Key events
Here’s something for lunch. Scott Boland got things rolling today with the first wicket. Last year at the Boxing Day Test he won the Johnny Mullagh Medal for best on ground, named after the great Aboriginal cricketer of the 1800s. It was especially meaningful because Boland was the first Australian to win it, and was on debut as only the second Indigenous man to play a Test for Australia.
Johnny Mullagh’s real name was Unaaramin. Last month I was in the Victorian country town of Harrow, where he was from, at the museum that commemorates him and the 1868 Aboriginal team that toured England.
Why not spend lunch with the museum manager, Josie Sangster? She can tell you all about those stories, and starts with a very entertaining one about bringing the medal to the game last year.
Lunch – South Africa 58 for 4
24 overs in a session is pretty dire, especially when a spinner has bowled a few, but four wickets will slow things down. The match is progressing far too quickly for South Africa’s liking, anyway.
24th over: South Africa 58-4 (Zondo 0, Verreyne 0) Cummins to Zondo, who defends his way through to lunch without further disaster. Verreyne and Zondo were the two South Africans who took it back up to the Australians for a little while in Brisbane, one in each innings. They have a power of work to do here.
23rd over: South Africa 58-4 (Zondo 0, Verreyne 0) Two newbies to the middle.
WICKET! Bavuma c Carey b Starc 1, South Africa 58-4
Two in two balls. South Africa heading to another sub-150 score here. Fast from Starc, scrambled seam, it cuts across the right-hander. Bavuma just holds his bat still, defensively, but such is Starc’s pace that it the edge carries comfortably to the keeper.
WICKET! Elgar run out Labuschagne 26, South Africa 58-3
Goodness me. I often say that the concept of jinxing is the most boring strand of cricket humour, and it is. But it’s also remarkable that Swamp comes up with that stat, and Elgar’s first run out in ten years of Test cricket comes minutes later. He mistimes a push, you can hear the clunky sound of the bat, and it goes straight to cover. But he takes on Labuschagne anyway. Why? Looks in trouble from the moment he sets off. The fielder has time to steady, aim, and fire down the stumps. Gone by a yard.
22nd over: South Africa 56-1 (Elgar 26, Bavuma 1) Snorter from Cummins! Leaps at Bavuma’s grille and makes him hop. Then goes past the edge. Bavuma hangs in there, and times a drive nicely to follow, but back to the bowler.
21st over: South Africa 56-1 (Elgar 26, Bavuma 1) Starc comes back to try to zip one through Bavuma. Doesn’t do it, Bavuma knocks it away for a single. Played well in Brisbane, needs to back it up here.
Incredible from Swamp.
Career Test runs – no run outs
5482 – Jonny Bairstow
5248 – Kapil Dev
5001 – DEAN ELGAR
4936 – Dinesh Chandimal
4623 – Tom Latham
4537 – Peter May
4259 – Paul Collingwood— Swamp (@sirswampthing) December 26, 2022
20th over: South Africa 56-1 (Elgar 25) Wicket from the last ball of the Green over. Doubt that Elgar is impressed.
WICKET! de Bruyn c Carey b Green 12, South Africa 56-2
That’s junk stuff from the recalled number three. Green bowls halfway short, de Bruyn thinks that it’ll bounce higher than it does, and plays a pull shot. Can’t get any leverage given the length, and he’s trying to fetch it from an off-stump line as well. Cramped for room, no power, top edge, swirls above the keeper a long time before coming down in his gloves.
19th over: South Africa 56-1 (Elgar 25, de Bruyn 12) Elgar is settling into his work here. Had a milestone nearby before the match of 5000 Test runs, and he gets there in this over. Boland keeps his attacking length, bowling relatively full, and Elgar picks off one such delivery to drive straight for four. The crowd wave is already up and going. I’d say we’ve got more than 50,000 in so far.
18th over: South Africa 50-1 (Elgar 20, de Bruyn 11) Almost a catch! Cam Green into the attack, and the new millionaire gets a million-dollar effort from Lyon at point as Elgar slices in the air. Flying across, can’t cling on. Green needs himself fielding to his own bowling, he would have reached that. Elgar gets off strike, de Bruyn smokes Green down the ground and then nudges another boundary off his hip. The highs, the lows.
17th over: South Africa 41-1 (Elgar 19, de Bruyn 3) Boland carries on the lack of scoring, six dots to de Bruyn, but he’s too wide in this over and the batter can happily leave alone. Perhaps trying to tempt him into chasing one, given the previous over.
16th over: South Africa 41-1 (Elgar 19, de Bruyn 3) Elgar faces out a full over from Lyon, blocking away. Off-spinner to the left-hander, Boland to the right-hander, this is ideal for Australia.
15th over: South Africa 41-1 (Elgar 19, de Bruyn 3) Boland is in the game against de Bruyn, who keeps playing outside off stump. Chops a couple past gully, plays some dot balls along the ground into the cordon. The sun has come out in Melbourne and it’s warming up.
14th over: South Africa 39-1 (Elgar 19, de Bruyn 1) Positive from de Bruyn, who sees another short one from Lyon and gets back to muscle a pull shot into the deep. Only problem is that he picks out the one sweeper, Travis Head at deep backward. One run, after Elgar took one and Carey let through a bye.
13th over: South Africa 36-1 (Elgar 18, de Bruyn 0) Boland hits the stumps… and no wicket! Forward defensive from Elgar, the ball goes into the turf and rolls back against his off stick. Another stroke of luck for the visiting skipper, who doubles down by playing a straight drive for four.
12th over: South Africa 32-1 (Elgar 14, de Bruyn 0) Nathan Lyon on early, from the Shane Warne Stand end. Elgar has played him a lot. Gets a rare Lyon short ball to cut for two, then pushes a single.
11th over: South Africa 29-1 (Elgar 11, de Bruyn 0) Less than two overs and he’s into the action. Positive start from Erwee but another low score.
WICKET! Erwee c Khawaja b Boland 18, South Africa 29-1
There he goes! You cannot keep Scott Boland out of the game right now, and certainly not at his own MCG. Erwee gets beaten by a good line and movement one ball, then pokes his bat at the next one. Big edge, third slip, out.
10th over: South Africa 23-0 (Elgar 10, Erwee 18) Not just blocking, is Erwee. Throws the bat at width from Cummins, steering the ball past gully along the carpet for four. Nice timing.
9th over: South Africa 23-0 (Elgar 9, Erwee 14) Here’s Scott Boland! Big ovation for the local bowler at the scene of last year’s great triumph. Erwee doesn’t respect the occasion, darting off for a single to cover. He hasn’t got the memo that nobody is supposed to score off Boland. Elgar compounds the rudeness with a similar shot.
8th over: South Africa 21-0 (Elgar 8, Erwee 13) Cummins tightens the screws in this over to Elgar, using a bit of width and angling the ball in at times, going outside off stump at others, not conceding a run.
7th over: South Africa 21-0 (Elgar 8, Erwee 13) Another nudge from Elgar, another series of leaves from Erwee. It’s not like they’ve raced away, but they’ve negotiated the first half hour with a bit of luck.
6th over: South Africa 20-0 (Elgar 7, Erwee 13) Leaving width, playing when straight: Erwee is doing the basics. Can’t help himself when Cummins drops short though, playing a hook shot and edging just fine of the keeper for four. Then Cummins hits the perfect line, drawing him into a forward push, so nearly edging it behind. In between those two mistakes, Erwee plays a good flick through midwicket for four.
5th over: South Africa 12-0 (Elgar 7, Erwee 5) Starc keeps bowling straight, but through Erwee a couple of times onto the pad. Angling down leg both times, says the umpire. Starc doesn’t argue. Eventually Erwee gets width and reaches for a drive square, netting a couple.
4th over: South Africa 9-0 (Elgar 7, Erwee 2) Trying to get a good stride forward to Cummins is Elgar, after Erwee drives another run. Then Elgar plonks on the front foot too early, and drives back a catch! Bursts through the fingers of the Australian captain. He has to reach high and to his left after Elgar reaches way out in front of his body too early. Not the kind of chance a bowler expects with a new ball, and it goes to waste.
3rd over: South Africa 8-0 (Elgar 7, Erwee 1) Same again for Elgar, nudging one off Starc, then Erwee plays the smallest off-drive down past the bwoler and rushes through for his first run. Starc gets some swing outside the off stump and has Elgar reaching, jamming the ball down into the ground.
2nd over: South Africa 6-0 (Elgar 6, Erwee 0) Elgar escapes strike from Cummins immediately, nudging another leg-side run to send Erwee down for an examination. Cummins hits a decent line to him, just outside the off stump mostly, and Erwee gets to dust off his leave.
1st over: South Africa 5-0 (Elgar 5, Erwee 0) Mitchell Starc with the ball from the Members’ End, loping in to pitch up and see if he can swing it. South Africa’s two left-handers at the crease. No worries for Elgar though, Starc bowling too straight a couple of times and being picked off for a two and a three through midwicket. Better start for SA’s captain than when he gloved one down the leg side in Brisbane.
The national anthems are out of the way, and we’re due to play.
The soundtrack to the Warne video is of course Coldplday: never forget that Chris Martin was in the Dream BBQ mural that Warne had commissioned.
A good crowd in this morning, and the two teams are on the field while the big screen and the PA plays a Shane Warne tribute video. This will be a big part of the next few days – the first Boxing Day Test without him for so long. As a Victorian while playing, Warne was always a huge part of these occasions, and saved some of his best performances for this ground.
“I would have batted first as well,” says Dean Elgar. “A little bit surprised [at Cummins’ decision]. Normally you’d want to bat first and get through the day. It’s going to be nice and hot, so everything is in favour of the batters. We’ve just got to apply ourselves and make the best of conditions that lie in front of us. We’re in a good space with regard to the ball, so hopefully those mental scars are there [for the Australians].”
“It looks like a good wicket, the most that’s going to be in it will be this morning,” was Cummins’ rationale. “Here at the MCG the wicket normally gets better and better. We had to have one Victorian in the side, so Scotty Boland was here. Josh Hazlewood had a couple of good bowls, but once we got closer he put his hand up and said I’m not quite right.”
Teams
Australia unchanged then, and SA bring in de Bruyn for Rassie van der Dussen.
South Africa
Dean Elgar *
Sarel Erwee
Theunis de Bruyn
Temba Bavuma
Khaya Zondo
Kyle Verreynne +
Marco Jansen
Keshav Maharaj
Kagiso Rabada
Anrich Nortje
Lungi Ngidi
Australia
David Warner
Usman Khawaja
Marnus Labuschagne
Steven Smith
Travis Head
Cameron Green
Alex Carey +
Pat Cummins *
Mitchell Starc
Nathan Lyon
Scott Boland
Australia win the toss and bowl
That’s interesting. The pitch is nowhere near as green as Brisbane, but it does look grassy enough from a distance, that kind of patchy grass that has characterised the surface over the last few years. It’s also fairly cool and a bit cloudy right at the moment, mid 20s with a forecast high later of 32, and forecast to be sunny and in the high 30s tomorrow, so maybe Pat Cummins thinks that the bowling conditions will be easier to handle and will hope to be batting by the time it gets hot.
And why not a potentially soon-to-be-redundant argument for David Warner at the top of the order? Another couple of low scores might throw this out the window, but I’m thinking that patience is the right way to go when a player’s record is this good.
How about my now-redundant argument that Boland Must Play ahead of Hazlewood, even if just this once? It could also be classed as Boxing Day leftovers.
If you want to know more about what’s going on in the South African team, with its wildly good bowling and wildly bad batting, here’s Daniel Gallan.
Preamble
Geoff Lemon
Merry Boxing Day. The best part of the season. The sweat and effort of yesterday is behind you, the rush and worry is no more, and leftovers always taste better than the original meal. Time to kick back on the couch, or take a long walk in the hills, or gather in someone’s garden, and keep an eye on the cricket with us.
The principal equation for this Test is pretty simple. South Africa need runs. Their batting has been dross lately. If they can score some, they’re a chance to level up this series. At least they got a nice long break after losing in two days in Brisbane.
Australia want a win. Captain Obvious, yes, but it’s not just about wrapping up this series. It’s that winning here and in Sydney should (as far as my suspect arithmetic suggests) pretty much guarantee them a spot in the World Test Championship final. They have four Tests in India after this, and winning even a match over there is very difficult, let alone a series. If they go there not needing anything from the series for WTC rankings, that would be one less thing to worry about.
Also, milestones! Little Davey Warner is playing his 100th Test. I’m sure that everyone reading this in England shares the Warner love that is enveloping Australia. Or if we concede that neither of those things are accurate, there is still a lot of admiration for what Warner has been able to achieve in Test cricket from unlikely beginnings, even while accounting for the aspects of his career and conduct that have been less admirable. This week can be about the former.
And Scott Boland is playing. On the arena where he took his famous 6 for 7 last year, winning the Mullagh Medal for best afield, it was unthinkable that he would miss out. So much so that Josh Hazlewood apparently ruled himself unfit. He must have been feeling the vibes.
