day nine: Australia take charge

 

Another intriguing day in the third test at Sydney as Australia took patience to Cheteshwar Pujara levels. There is an extent to which you want players to bat all day, but you want them to contribute to scoring runs as well.

One of the downfalls for Joe Denley wasn’t that he didn’t see out important passages of play for England. It was that he wasn’t backing it up with a volume of runs that would have put his team in strong contention. There is no danger of Pujara being catapulted from the India side. There were one or two that wish he would get more of a move on some days. If India had come away from the days play with a lead grinding the Australian attack into the ground, he would be celebrated.

Although Matthew Wade at short-leg would have been whishing for go-go gadget hands, Australia waited for their chances as two potential catches fell agonising away from his grasp.

A series of run-outs took momentum Australia’s way. The first a swooping effort from Josh Hazlewood; barely had the ball hit the palm of his hands than it had rearranged the stumps before Hazlewood or Hanuma Vihari were grounded.

Australia found regular wickets which included two more run outs. Now Australia were in the driving seat, and Marcu Labuchange and Steve Smith were unbeaten at the close of play. It looks ominous for the Indians with their hosts 197 runs in front and two days left to go.

No room

The day was marred somewhat not by the action on the field but events off it. Two Indian players reported racist abuse aimed at them from the crowd. That is clearly out of order. With only a limited number of spectators granted access to the ground, it is not only stupid but unacceptable.

Ireland's second international postponed

Ireland’s second ODI against UAE has been postponed and will be played on Saturday instead. Alishan Sharafu has tested positive for COVID-19. It is the third case within the UAE squad. With the Afghanistan series already pushed back, the game was able to be rescheduled.

Women's game in safe hands in Brazil

There was some talk about how cricket might be ready for the Olympics. That is a long shot still but with the Commonwealth Games including it at Birmingham 2022 who knows. Olympic cricket would need more teams from all over the world to be competitive. So it was interesting to read Hannah Thompson’s interview with Brazil captain Roberta Moretti Avery for the Emerging Cricket website. Here is a link https://emergingcricket.com/insight/brazil-womens-captain-roberta-moretti-avery-on-life-as-a-professional-cricketer/ it is an interesting read.