Key events
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.
Lunch – Australia 136 for 2
Australia’s session. One wicket fell, and that was a donation in the shape of Labuschagne’s run out. There were a few edges that didn’t go to hand or back onto the stumps, and Nortje bowled fiercely fast at the start, but Warner took on bowling where necessary and otherwise just set about run-scoring in an unruffled way. Smith has been a bit more twitchy but has played some good shots. The day is getting hotter, and it could get tougher for South Africa. They still lead by 53 but that might not last long.
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.
Just quietly, Steve Smith could get the 210 record for Test catches. Already on 149, only 13 players with more. His per-match rate is higher than all of theirs, and his 91 Tests are far fewer. Could have years more yet.
— Geoff Lemon Sport (@GeoffLemonSport) December 27, 2022
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.
Half century! David Warner 50 from 72 balls
20th over: Australia 79-2 (Warner 50, Smith 2) There goes the ovation! This time the crowd knows that Warner has made his 50, punching a single to cover point off Rabada. 100th Test, 50 runs, another 50 to put an exclamation mark on it. Only four boundaries in the 50, so that relatively high strike rate shows how busy he has been and working gaps in the field.
Smith gets squared up by Rabada and edges through the gap between gully and slip. Tap, tap, bend the knees, tap, tap. Faces up again.
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.
WICKET! Labuschagne run out 14, Australia 75-2
Second wicket falls, a gift. Warner hits the ball through the covers, sprints the first and commits to the second immediately when there’s a chance of an overthrow. Labsuchagne also turns for the second but then almost comes to a stop, looking at the ball instead of down the pitch. By the time that Warner sees his partner isn’t running, they’re standing almost level. Warner thinks about going back, but he’s three quarters of the way down. Labuschagne eventually sprints for the non-striker’s end but Nortje receives the throw and lobs it onto the stumps.
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.
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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.
Preamble
A good Melbourne morning to wherever you may be in the world. It is the day after Boxing Day, which makes it the Boxing Day of Boxing Day if you will. If you won’t… well, I’ve got the keyboard. First of all, let me tell you that it is shaping up to be a scorcher. After weeks of cold weather, the early sunlight in Melbourne today has that particular hard glint that Australian sun gets when it is preparing itself to land hammers on the anvil of the earth below. The temperature is already mid-20s and it has just gone 9am. It’s heading northwards.
How are you feeling? Happy, contented, fat as a lamb? Maybe none of those things. This season isn’t great for everyone, we know that. Having the cricket on is great though, unless perhaps you’re a fan of South African batting, which has been less so. But their bowlers can have a say today.
