Geoff Lemon's Blog, page 15

Australia v Pakistan: Boxing Day Test, day two – as it happened

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Inspired Pat Cummins puts Australia on top as wickets tumble on day two of Boxing Day Test

Faster ball from Shaheen and Head reaches for it, getting a thick edge and sending it to the flying Salman at first slip. Loose shot. Great catch!

70th over: Australia 204-3 (Labuschagne 49, Head 17) Here comes Hasan Ali again. One of the new inclusions for this Test, the 29-year-old Punjabi is looking to get a promising 22 Test career back on track after bursting onto the cricket scene as Player of the Champions League in 2017 where he topped the tournament averages with 13 scalps at 14.69. He holds the line well here, five dot balls and then a weird moment only cricket can deliver. A fat white butterfly – perhaps a stand-in for the dove Usman Khawaja wanted on his shoes? – flutters across the line and Labuschagne withdraws late. A dot ball ensues.

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By banning Khawaja’s protest the ICC has boosted his message and revealed its own hypocrisy | Geoff Lemon

The International Cricket Council doesn’t appear to mind personal beliefs, just not when they are applied too specifically and become political

Really, the International Cricket Council could not have done Usman Khawaja more of a favour. Had Australia’s opener been allowed to take the field for the Perth Test wearing shoes with two blandly general phrases about human rights written in pen on the sidewall, a few photos would have been published and that would have been that.

Instead, they banned the move, as well as his subsequent request to adorn his bat with the peace symbol of a dove holding an olive branch. Which has meant that the story has stayed in the news ever since among millions of views for Khawaja’s social media posts on the matter. His aim to publicly protest the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

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Australia v Pakistan: Boxing Day Test, day one – as it happened

Australia compiled 187-3 on a rain-interrupted day at the MCG, as Pakistan impressed with the ball but dropped critical chances

1st over: Australia 5-0 (Warner 1, Khawaja 4) Shaheen spears the first ball down the leg side but there’s definite movement to be glimpsed. Late movement too. Warner gets off the mark with a clip to leg and Khawaja picks up a boundary by playing a length ball with Andrex soft hands into the gap between the third slip and gully.

“Where am I OBOing?” asks a suitably pleased Justin Howden. “Lounging poolside in Sydney’s Cherrybrook with double espresso!”

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Humility and heart: how Nathan Lyon became the quietly turning key to Australia’s success

After years of being doubted – and doubting himself – the off-spinner’s 500th wicket in the first Test against Pakistan has secured his legacy as one of the greats. And he’s not done yet

Looking back, the start of Nathan Lyon’s Test career can seem impossibly long ago. Taking the ball in Sri Lanka in 2011 is a baby version, head ringed in duck down, face thin and anxious. There are glimpses of his future - start with turn away from the left-hander to get Kumar Sangakkara at slip, end with a diving return catch for a fifth. But there is the confusion of his present, a player unsure how to celebrate when each wicket falls, waving his limbs and jumping sporadically like a foal tangled in a fence.

Coming from outside the usual route, playing club cricket into his 20s instead of state age-group in his teens, Lyon for years was unconvinced he belonged. His physical presence has always reflected his jangling nerves: all angles and elbows, an unstuffed puppet with somebody overzealously yanking the strings. The appearance changed, that fuzzy head giving way to the sleek chrome dome that - until that fateful calf tear in London last June - fitted his mechanical reliability. But even before his comeback in Perth last week, on the way to Test wicket 500 and a win against Pakistan, his teammates said he was nervous again.

Back in the early years, he had good reason. For years selectors didn’t fully believe in him, often retaining him because of the lack of alternatives. He was left out for four quicks in Perth in 2012, for Xavier Doherty in Hyderabad in 2013, returned for nine wickets in Delhi, then got dropped for the teenage Ashton Agar for that year’s Ashes. As recently as December 2016 he would have been swept out with the new broom after South Africa thrashed Australia in Hobart; five changes for Adelaide would have been six had the replacement spinner Steve O’Keefe not torn a muscle that week.

Still, each of those exclusions only lasted one or two matches, and after that final flirtation with the abyss he consistently strengthened his position in the side. He was excellent in India in 2017, setting up what should have been a 2-0 lead but let down by his batters, and even better in Bangladesh in a hard-fought 1-1 series. Now fully equipped to bowl in Asia, you could sense the gradually growing belief that he wasn’t one bad day away from being dumped from the side.

With all that insecurity, Lyon has assembled a line of defences as a public figure. Aside from a disastrous few months of attempting trash talk leading up to the sandpaper debacle, he has remained tucked in behind them. With longevity that means he has fronted more press conferences than most, you soon pick up on the repeat lines.

“I can’t bat,” is his preface for any conversation about either team’s work with the blade, disingenuously for a guy who has reached or cleared the boundary 190 times in Tests. “To be brutally honest,” he says ahead of any uncontroversial observation, as if to disclaim responsibility should someone disagree. He gives a good workout to lines about not playing for milestones, and expresses embarrassment at being statistically associated with past greats. This week, looking at the significance of the 500, he allowed himself the indulgence of saying: “It’s something that I’m very proud about.”

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Australia crush Pakistan in first Test as Nathan Lyon takes 500th wicket – as it happened

Australia completed a resounding 360-run victory over Pakistan on day four as spinner Nathan Lyon claimed his 500th Test wicket

What does DRS say? Pitching in line, hitting in line, and clipping the bails, according to Hawk Eye. Smith has to go. But, in now typical fashion, Smith shakes his head as if the world has wronged him, and trudges off at a snail’s pace, holding the bat by the blade with a look of fury in his eye. It’s high time the Australian hierarchy did something about this. Great bowling, Shahzad joining the dots into a wicket. Smith only has himself to blame.

Shahzad continues to probe at Smith, almost inducing a play-on, then finding some seam movement back into the right-hander, smacking into the front pad and getting Joel Wilson to raise his finger! Smith reviews…

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Australia v Pakistan: first Test, day three – as it happened

Despite the loss of David Warner for a duck, Australia are slowly extending their lead after Pakistan’s batters crumbled

58th over: Pakistan 139-3 (Imam-ul-Haq 39, Babar 6) Finally a boundary! And what a shot it was from Babar, stepping down to Cummins fourth ball and cover-driving it to the boundary. The 29-year-old from Lahore is off the mark in style. He chips another two from the last to take six from the over.

57th over: Pakistan 133-3 (Imam-ul-Haq 39, Babar 0) Starc to Imam-ul-Haq who is happy to imitate a wall, getting his front foot down and eyes over the ball. Although his stoicism has been admirable and the occasional attacking shot has caught the eyes, his abysmal running between wickets has been the most entertaining part of his game so far. Four times he’s been involved in vaudevillian mix-ups in the middle. Each time Pakistan survived but it’s clearly heridatary as his uncle Inzamam was equally woeful on the toe. Maybe that’s why Imam doesn’t trust his legs anymore, hence a maiden to Starc.

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Australia v Pakistan: first Test, day two – as it happened

Day Two: Australia all out for 487; Pakistan close on 132-2Imam and Shahzad hold firm in final session

90th over: Australia 369-5 (Marsh 28, Carey 23) The 90th over arrives – roughly 18 hours too late for the umpires but that’s modern over rates for you. Australia have added 22 runs so far with the only close shave an LBW appeal in the day’s first over. Carey continues to grope outside off stump, tempting fate. But Shahzad can’t catch the edge.

89th over: Australia 368-5 (Marsh 27, Carey 23) Shaheen helps Carey find form by plopping a big half volley on a platter for him first ball. The batter nods his thanks and drives it for four. Shaheen’s response is a good one, faster and wider and Carey steps out and swishes. Good duel here. A batter battling for his spot in the side, a bowler sharpening his role as a spearhead.

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Australia finish on 346-5 on day one of first Test against Pakistan – as it happened

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Read our report on day one here.

2nd over: Australia 14-0 (Warner 2, Khawaja 12)

Khawaja has 12 runs from the first over and that aligns with a man averaging over 100 against Pakistan of late. The 36-year-old may have dispensed with the humanitarian slogans of support from his shoes but he is wearing a black arm band in solidarity with the Gaza victims. Here’s Shahzad with his first ball in Test cricket and he’s on target so far, enjoying the bounce of the Perth wicket and zipping it past Khawaja’s edge. His final ball is the best yet, sneaking past Khawaja’s defences and thundering into his belt line. Great first over from the 24-year-old rookie!

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Quiet lead-up to Pakistan series is a strange contrast to Australia’s epic year | Geoff Lemon

If Pakistan can buck history to offer more competition then these Tests could earn their place among the peak moments of 2023

If you’re the sort of Australian cricket observer who only notices the home summer, you might be thinking that the lead-up to this Test season feels strangely low-key. A late start well into December, Western Australian cricket officials publicly nervous about crowds, and coverage fixated on retired fast bowler Mitchell Johnson taking a few potshots at former teammates – none of it reflects anticipation of the series against Pakistan.

If you’re someone who has followed the team’s exploits away from home, you might be almost as exhausted as the players. The year about to end has been an epic. Four Tests in India, six in England, returning the Ashes and yielding a World Test Championship trophy. Then headlong into near on two months of a fifty-over World Cup, winning that too with much the same group of players.

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Cricket World Cup awards: best player, match and moment – our verdicts

Our team of cricket writers pick the outstanding moments and assess the tournament’s future

Mark Ramprakash Rachin Ravindra (New Zealand) was outstanding in the tournament’s opening game and his level barely dropped. He’s a wonderfully talented left-hander, aesthetically very good to watch, who hits the ball with elegant power and has a good head on his shoulders. Throw into the mix some probing left-arm spin and you’ve got a serious talent with a bright future.

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