised by its silhouette,” he begins, teasingly. “Ponting’s pull shot that had so much extra time that he could light a fag and make a cuppa while executing it, Robin Smith’s piratical sabre-slash of a square cut that sounded like a rifle when it hit the boards, Viv’s lazy teddy bear chip off the front foot with the golfer follow through and the arrogant three-step pretense of ambling for a run while it sailed over the ocean.

“Warner has nothing like that. But he has attitude that can strip rust of a ship. I remember him getting out in England to a disastrous shot early in a collapse and then immediately going to sit on the balcony (the only player to do so) and furiously glaring down every camera in the ground. Later that match, he was bowling his laughable short-arse dibbly-dobblies and actually bounced someone. He may not be your first choice babysitter but that’s hard not to admire.”

Robin Smith was my first cricketing hero (my first bat grip was canary yellow), and his square cut remains my favourite shot of all time – but even I’m skeptical of including the Judge alongside Ponting and Richards. That notwithstanding, I offer two silhouette shots for Warner: firstly, the T20 debut switch hit; secondly, the crouched offside jab to the rising length delivery. Extending the theme, his century-reaching jumping celebration is likely his statue, surely?

60th over: Australia 223-2 (Warner 132, Smith 55) Two easy singles in another nondescript Maharaj over. Credit to Alison Mitchell and Ricky Ponting for not falling into the chew chew chew for chew trap on commentary.

59th over: Australia 221-2 (Warner 131, Smith 54) Jansen is running in and hitting the bat hard but there’s not much doing out there any more with an old ball on a flat track under a hot sun. Smith pulling with all the time in the world for two, well in front of square, illustrates South Africa’s challenge.

58th over: Australia 216-2 (Warner 130, Smith 51) Warner follows Smith’s lead and slogs Maharaj for four to register consecutive boundaries. Both batters then milk singles as Australia continue to cruise towards tea.

56th over: Australia 204-2 (Warner 124, Smith 45) Just as Justin Langer is rhapsodising about Warner’s fitness, the centurion drops to the ground with cramp in his left hamstring. Langer battles on, changing the subject to pickle juice, like it’s some new fangled invention from the bowels of Willy Wonka’s factory. Tim Lane cuts him off abruptly for a bonus commercial break.

Finbar Anslow has logged on. “Would you believe I found a cricket joke in my cracker? What did the cold elf want for Christmas? A short extra cover.”

55th over: Australia 202-2 (Warner 122, Smith 45) Did Verreynee drop another down the legside? It was a poor delivery from Ngidi that flicked something on its way through. The keeper moved his feet well and made the ground comfortably but his crocodile clap with two hands failed to snaffle the Kookaburra. The Proteas think it’s a drop, but replays suggest it was thigh pad. Nonetheless, South Africa have not been on it in the field on a day when they can ill afford it.

54th over: Australia 201-2 (Warner 121, Smith 45) Two singles from Maharaj’s over. This pair look content to milk the easy runs on offer while the Proteas melt in the blazing sun.

53rd over: Australia 199-2 (Warner 120, Smith 44) One run off the bat, one off the pads, in an over of toil for Ngidi. More #Daveystats

52nd over: Australia 197-2 (Warner 119, Smith 44) Smith’s charmed life continues when his mistimed mow to Maharaj squirts off the outside edge and lands short of point. Around that the scoreboard keeps ticking over with easy singles.

It’s easy to forget how extraordinary Warner’s career has been. These numbers are incredible.

Thanks Geoff. Plenty happening out there. Unfortunately for South Africa most of the action will be recorded in margins and footnotes. The headline belongs to David Warner and the plot is traveling at great speed Australia’s way. After a day bowling in this fierce heat, the final few hours could be punishing for the Proteas.

50th over: Australia 194-2 (Warner 117, Smith 43) Given out, reviewed, overturned! Rabada appeals after a Smith play and miss. The umpire raises the finger after a long pause. Smith reviews instantly, must have known he’d missed it. Then the review is a short one because it shows that Rabada had overstepped. No ball, even if there was a nick. Smith drives the next ball back under Rabada’s feet for four.

Julian has sent an email. “Hey Geoff, speaking of the forthcoming Ashes series, I believe Marnus Labuschagne plans to play some cricket for Glamorgan again in May and is quite open that it helps him prepare for the Tests. Do you know if any others are likely to do similar? The thought of any assistance for the world’s No1 ranked batter fills me with dread and I long to hear that Ollie Pope or Harry Brook will be playing Sheffield Shield cricket ahead of the next Ashes down under, although I know that can’t/won’t happen. Do you think this needs addressing, as the former ECB CEO Tom Harrison did?”

Well… if we go beyond prima facie, there are a few elements to this. One, there are six Shield teams and 18 counties. The counties need to top up on quality, where the Shield teams don’t really have space if they want to develop their own players. Add the fact that the counties are their own entities, and they want to win trophies and get crowds in. T20 leagues around the world rely on big name imports, and county cricket used to be even more this way in the 1970s and 80s. Thirdly, most of us get annoyed that teams don’t play tour matches to acclimatise these days – so do we want them acclimatised, or not? Personally, if you want to take satisfaction in beating another team, you want to play a really good version of that team. Then it means something.

Anyway, that’s me for the day. Drinks. For the second half, your friend and mind, Jonathan Pliable Howcroft.

50th over: Australia 187-2 (Warner 115, Smith 39) A foray from Smith, down the track and lifting Maharaj over midwicket. Saved inside the rope so it gets him three.

49th over: Australia 183-2 (Warner 114, Smith 36) Warner taking on Rabada when bowling short. Not anything extravagant, a pull and a back cut for singles. Smith mistimes a run to midwicket.

48th over: Australia 180-2 (Warner 112, Smith 35) Reverse sweep from Warner! Certainly freed up since the milestone. Doesn’t get all of it, a couple of runs from Maharaj, then flicks another.

47th over: Australia 176-2 (Warner 109, Smith 34) Yet another three for Warner, he’s worked hard today. Through midwicket from Rabada. Smith finally scores his 34th run after a long time on 33.

Players with a century in their 100th Test match: Colin Cowdrey did it first, and 20 years in advance of anyone else, in the Edgbaston Ashes Test of 1968. Javed Miandad and Gordon Greenidge were next, in quick succession. Alec Stewart and Inzamam-ul-Haq. Ricky Ponting scored two of them, because of course he did. Two South Africans, Graeme Smith and Hashim Amla. Then Joe Root last year. That’s it. Aside from now adding Warner to the list.

46th over: Australia 172-2 (Warner 106, Smith 33) Long on is back for Warner against Maharaj, but he goes that way anyway, swinging hard across the line to hit the ball wide of that fielder for four. Boundary, single, let Smith block the rest. That’s the pattern.

44th over: Australia 162-2 (Warner 96, Smith 33) Warner keeps going, sweeping two runs, driving one that beats mid on. He keeps the strike, on to 96…

43rd over: Australia 159-2 (Warner 93, Smith 33) Nortje hits 155 kilometres an hour, his fastest of the match. That’s 96.3 in sterling. Warner is playing him well though, staying out of the way of the shorter stuff if the line allows, playing right back in order to drop the ball away if it comes at his body. Picking up singles against the barrage, and one of the bouncers that he avoids also clears the keeper for four byes.

42nd over: Australia 154-2 (Warner 92, Smith 33) Mid off is set deep for Maharaj, so Warner is happy to keep walking at the spinner and driving a run there. Slip and a silly mid off for Smith, three in a ring field on the off side, one at midwicket, and three in the deep. Now the bat-pad fielder switches to the leg side. Smith dead-bats regardless.

41st over: Australia 153-2 (Warner 91, Smith 33) Nortje causing trouble, rifling one in at Warner that squeezes from bat to pad and might have gone back towards the stumps had it not also hit Warner’s back leg. Then a yorker that nearly goes through him but Warner gets down onto it, inside edge that goes laterally into the pad and away! This is some contest. Three singles from the over in and around all that.

40th over: Australia 150-2 (Warner 89, Smith 32) A quiet over for Maharaj, one run from it as he keeps bowling flat and fast.

39th over: Australia 149-2 (Warner 88, Smith 32) Nortje keeps topping 150 kph, and Warner can barely lay bat on ball, eventually squeezing out a run. Smith, by contrast, resolutely defends the last ball on the front foot. That must be deflating for a bowler putting in all that effort.

38th over: Australia 148-2 (Warner 86, Smith 32) A correction to our scores: the two leg byes when Smith was facing before lunch were not leg byes, there was an inside edge. I’ve been in to the scorers’ box to get the official word. Runs. Then six more, as Smith shuffles down at Maharaj and lofts the spinner’s first ball after lunch over the rope at long on! Then defends the rest of the over.

37th over: Australia 142-2 (Warner 86, Smith 24) Nortje will commence proceedings again, ready for another five overs of ferocity. He’s in the mid 140s immediately, Warner riding the bounce to deflect a short ball to fine leg. One run. Then shades of the fourth innings at Brisbane as Nortje hits the middle of the pitch and sees the ball fly away behind the keeper for four, this time off Smith’s top edge.

How were your sandwiches? Your tacos? Your late-night brandy and bowl of custard? The sky is blue all over in Melbourne, the sunlight is clear. We’re about to get going again.

36th over: Australia 136-2 (Warner 86, Smith 19) Maharaj bowling fast and flat at the left-handed Warner, who keeps wanting to use his feet. Eventually drives a single. Speaking of scoreboard errors as we were earlier, the big screen has Smith on 21 for those two leg byes, although he’s on 19.

35th over: Australia 135-2 (Warner 85, Smith 19) South Africa getting desperate, they review an lbw appeal that has hit Smith a mile outside off stump. Nearly lunch time. Two leg byes from that shout, and Jansen bowls a wide.

34th over: Australia 131-2 (Warner 84, Smith 19) A quieter over from Maharaj, just the one run from it.

33rd over: Australia 130-2 (Warner 84, Smith 18) Crunch goes Smith this time, and Bavuma lost that. A half chance. He’s standing maybe 20 paces back at short leg. Smith lays into Jansen’s short ball, and Bavuma lost it completely. He falls to his left, more out of self-preservation instinct than anything, and the ball goes to his right. Might have been a catching chance but it might also have taken his hand off. Smith gets four, then uppercuts another four over slips. Enjoying the shorter length, because Jansen beat him with a fuller length earlier in the over.

32nd over: Australia 122-2 (Warner 84, Smith 10) There goes run number 8000 for Warner! Into another club. And he does it in true Warner high-energy style, with another four all run. Keshav Maharaj has come on, the left-arm spinner, and Warner places him through cover for that four, then another three. That might tire even him out.

31st over: Australia 114-2 (Warner 77, Smith 9) More frustration for Ngidi! This time Warner reaches for a ball and edges it back past his leg stump. Picks up four runs for his luck as well. Adds a single, keeps the strike. He rolls on.

30th over: Australia 109-2 (Warner 72, Smith 9) Oooooh. Kyle Verreyne spills a take down the leg side. Short ball, Smith pulling, might have gloved it. I’m not sure that he did, on those replays. I’m looking at a distant screen with a lot of sun glare on it, so tell me if you can see a flicker that I can’t. Either way, Smith remains. Warner had picked up another three runs on the drive before that.

29th over: Australia 104-2 (Warner 69, Smith 8) And Smith moves to 8! A big moment. Drives a single straight off Ngidi.

28th over: Australia 102-2 (Warner 68, Smith 7) And just as suddenly Smith goes against type. Reaches around his front pad awkwardly trying to flick to leg, then pokes a couple of times outside off stump. Doesn’t score from any of those shots. No score off Jansen’s over.

27th over: Australia 102-2 (Warner 68, Smith 7) Similar pattern with Ngidi. Warner knocks a run into a gap, Smith plays passively at the rest. He’s been on 7 for a long while.

26th over: Australia 101-2 (Warner 67, Smith 7) Warner keeps turning over strike. Smith is happy to play a real patience game, leaving Jansen. Still more than 40 minutes until lunch so that’s not the reason. More likely that he doesn’t have a great record against South Africa and is very determined to get a big score against them.

25th over: Australia 100-2 (Warner 66, Smith 7) Another boundary for Warner, this time with points to the batter as he smacks Ngidi through the covers. His best struck shot so far today, it sounded great off the bat. Raises the team hundred with a single.

24th over: Australia 95-2 (Warner 61, Smith 7) Marco Jansen on from the MCC end in a double change. The members have turned out in force again today, that stand is well populated. Aside from that it’s mostly the lower tier on the eastern shaded side of the ground that is full. I’d say 40,000 today? Jansen draws an edge from Smith that lands short of slip, then bowls him a bouncer. That’s the drinks break.

23rd over: Australia 94-2 (Warner 60, Smith 7) That is the end of Nortje for now. Lungi Ngidi replaces him, around the wicket to Warner from the get go, and draws an edge on the bounce through the cordon for four. Moral success, practical failure. Warner taps a run behind point. Collecting, collecting.

“Hi Geoff, is this likely to be the Aussie XI for the first Ashes Test?” asks Adam Mansell.

Pretty much. Generally the first-choice bowling line-up would be Starc, Cummins, Hazlewood, but I’m sure they will want to travel with six seamers to make sure they have injury cover and some ability to vary for conditions. The others would likely be Boland, Neser, and for the quicker option probably Jhye Richardson over Lance Morris. Aside from that there’s only the question of whether Warner goes around again, or finishes up after this home summer. Personally I’d be surprised if he stops.

22nd over: Australia 89-2 (Warner 55, Smith 7) There goes Smith! He’s been playing so well through the covers this season. Does the same to Rabada, nicely timed, no need to run four that time.

21st over: Australia 85-2 (Warner 55, Smith 3) News coming through that Starc has some tendon damage to his finger from the attempted catch yesterday. He can bowl in the second innings if badly needed, but won’t be risked unless they have to. And he will miss the Sydney Test to rehab, which means that Hazlewood and Boland can both play.

Fifth over of the spell for Nortje, who must be tiring. Hurls another couple of thunderbolts, tries a short one, then overpitches and Warner drives through cover. It is fielded just inside the rope but they have time to run four, with the long chase down to the right forward pocket at the Punt Rd end. Just where Jimmy Bartel kicked that point after the siren to beat Hawthorn.

19th over: Australia 76-2 (Warner 49, Smith 0) That one over took about 15 minutes. A long delay to start it after Warner gets sconed by Nortje and the ball flies away for four leg byes. The scoreboard moves him to 51, but nobody applauds. “Very knowledgeable crowd” klaxon. Warner gets a replacement helmet and spends a long time with the doctor, but it was a skimming sort of blow. Eventually he is deemed ok to continue. Labuschagne might argue with that after the run out, but it looked more his doing than Warner’s. Steve Smith is now in the middle.

18th over: Australia 70-1 (Warner 47, Labuschagne 14) Warner nudges a single to get away from Rabada again, and Labuschagne gets to leave most of the rest of the over alone.

17th over: Australia 69-1 (Warner 46, Labuschagne 14) Another three for Warner, checking Nortje through cover and handing strike to Labuschagne, who has his thigh pad battered by the bowler. Can’t say that Nortje isn’t giving his all.

Thomas Meehan has emailed in. “Good morning Geoff, was there a short run to Warner (back from 33*) near stumps yesterday? I must have missed it.”

I did notice that he was 33 on the ground scoreboard last night near stumps, but they wound that back to 32 eventually. There were no short runs, or extras when Warner was facing, so it must just have been a miscount at the ground. I didn’t notice the same mistake on other scorecards.

16th over: Australia 66-1 (Warner 43, Labuschagne 14) Rabada to Labuschagne, who takes a tap-and-run single as if to show Dean Elgar how it’s done. Rabada immediately comes around the wicket to Warner, then bounces him – a bit counterproductive, and Warner pulls heartily, but mistimes it for a single with a sweeper two thirds of the way to the rope at square leg. Rabada goes back to convention for the right-handed Labuschagne, bowling the channel, but the batter is able to pinch another run by dropping the ball very close to the pitch. Warner jumps and knocks one off his hip. Productive first few overs for Australia.

15th over: Australia 62-1 (Warner 41, Labuschagne 12) Nortje heating up with the weather: he cracks the 150 kph barrier three times in that over. The drawback is that he doesn’t make Labuschagne play much, able to leave outside off three times. The last ball of the over, Labuschagne puts bat to ball and picks up three runs in the midwicket gap.

14th over: Australia 59-1 (Warner 41, Labuschagne 9) Gee, Warner looks really good this morning. He has struggled with Rabada to date, got out to him six times in Tests. But hops up to Rabada’s first ball of the morning and cracks it for four. Cut shot. Plays another punch out of the middle, although backward point fields it. Then when Rabada straightens his line, Warner picks off two through midwicket.

13th over: Australia 53-1 (Warner 35, Labuschagne 9) Anrich Nortje to start off the day, South Africa’s quickest bowler with the Shane Warne Stand at his back. Tears in, lets fly, and Labuschagne nicks him for four! Reaches for width and gets a thick edge that hits the gap in the cordon. Labuschagne gets off strike with a bye, then Warner hops up on his toes and punches three runs square. They did a video this week with Australian players asking what Warner’s trademark shot is: it’s clearly that one. Punching behind point with an almost straight bat. I think that Usman Khawaja was the only one who called it right.

And we’re away…

Re the decision to name the Australian Test player of the year award after Shane Warne, it seems like a logical decision. I would have thought the corollary would be to name the ODI award after Dean Jones.

Players heading out to the ground now. South Africa pause just past the boundary for a team huddle, and a lengthy one at that, really drawing together. By the time it ends, Warner and Labuschagne are almost to the middle.

Yeah, proper hot out there. I’ve just had a wander around the ground and I’m sweating like a nightwatchman. Cheerful feeling out there though, a good number of people wandering down through Yarra Park, with its pleasant shaded avenues. You really should get to the Melbourne Test sometime – easier said than done for most, but it’s worth an ambition.

The Dean Elgar bit was remarkable, too. Reached 5000 Test runs having never been run out, then promptly hit the ball straight to Labuschagne at cover and took on his arm. Bad move.

Headline notes: South Africa all out 189, quite a bit of bad batting in there rather than devastating bowling, Cameron Green stepped up when Mitchell Starc went off the field and took five wickets for nothing much.

If you would like to know what happened yesterday, here is this helpful match report that some nice person wrote for you at stumps last night. It’s still fresh for breakfast.