Geoff Lemon's Blog, page 61

Australia beat New Zealand by 64 runs in third T20 international – as it happened

Aaron Finch (69) and Glenn Maxwell (70) star with batAshton Agar takes 6-30 as Australia pull series back to 2-1

9.18am GMT

A comeback win in the series for Australia, who take the score to 2-1 with two to play. The series stays alive.

A double-header loss for New Zealand, whose women’s team got smashed by England earlier today.

Related: Aaron Finch finds form as Australia stay alive with win over New Zealand in third T20

9.11am GMT

17.1 overs: New Zealand 144 all out (Boult 0) Poor old Trent Boult doesn’t get to face a ball.

9.10am GMT

Kane Richardson finishes it off, bowls a ball going away from the right-handed Sodhi who tries to fetch it to leg, and only sends it a mile up in the air and back down again. Richardson catches it just off the pitch to the leg side.

9.09am GMT

17th over: New Zealand 144-9 (Sodhi 1) That is the first six-wicket haul for an Australian in T20 Internationals. Agar with the national record figures of 6 for 30. Three wickets in his second over, one in his third, two in his fourth, after being whacked around in his first.

9.07am GMT

Six wickets for Agar, as Jamieson steps across to try ramping, misses, and gets hit in front of middle. He reviews to try to deny Agar that wicket but DRS says it’s clipping the bails, even with Jamieson’s height.

9.05am GMT

Chapman is able to dirty up Agar’s figures just a little by nailing a slog-sweep, the longest hit of the night at 94 metres, way up into the stands. But then he improves Agar’s figures by trying it again and being caught. A faster ball getting through the shot before he’s finished it, lobbing up off glove or bat-shoulder to short fine leg, where Zampa nearly misses it but dives away as the wind picks up the ball, and just gets it as a fingertipper above the turf. Great snare.

9.00am GMT

16th over: New Zealand 132-7 (Chapman 12, Jamieson 6) Now it’s Finch’s turn to drop one, down at long-on this time. Comes around as Jamieson clubs it, is under the ball, but fumbles it over the rope for four. Jhye Richardson has to wear another one as Chapman smacks him straight for four more. Then down the wicket to a slower ball and drives two more over the bowler’s head, the ball pitching and stopping and allowing the second run. Yorker last ball and Chapman keeps strike, but he needs 77 from 24 balls to win it.

8.58am GMT

15th over: New Zealand 120-7 (Chapman 5, Jamieson 1) Should have been five wickets in eight balls! Big top edge from Chapman, sweeping, and Riley Meredith at deep square leg hashes it up. Doesn’t read the arc as he comes around the boundary, stops running towards the ball, then realises it won’t land near him and takes off again, too late. Puts in a dive but doesn’t even get hands to it in the end. Agar’s five-for goes through his fingers. NZ only get three runs from his over.

8.54am GMT

That’s four wickets in seven balls for Agar! First ball of his over, Southee tries to clear long-off and doesn’t. Simple.

8.53am GMT

14th over: New Zealand 116-6 (Chapman 2, Southee 5) Meredith finishes his night’s work with 2 for 24, getting in his last over to conceded five runs.

93 in 36 required now.

8.51am GMT

13th over: New Zealand 111-6 (Chapman 1, Southee 1) That’s the game. They need 98 from 42 balls, which would be possible with two good hitters up and firing, but unlikely with spare player Chapman partnered with Southee, even with the latter’s sporadic six-hitting sprees in Test cricket.

8.48am GMT

First ball, third ball, fifth ball! Ish Sodhi got three an over last time out, Agar has done it here today. Neesham hit three sixes to start his innings last time, he’s out first ball today. He has a big drive outside off stump, the left-hander, and gets a little edge through to Wade. He’s not sure if he hit it, talks to his partner on the way off, but isn’t confident enough to review.

8.45am GMT

And that makes it harder still. The main man, Conway, has gone to the slog-sweep as well. This time caught at deep square leg, the left-hander coming across the ball, but again it was the length that undid him, he looked like he expected it to land a bit fuller than it did.

8.44am GMT

That makes it harder. Boundaries needed, Agar gets a ball to dip in towards the earth, and Phillips tries to slog-sweep but hits it far too straight, caught at long-on.

8.42am GMT

12th over: New Zealand 109-3 (Conway 38, Phillips 13) Conway takes the birthright of the left-hander – the ball angled across that he can edge for four. It works a lot more in your favour in short-form cricket than in long. The batting pair start hitting the gaps facing Kane Richardson, getting back for twos. They take 10 from the over and now need 100 from 48. So the equation isn’t out of hand yet for New Zealand, if they get a couple of big overs then they’re in the mix.

8.38am GMT

11th over: New Zealand 99-3 (Conway 33, Phillips 8) Meredith comes back to bowl heat, and he does so. Conway lays into a cover drive and nearly takes Stoinis’ head off. He’s relatively close inside the circle and has less than a second to pick up the ball. Can’t see it, it basically hits his hands and bounces off rather than being dropped. Meredith races through Conway with a bouncer that clocks at nearly 150 kph despite being short. Then the bowler smashes Phillips on the back leg convincingly enough to make Finch take the review, although it supports the umpire’s decision that the impact was too high. Still, three runs from the over. NZ need 100 from 54.

8.31am GMT

10th over: New Zealand 96-3 (Conway 31, Phillips 7) Bang! Maxwell hits, then he gets hit. First ball of the night and Conway slog-sweeps it over midwicket. Maxwell just smiles. He’s bowling his off-breaks around the wicket to the left-handed Conway, coming very wide on the crease and angling it into his toes. Gets a single and a dot, but then the right-handed Phillips goes right back into his crease and heaves away six number two. Manages to make that ball just short enough to get under. That was to get off the mark, too. Three singles as well, and they’ve got back 15 of Maxwell’s 70 runs.

Halfway mark, 113 required from 10 overs.

8.28am GMT

9th over: New Zealand 81-3 (Conway 23, Phillips 0) Four from the over, Phillips to the middle, and NZ need 128 from 66 balls.

8.26am GMT

Zampa is back, with the Wellington wind ruffling his hair, but it doesn’t stop him taking a wicket. I remember him bowling really well here in an ODI back in 2016, might have been his first series for Australia, the second match after Auckland? Picks up one here tonight, a bit of flight, Guptill goes big over cover but doesn’t get all of it, a bit too extra cover, and Agar gets around from long-off to take the catch on his knees.

8.23am GMT

8th over: New Zealand 77-2 (Guptill 42, Conway 20) Stoinis will get a bowl with his medium pace. Lands his first one perfectly, hitting Guptill in the hip as the batsman tries to pull, but it’s not short enough. Goes a bit fuller and hits Guptill on the pad outside the line of off stump. Full toss the third ball, but it’s a low one and spun out of the fingers and Guptill miscues down the ground. Just as it did for NZ in the field, it drops short as Maxwell charges in hoping to catch.

8.17am GMT

7th over: New Zealand 71-2 (Guptill 37, Conway 19) The fielding restrictions are off, the spinner is on, left-armer Agar with the ball. Bowls a shorter ball that Conway deals with majestically, leaning back and flat-bat punching through cover along the ground for four. Agar beats him a couple of times on a perfect length, bouncing over his attempted sweeps, but bowls too full from his final two balls and they’re both smashed! One a cut shot, one a square drive, and the margin for error is very low.

8.13am GMT

6th over: New Zealand 59-2 (Guptill 37, Conway 7) A change of Richardsons with Kane coming on, the change-up specialist. He starts as he means to go on, hitting a hard length, then a yorker, changing his grips. Gets through the over with a wide and singles only.

8.10am GMT

5th over: New Zealand 52-2 (Guptill 34, Conway 4) Two balls left in the over when Conway comes in, and he’s nowhere near the first as it beats his edge and his off stump. The left-hander gropes at that but the line just takes the ball far enough away to spare his woodwork. Conway adapts quickly though, lofting the sixth ball over extra cover for four! One bounce, deliberately lifted. Overpitched from Riley.

8.07am GMT

The spin experiment is over, Meredith is back and thundering into Guptill’s thigh pad. Can’t give him anything shorter than that. Can’t get full, either. It’s a tough situation. Meredith does it again, this time with Guptill backing away to try to create room. The bowler follows him.

The speedo is clocking Meredith at high 140s and into the 150s as far as kilometres per hour go. And he uses that to smash the New Zealand captain on the front pad, right in front of his stumps! The ball purely beats him for pace as Williamson tries to flick across the line. He doesn’t bother to review.

8.02am GMT

4th over: New Zealand 47-1 (Guptill 33, Williamson 9) Jumping Jhye keeps bowling fast and keeps bowling short, so Guptill slashes him for six over third man. Into the cushion on the full. Does better with a ball decking in that Guptill under-edges to the keeper on the bounce, but lets it go with a full toss outside off which is easy to drill through cover for four. The over goes for 14.

7.59am GMT

3rd over: New Zealand 33-1 (Guptill 20, Williamson 8) Adam Zampa to bowl his leg-spin in the Powerplay, as he has done previously in this series. It doesn’t pay off though this time, as Williamson skips down the wicket and plonks him over long-on for six. When Guptill gets his turn he whacks the ball much flatter but just as straight, and Williamson hits the deck like he’s in London during the Blitz to get out of the way of what very quickly becomes a four.

7.56am GMT

2nd over: New Zealand 20-1 (Guptill 15) Riley Meredith to share the new ball, the IPL Brothers in action. He’s shaved the BBL moustache for his international debut. Again he starts alright, forcing a defensive shot from Seifert first ball, then hitting thigh pad and appealing from the second. But Guptill wants to assert himself immediately, shuffling to leg to make room and launching down the ground for six. Over mid-off, absolutely smokes that. Turns over the strike and Seifert backs him up by pulling a single, but then tries to finish the over by going over the leg side and instead gets a high leading edge to point, where Stoinis catches it falling backwards at the edge of the circle. Meredith is on the board for Australia.

7.51am GMT

1st over: New Zealand 8-0 (Guptill 8, Seifert 0) Jhye Richardson starts things off for Australia, bowling at a good pace into the body of Martin Guptill. Keeps him quiet for five deliveries, but the Kiwi opener is able to lift a short ball all the way for six to end the over.

7.41am GMT

What a ride. Aaron Finch got back into the runs, a 69 that would have brought him great pleasure at the same time as bringing pleasure to others. That will be a relief, and might help him relax for his next couple of engagements. Philippe was ropey but effective, then Maxwell came in for an unsure start, quite a few misses, before hitting Beast Mode for a couple of overs that were decisive in the final analysis. He made 40 runs from 10 balls at one point against Neesham and Southee, as part of making 61 from 19 balls in the latter part of his innings after making 10 from his first 11.

New Zealand had a weird night in the field – not many drops, per se, but a lot of skied shots that didn’t get turned into catches. Whether that was entirely luck or was a bit of lacklustre focus, I’m not sure, but there were a couple of moments that suggested the right decisions weren’t being made.

7.36am GMT

20th over: Australia 208-4 (Stoinis 9, Marsh 6) Jamieson with the final over hits his yorker to start, hits the return crease next to draw a fresh-air swing from Stoinis, which forces Stoinis next ball into a big swing, high outside edge to deep point where Conway drops it diving full-length forward. Marsh steps across, anticipating the line, but hits it straight to cover for a dashed single. Stoinis backs away and gets an outside edge for a boundary, then squeezes out a single last ball. Good late pullback from NZ, 14 from the last two overs where Maxwell was threatening to take 30 or 40 from them.

7.32am GMT

19th over: Australia 200-4 (Stoinis 3, Marsh 4) Boult does what he so often does, keeping things quiet late in the innings. One six runs from the penultimate over, with a couple of dot balls, against two very powerful hitters.

7.30am GMT

18th over: Australia 194-4 (Stoinis 1) Only one job for Stoinis, which is to give Maxwell the strike, and he does so first ball. Another short one from Southee that Maxi carves for four over backward point. Southee tries the yorker so Maxwell helicopters it for six, out of the blockhole over wide long-on. Then from the last ball he tries that reverse lift over short third man, and instead gloves it through to the keeper. The show is over, but it was great while it lasted. That most likely has set up a winning score. Stoinis has been part of a 41-run partnership and has made 1.

7.26am GMT

17th over: Australia 181-3 (Maxwell 58, Stoinis 0)

MAX

7.21am GMT

16th over: Australia 153-3 (Maxwell 30, Stoinis 0) Marcus Stoinis to the middle, one ball to come in the over, doesn’t score.

7.20am GMT

Maxwell after missing a conventional sweep shot changes to the reverse sweep and nails it for six. Over deep third. So Finch tries to do the same, given Sodhi’s wide line, but finds short third.

7.12am GMT

15th over: Australia 145-2 (Finch 68, Maxwell 24) What on earth can I say about that? We’ve seen many an inventive shot from Glenn Maxwell, we’re used to him playing reverses and switches. But this is something else again. He shapes to play a reverse lap shot against Southee, not swapping his hands on the bat, but turning the bat 180 degrees in his gloves so it’s facing behind square. Then he lifts the toe of the bat to the sky as though getting ready to ramp it over third man. But he sees it’s a slower ball, meaning his deflection shot might not clear the field. So he changes shot, and rather than holding the bat in place he swings the bat, reverse held, towards third man. Catches up with the ball, and it ends up being more of a reverse swat for four.

Insert bewildered staring eyes emoji.

7.05am GMT

14th over: Australia 130-2 (Finch 68, Maxwell 10) Trent Boult is back, trying out the short ball, and Finch demolishes it. A fierce late cut for four, then a pull shot that’s just as good for four more. Now the timing is working for Finch. He gets off strike, two balls for Maxwell to face. “Come on Max!” shouts Finch for a second run after a nudge to midwicket, but Maxwell has the better view and shouts “No.” Finch back on strike, that means, and he cuts for four! Leans back, late cut, a long way behind point.

7.01am GMT

13th over: Australia 116-2 (Finch 55, Maxwell 9) Maxi is having a shocker against Neesham. Backs away and has to reach for a ball that he squeezes for two, then misses two in a row that just miss the stumps after Maxwell backs away and tries to swing. Three dots in a row as he gets a wide short ball and leaves it, hoping for an umpire’s intervention, but it’s not too short. But the sequence ends with the final ball of the over as Neesham bowls a touch too leg side, and Maxwell just moves across a tiny bit to glance it fine for four. Salvages the over.

6.57am GMT

12th over: Australia 109-2 (Finch 54, Maxwell 3) Sodhi lets one slip. He bowls a full toss at near enough to head height, which Maxwell can only pull away for a single to long-on. They could have pushed for two runs but Finch was pretty happy to settle for one, because now he has the strike for a free hit. And he plays the switch hit for six! Swaps over as the ball comes down, becomes a left-hander, and with Sodhi having dragged it down as well, Finch absolutely poleaxes it over deep midwicket, effectively, though it was deep cover for the right-hander. What a shot.

6.52am GMT

11th over: Australia 95-2 (Finch 43, Maxwell 2) A moment for New Zealand to take a breath as Jamieson’s over only concedes six runs, with Maxwell thinking about settling and Finch hitting a couple pretty close to the infield.

6.47am GMT

10th over: Australia 89-2 (Finch 39) Smart bowling from Sodhi, sees Finch about to charge and so he floats the ball very wide and pulls back the length. Finch gets some bat on it to avoid a stumping, but only a single. Then good accuracy as Sodhi lands one right on the return crease to Philippe, who can’t score more than one. The batsmen try the sweep against Sodhi but that doesn’t work too well either. Philippe doesn’t know what to do with the wide line and keeps trying to drag it back to leg. He gets yet another lucky moment as he skews one straight and it lands between long-on and long-off converging. But his luck runs out from the last ball of the over, trying the same shot, and this time Guptill from long-off gets across to take the catch low to the turf sliding across the grass.

6.42am GMT

9th over: Australia 84-1 (Finch 37, Philippe 40) Jamieson again, overpitched again, and Finch lifts it over midwicket. “Three, three, three,” he calls, with deep square leg having a long trek around, but it beats that man for four. Down the wicket comes Finch next ball, skipping at a huge fast bowler, and nails it for four! That’s out of the middle, over cover. Though if he’s feeling good, it doesn’t help him next ball when he throws the bat and squirts a couple of runs past his stumps to fine leg. Jamieson pulls the length back at long last, in at the thigh pad and keeps Finch to a single. Again Philippe tries to keep up with the scoring rate, and again he gets lucky, trying to pull and this time getting a high top edge that lands between midwicket and long-on running at the ball. Two runs from that, and two from yet another lucky shot as Philippe whips in the air wide of Boult at long-on, bouncing just in front of the fielder.

6.37am GMT

8th over: Australia 69-1 (Finch 26, Philippe 36) “Oh, you bastard,” mutters Aaron Finch to the ball as he tries to force down the ground and miscues it for a single. Hasn’t hit one cleanly out of the middle today, boundaries notwithstanding. Ish Sodhi is bowling his leg-spin. Singles and a double to the cover boundary, seven from the over. Nice score.

6.35am GMT

7th over: Australia 62-1 (Finch 21, Philippe 34) Runs starting to flow! The 50 partnership comes up as Neesham keeps bowling on a length outside off stump and Philippe keeps spanking him. A cut shot so fierce that there’s barely time to blink before it hits the rope, then a decent cover drive lofted over the man in the circle. 15 from the over including a no-ball and the subsequent free hit that goes for two. Neesham 25 from his two overs so far.

6.29am GMT

6th over: Australia 47-1 (Finch 21, Philippe 21) Kyle Jamieson on to bowl, the towering figure that he is. Had the yips badly in his first two matches this series, we’ll see whether the time off has helped. Lands a hard length first ball outside off, and Philippe plays it on the rise through cover. Gets three runs. Jamieson overpitches to Finch and he hits straight for four again! Again not perfect contact, you can tell from the sound of the ball, but enough. Williamson has long-off back for Finch now, but he aims for long-on and the slight mistiming takes it straight, but not enough for long-off to get across and catch. Drops a single, then Philippe tries to match Finch’s hitting but crucially he goes across the line a bit, not straight. Gets a huge outside edge that goes dozens of metres up, but lands safely between the keeper getting back and Trent Boult coming up from deep third.

6.24am GMT

5th over: Australia 38-1 (Finch 15, Philippe 17) Jimmy Neesham is on early with his medium pace. Dishes up a comfy one, half volley outside off stump. Finch cue-ends it a bit, it sounds clunky off the bat, but he’s hitting straight rather than across the line, and gets enough to just clear the rope at long-off. Would have been a catch had the field been back, but that’s the benefit of the Powerplay for the batting side. He tries again, does Finch, against a wrist-spinning slower ball, and skews it this time, up high but very straight once again, and it lands safely inside the rope right behind the bowler, and trickles into the cushion. Four. “No, that’s a bad shot,” he says as he tries to steer behind point and finds the field. He practices another straight drive. Just wants to use that area of strength of his, down the ground: the marker of almost every good innings he’s played has been straight drives at the start. The two scoring shots and four dots from the Neesham over, 10 runs in all.

6.20am GMT

4th over: Australia 28-1 (Finch 5, Philippe 17) A big of his Sixers style from Philippe! On the pads from Boult, and the batsman lifts it off his pads with lovely timing over square leg for six. That comes after knocking two runs to square leg. Boult burrows through onto the pad but his appeal is turned down, just a bit too leg-side from the left-arm bowler. He overpitches looking to repeat the dose and Philippe lifts two down the ground, then whips four through midwicket! Along the ground that time, a couple of perfect bits of timing in that over.

6.17am GMT

3rd over: Australia 14-1 (Finch 5, Philippe 3) Southee continues and he beats Philippe with a beauty. Angles in, swings away, past the outside edge and the off stump. Then has Philippe squeezing a dot ball off the inside edge. Finally the new batsman gets a run, pushing to mid off, and then Finch advances to chip over mid-off for four. No power in the shot, just pushes it away down the ground. His first scoring shot. They trade singles thereafter.

6.14am GMT

2nd over: Australia 7-1 (Finch 0, Philippe 1) Enter Ryan ‘Cruel Intentions’ Philippe, who gets off the mark against Boult stabbing a single off his pads. New Zealand’s opening bowlers making it tough.

6.12am GMT

The ball is swinging, and it does the damage! Boult pitches up first ball of the over and is driven for four, great shot, but he adjusts the length immediately. Wade leaves one swinging away, then pushes at the next, on the up. Gets the thick edge to first slip.

6.09am GMT

1st over: Australia 2-0 (Wade 1, Finch 0) Righto, away we go. Tim Southee starts the day to the left-handed Wade, sparing Finch the immediate strike. Starts with a wide, then gets some inswing to Wade that takes a couple of attempts to get away. Finally a single, and Finch has to face the music.

Huge appeal for lbw! First ball! Given not out! He gets oh so lucky. Southee was so confident that he does a Stuart Broad, running down the pitch arms raised before finally looking back as he reaches the batsman. Angle into the right-hander, swinging back and straightening, and the umpire says that the angle was just too much to the leg side. NZ review, and DRS says it’s hitting leg stump pretty firmly but not quite enough, and it’s umpire’s call. Finch survives!

6.03am GMT

Tomorrow will be the last instalment in the India-England Test series too, all on the OBO of course.

Related: Joe Root urges England to deliver 'monumental' end to India series

5.40am GMT

For NZ, the Santner swap for Chapman that we mentioned earlier has taken place. Keep an eye on his bowling if called upon. Neesham might be bowling more today than he has been. For Australia, Riley Meredith makes his debut which is great, but Sams misses out. Peculiar. His left-arm pace did go for a bunch of runs, I guess, and that’s his strongest suit. But his work with the bat was outstanding.

Australia
Aaron Finch *
Matthew Wade +
Josh Philippe
Glenn Maxwell
Marcus Stoinis
Mitchell Marsh
Ashton Agar
Jhye Richardson
Kane Richardson
Riley Meredith
Adam Zampa

5.34am GMT

The coin lands for Kane Williamson, who says that given it’s a drop-in pitch and it will have three matches played on it, he’d like a look at it as a fielding team before having to bat. They’ll chase today, unlike the way they won the first two matches.

5.31am GMT

You can email or tweet me as per the details in the sidebar, it sometimes gets a bit too hectic in T20s to keep up, but I’d be glad to read your responses to the game as we go.

5.10am GMT

It has been six long days, almost an entire week, since the Stoinis and Sams show at Dunedin turned a routine New Zealand win into a thriller. (New Zealand still won.) The touring Australians are 2-0 down with three to play, so you can probably do the maths about the necessity of winning today in order to remain a chance of winning the series. For that to happen, some things will need to chance. Mostly that the players picked for their batting need to make some runs. Three wickets in an over in Dunedin, an early collapse of 4-19 in Christchurch before that, and lots of talk around Aaron Finch’s diminishing opportunities to find a score in this format and ease any doubts about him captaining the team to the T20 World Cup later this year.

One variable in the equation, and one thing that could perhaps reduce New Zealand’s home advantage, is that all three remaining matches will be played in Wellington. NZ’s minor virus outbreak means that moving around the country is not advised, thus they’ll stay put. It also means there will be no crowds in for the remaining games, so that will affect the players on the field. Whether a silent stadium will help the visiting team by levelling things up, or make it harder to find the required intensity, is entirely speculative. Reports from the first couple of games involved a lot of abuse coming over the fence, so at least there won’t be any more of that.

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Joys of Twenty20 cricket laid bare in explosive Dunedin encounter | Geoff Lemon

A reminder, if it were needed, of the merits of cricket’s shortest format was delivered on a glorious day at University Oval

You’re not supposed to like 20-over cricket. You know the story: too loud, too shallow, too much money, ruining proper techniques and concentration spans. Especially lamentable when played between national teams who should be doing something more dignified. All that stuff we’ve heard for what will soon be 20 years. But on a sunny afternoon when you have nothing to think about, 20-over cricket can be something else.

That sunny afternoon might come at University Oval. Grass banks most of the way around to lie on, a single low-rise pavilion with gables supporting a terracotta-coloured roof. It is not the sort of venue you would associate with international matches. It is the kind of ground you would associate with Dunedin, that quiet town on New Zealand’s South Island that would probably not be overly demonstrative if you failed to call it a city.

Related: New Zealand fireworks prove too much as Australia fall just short in T20 run chase

Related: New Zealand beat Australia by four runs in second T20 international – as it happened

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New Zealand beat Australia by four runs in second T20 international – as it happened

Australia fall just short in remarkable run chaseNew Zealand victory in Dunedin opens up 2-0 series lead

4.38am GMT

We’ve got a bit of a wait until the next episode, which will be next Wednesday in Wellington. Then Friday and Sunday.

The break is because New Zealand’s women are playing England women here tomorrow in an ODI, but again a couple of days after that. They’ve got six games in the time that the men have five.

Related: New Zealand fireworks prove too much as Australia fall just short in T20 run chase

4.33am GMT

That match had no right to be a thriller. None at all. The Aussies were 113 for 6 after 13 overs chasing 220. They needed 107 from 42 balls. And they ended up getting 102 of them. Stoinis and Sams put on 92 of them in six overs. What a remarkable effort. In the end it was the experience of Boult that was decisive, getting NZ a cheap over when they needed one. There were just enough deliveries that the two batsmen on fire couldn’t get away, those full tosses that found the field. Can’t blame them though, they’re the two who made an impossible win briefly possible.

Put the result down to Guptill and Williamson and Neesham, too, who got NZ enough runs to begin with on a small and fast-scoring ground where a big score was needed. A brilliant day’s entertainment in the end, and a good crowd in for it. The Australian concerns about a captain out of confidence and a middle order made of wet cardboard will persist.

4.27am GMT

20th over: Australia 215-8 (J. Richardson 4, K. Richardson 0) Only one ball remaining with nine runs to win when the Richardsons combine, and Jhye drives it square for four.

Neesham does the tough job! Conceded 10 from the final over but got both the batsmen who were worrying New Zealand.

4.25am GMT

More important than the wicket of Sams was the dot ball. Leaves them needing 15 off 5. The batsmen cross. Stoinis is on strike. He gets one down the leg side and it’s not called a wide! Umpire says he moved across, which he did. Would it still have been wide if he didn’t? Then Stoinis finds the field and refuses the single.

Three balls left, 15 to win. He hits the first for six. Huge over the leg side. Gorgeous shot. Length ball swung away.

4.21am GMT

Ohhhhhh wicket first ball! Jimmy Neesham has not bowled today. He’s been asked to come on for his first over and defend 15 to win the game. He’s rusty. It doesn’t work. He bowls a shin-high full toss. Sams gets plenty of it, high over the leg side, but not enough! It’s caught on the rope!

4.17am GMT

19th over: Australia 205-6 (Stoinis 72, Sams 41) Southee with two overs to go. Gets wided outside off stump. That wasn’t a wide if the ones in the first innings weren’t wide. Stoinis standing on off stump or outside. Southee bowls well to start, conceding a couple of singles by bowling width, then goes straighter thinking of leg stump perhaps, and Stoinis is good enough to flick it for four! The field was up back there and he beats it.

Slower ball, dug into the track, and Stoinis pounds it for six! Gets back, pull shot, has time to line this up as he has done so often in the BBL, and sends it into the pavilion.

4.13am GMT

18th over: Australia 190-6 (Stoinis 60, Sams 39) Tension mounting here. Stoinis desperate to get a boundary away. He absolutely smokes one to deep point, but to the field. Single. Sams gets one, Stoinis nails another but straight to cover in the ring! Dot ball! Then Stoinis slips turning for a second run and they can’t get back.

Boult is the bowler. Hitting the blockhole now. Hard to get under. Sams drills him straight.

4.08am GMT

17th over: Australia 184-6 (Stoinis 57, Sams 37) Kyle Jamieson back on. This is a big call, but Williamson doesn’t want to risk asking him to bowl at the end. It could still cost NZ now. Stoinis, drives him through cover for four!

Second ball, big drive, outside edge for four!

4.03am GMT

16th over: Australia 167-6 (Stoinis 47, Sams 30) Southee is back, mixing up his pace. Stoinis steps across and lifts a length ball over backward square for four. He can’t get hold of a wider slow ball and you can hear his shout of frustration through the stump mic as it goes for one run to point. But that brings Sams on strike, who sends Southee up into the camera deck on top of the stand! Huge shot, full ball, at the stumps, a clean swing through it sends it soaring. He slices two runs away behind point to follow, then hits the next one for six over cover! Full, outside off, plenty of room, and beautifully hit. Southee pulls back his length, aims at the body, and Sams pulls him for six more! Slower ball, waits for it, rocks back and destroys it. 25 from the over, and they need 53 from 24 balls.

3.58am GMT

15th over: Australia 142-6 (Stoinis 42, Sams 10) Stoinis is still there, and there’s only one recipe for him: hit sixes. So he does, twice in the over against Sodhi, pulling the ball powerfully over wide long-on! The second of them goes up into the pavilion! Those are very hard shots to get the power into from a spinner bowling slowly, but Stoinis has the power. Sams ices it with four over cover, the over nets them 20 runs, and they need 78 from 30 balls.

3.55am GMT

14th over: Australia 122-6 (Stoinis 28, Sams 5) Boult is back, and the only boundary from the over comes from Jamieson misfielding at third man. He’s had two shockers in a row. But so have the Australians. They need 98 in 36 balls.

3.52am GMT

13th over: Australia 113-6 (Stoinis 24) A collapse of three wickets for one run there from the Aussies. They need 107 in 42 balls.

3.51am GMT

Three in the over! Not often as a bowler that you inflict two golden ducks following another wicket and that doesn’t equal a hat-trick. But three in four balls for Santner as Marsh tries to nudge a wide that was going down the leg side, and nicks it to the keeper. Santner won’t get a chance at a hat-trick because this is his last over, but it’s a triumph.

3.49am GMT

Stoinis takes a single after the batsmen cross, then Agar goes first ball! The left-hander sent up the order to go for broke, and he does, but pulls a ball into the midwicket sweeper’s hands, Conway with a second.

3.48am GMT

Gone! Wicket for Santner as Philippe tries to go over cover and slices it to the man in the deep.

3.46am GMT

12th over: Australia 107-3 (Philippe 45, Stoinis 18) Here comes Marcus Stoinis! He’s got the power, when he gets the timing. A swat-drive down the ground along the turf, a full toss drilled through cover, then a short one that lets Stoinis just play a short-arm jab that clears the rope at long-on for six! The over costs 15.

3.41am GMT

11th over: Australia 92-3 (Philippe 45, Stoinis 3) Santner finishes the over well, singles from each ball after a wicket from the first. The required rate keeps ascending. Australia need 128 from 54 balls.

3.40am GMT

The big wicket falls! Maxwell played that one-knee reverse sweep so well against India earlier this summer, scoring with it prolifically. This time he’s just a foot shy on the elevation. Sodhi is in the circle at short third, Maxwell aims to clear him, it’s over Sodhi’s head but he manages to get up and cling onto a pearler. New Zealand right on top!

3.35am GMT

10th over: Australia 87-2 (Philippe 43, Maxwell 3) Jamieson back to bowl to Maxwell. Teams think that he doesn’t like short bowling. He hits a lot of it for six though. Finds point first ball, then digs out a single. Philippe can’t score off the next. Too many dot balls stacking up for Australia. Philippe goes over backward point, hustles back for two, and crashes into keeper Tim Seifert as the throw comes in from Sodhi. Philippe goes again, another miscue down the ground, but mid-off is in the circle for him and Williamson running back can’t get there for the catch, or reel in the boundary.

3.31am GMT

9th over: Australia 79-2 (Philippe 36, Maxwell 2) Right then! They need more than 12 an over, Maxwell is at the crease, and the spinners are on. Philippe is up and running too, taking Santner down the ground for four with a bit of a hoick. Maxwell has a look, takes a couple of singles. Philippe gets wided while appealing for a caught behind with Philippe driving extravagantly, then Philippe tries to hit the seats down at long-off but miscues into space over the bowler’s head. Not much out of the middle.

3.28am GMT

8th over: Australia 70-2 (Philippe 30) Ish Sodhi on to bowl, the skiddy leg-spinner who picked up four wickets when Australia were on the rack the other night. Philippe cuts away a couple of runs through a diving Santner at backward point. Turns over the strike and Finch cuts a brace to deep cover. Everything is going off side thanks to Sodhi’s line thus far, happy to stay wide outside off. He gets pinged by the umpire for going too far across, then Finch leaves the next ball. He’s deep into the 8th over and has only 12 runs to his name, how often would that have happened? So from the last ball of the over he goes back and tries to pull over the leg side. Really heaves at it. No timing. And it ends up in the hands of deep midwicket.

3.22am GMT

7th over: Australia 64-1 (Finch 10, Philippe 27) Santner on to bowl his left-arm spin, and Philippe drives him over cover for six! Top shot, calmly struck. The Kiwis go upstairs for a DRS when Philippe misses a sweep shot while kneeling. That ball probably hit his glove, hit him outside the line, and was going over the stumps. Aside from that, great review. Philippe sweeps again, this time getting a top edge over a vacant slip for a couple of runs. Then forces a single to keep strike, 11 from the over.

3.18am GMT

6th over: Australia 53-1 (Finch 9, Philippe 17) Great over from Boult to finish off the Powerplay, only three singles from it. Jamieson is really keeping Australia in the match at the moment. They still need 12 per over from here.

An earlier note from Ben Macintyre. “On Guptill – for a player who’d been so out of form this is one hell of a statement innings. No need to perform domestically when you can take it to the Aussies I guess. Conway who?”

3.13am GMT

5th over: Australia 50-1 (Finch 8, Philippe 15) Still no fun for Kyle Jamieson. Six, witha. stroke of fortune, as Philippe pulls high off the top edge over the keeper. Six more with fortune playing no part at all, as Philippe picks up a fuller ball beautifully off his pads over deep square! He didn’t make runs on debut but his next chance is going much better. There’s 50 up, going at 10 per over, broadly up with the required rate.

3.10am GMT

4th over: Australia 35-1 (Finch 7, Philippe 1) A very good over for Southee, two runs from it and the wicket.

Royce Hart, not his real name I suspect, writes in. “Surely this was a game for Wade to sit out, he seemed to add nothing with bat, gloves or brain in Game 1, and Phillipe can take the gloves. Maxi to VC. Turner could have batted for Wade so we have a strong tonking middle order, making it safer for the top 7 to all go hard at it.”

3.06am GMT

It’s a day for wicketkeepers to get out like that. Wade falls in exactly the way that Seifert did, trying to bash what was almost a cut shot over the off-side field, not getting enough of it, and finding mid-off. Josh Philippe to the crease early.

3.02am GMT

3rd over: Australia 33-0 (Wade 24, Finch 6) Kyle Jamieson to bowl, the six-foot-eight monster. He was pretty erratic the other night but he can swing the ball and he gets serious bounce. Bowls short first ball, and Wade steps across and lifts it over the keeper! Premeditated the length of that ball, I fancy. But it works this time. And Jamieson has bowled a no-ball! Overstepped by a long way. Then follows that up with a wide, so he has to rebowl it. Finally hits his spot, steepling bounce, and Wade swishes underneath that ball. So, only the two extras, could have been worse.

It gets worse. Wade steps across again and lifts him for six! Same shot, that sort of deflection pull shot, getting under the ball after getting inside the line of it. Then threads him through cover when Jamieson bowls fuller, nearly getting four but it’s well saved on the rope. Eight-ball over, 16 runs from it.

2.55am GMT

2nd over: Australia 17-0 (Wade 11, Finch 5) No deep square leg for Trent Boult bowling, so his short ball gets pulled by Wade for four. Easy enough. One slip in position, Guptill fairly wide at about second. Boult tries a bouncer but gets wided, then bowls another halfway short delivery and gets pulled for four more! It’s not usually Boult’s length, a strange start for him. Hits a standard length at last and it nearly brings Finch undone racing to the striker’s end, with Neesham’s underarm hitting the stumps after Wade drops the ball to point. A dozen from the over with three singles and the wide plus the two boundaries.

2.51am GMT

1st over: Australia 5-0 (Wade 1, Finch 4) Tim Southee to start off with the ball, and he holds up Wade for a couple of deliveries before drawing a pull shot to a well placed deep square fielder. Finch charges first ball and is hit on the pad, but is able to get bat on the sixth ball of the over and glance it fairly square rather than fine for four. Off the mark with a boundary, that might help.

2.44am GMT

What a performance from New Zealand. Guptill was in Destructo-Mode, Williamson backed him up perfectly, and then Neesham at the end – 45 runs from 16 balls, a Laxman-respecting strike rate of 281, or by another metric he was scoring at 16.86 per over. He hit six sixes in that 45, including three in his first three balls.

The bright side for Australia? They can just clear their minds and hit.

2.40am GMT

20th over: New Zealand 219-7 (Neesham 45, Jamieson 0) Daniel Sams will bowl the last over: left-armer coming around the wicket to a left-hander, looking to angle one way across Neesham and make him hit off side. The umpire pings him for width first ball, which seems harsh on the replay. Reckon that was within the line. Sams tries again, and this time Neesham has a solution. He knows that the ball will come across him at a full length, and in the end it’s a full toss, making things easier. Neesham is already in position, bat face turned to see the sky, and he plays a reverse ramp shot over third man for six!

What. A. Shot.

2.29am GMT

19th over: New Zealand 199-6 (Neesham 32) The over comes to an end with Santner, first ball, trying to loft a six and hitting it higher than long. Maxwell from long-on comes in for a comfy catch. The Richardsons have dragged this back to some extent, at least.

2.27am GMT

Two overs to go, and Neesham has 30 from 10 balls. Kane Richardson keeps the brakes on, getting Neesham driving back and hitting the bowler, dot ball, might even have been a catching chance? Firmly hit. Then Richardson has Neesham miscue a pull shot to mid-on for a single, before Conway reaches for a wide one looking to slash it, and only coughs up a catch to third man in the deep.

2.23am GMT

18th over: New Zealand 195-4 (Neesham 30, Conway 1) Jhye misses his length once in the over, a high full toss that Neesham can flick away for four to deep midwicket. But still: a single, a wide, a boundary, three dots and a wicket from the over. A triumph in the circumstances.

2.20am GMT

Good bowling. Phillips is taking guard on off stump, so Jhye bowls really wide. Gets wided by the umpire once, but gets some latitude on a couple more deliveries given the batsman’s stance. Fourth ball, Phillips tries to go across to scoop the yorker length, but this time Richardson fires it straight, missing the shot completely and taking leg stump.

2.18am GMT

17th over: New Zealand 189-3 (Neesham 26, Phillips 8) For a moment, Kane Richardson has it under control. He knows that Neesham likes to go leg side, so he angles it way across the lefty. Changes pace. Gives him nothing to work with. For two balls. Then Neesham pounds a pull shot for his fourth six! Gets just about yorked for a single, and the right-handed Phillips picks up a ball off his pads for six more! Over midwicket. This is crazy hitting!

2.15am GMT

16th over: New Zealand 175-3 (Neesham 19, Phillips 2) The wicket of Williamson comes in the over, but only after Neesham had made it three sixes from three balls, destroying his first from Zampa with a slog-sweep. Then absolutely nails his fourth ball flat, on the bounce, but the boundary rider at deep mid cuts it off.

2.12am GMT

Strange sort of shot from Williamson, doesn’t play anything big, maybe just looking for a single to put Neesham on strike? Gets stuck on the crease, almost overbalances before the ball arrives, and it’s short enough to give the wrong ‘un time to turn back into the batsman. It does so, Williamson prods, inside edge, onto his stumps.

2.09am GMT

15th over: New Zealand 163-2 (Williamson 50, Neesham 12) You don’t think of Williamson as a speedster but 50 from 32 is not the work of an accumulator. He gets his milestone, then Guptill falls. Will that slow down New Zealand? Errrrm, no. Jimmy Neesham pounds his first two balls for six! Left-hander versus left-armer, and Neesham pulls the first one over wide long-on, then whips the next over deep backward square leg. He’s 12 from 2!

2.06am GMT

Massive wicket with just more than five overs to go! Sams bowls a good first few balls, singles and then beats Guptill outside off, so Guptill tries to launch the fourth ball straight. Gets a good piece of it but not quite enough this time, and Stoinis at long-off claims it on the rope. No century for Guptill, would have been his third in T20I cricket, but he’ll have to be content with two so far.

2.01am GMT

14th over: New Zealand 149-1 (Guptill 96, Williamson 49) Zampa is back and he’s bowling well. Bravely, too. Flights a ball right in at the toes of Guptill, darts flatter ones at Williamson’s pads, concedes a wide when he’s trying to get Williamson stumped, has only gone for six from five balls, but bowls the final delivery on a tasty length and Kane plays the slog-sweep that carries just a metre or so over Maxwell’s head on the rope at deep midwicket for six. The hits keep coming!

1.57am GMT

13th over: New Zealand 137-1 (Guptill 93, Williamson 41) A change of Richardsons, Jhye into the attack, bowls a decent sort of floating delivery on a length that doesn’t bounce much, but Williamson clocks the pace on it, dips at the knees, and still manages to pull it over midwicket for six! Caned! Williamson is almost run out after that, short at the non-striker’s end after Finch throws from deep on the circle at mid-off, but the throw misses. The change of strike lets Guptill get under a wide yorker and slice it over point for four.

1.53am GMT

12th over: New Zealand 123-1 (Guptill 87, Williamson 33) It just will not stop raining sixes at Uni Oval! Guptill gets lucky on the first one, a short ball that he tries to flip-pull away over backward square, but instead it hits almost the inside shoulder of the bat, up near the gloves, and flies over the keeper into the sight screen on the full. That’s a ridiculously clean miscue. Nothing miscued about the next though, as Richardson bowls a proper slot ball and Guptill just dismisses it down the ground into the other sight screen. Richardson tries for width but misses his length, and Guptill scorches the wide full toss through cover for four! Before all of that, Williamson had placed a cut shot fine for three runs after a couple of singles. 21 from the over!

1.46am GMT

11th over: New Zealand 102-1 (Guptill 70, Williamson 29) Marcus Stoinis comes on with his medium pace. Williamson pulls two runs to midwicket, top-edgy, then miscues a scoop that Wade almost gets forward to catch. Bowling to Guptill will be the challenge, though, and he duly goes for six! There’s that shot across the line. It isn’t very short from Stoinis, only about waist-high in bounce, but Guptill pulls it anyway over square leg. Stoinis goes short again, slower ball, well outside off stump, but Guptill fetches it over the leg side anyway. That can be a hard shot, but when a player has arms as long as Guptill they can really get power into that, and it disappears over wide long-on. Huge score coming, hundred up, 17 from the over.

1.42am GMT

10th over: New Zealand 85-1 (Guptill 57, Williamson 25) Brilliant stop by Finch at cover denies Guptill a boundary, keeps him to one. Then smart batting from Williamson: he fakes moving to the leg side, then comes back across to off. Agar has tried to follow him towards leg, which means that Williamson ends up with a leg-stump pie that he can kneel down and loft with a sweep over backward square leg for four. Into the mood, he skips down the wicket to drive Agar for six! Another simple shot, we haven’t seen any slogging across the line when these batsmen have wanted to attack. The over costs 13.

1.38am GMT

9th over: New Zealand 72-1 (Guptill 56, Williamson 13) Daniel Sams bowls an over that’s either pitched up yorker length or dug into the pitch back of a length. He bowls one horror full toss, should have been a no-ball just about, outside the off stump, but gets away with it thanks to a deep point who protects the boundary. Six from the over.

1.35am GMT

8th over: New Zealand 66-1 (Guptill 52, Williamson 11) Jhye Richardson gets the relief of getting to bowl mostly to Kane Williamson, which isn’t a frequent sentiment you’d hear expressed in any form of cricket. Williamson cuts a loose short ball for four but the over only goes for seven runs. That feels like an Australian win in the circumstances.

1.33am GMT

7th over: New Zealand 59-1 (Guptill 50, Williamson 6) Zampa to continue to Guptill and...

THAT HAS GONE INTO THE CAR PARK.

1.27am GMT

6th over: New Zealand 45-1 (Guptill 37, Williamson 5) Whackity whack. Agar’s frugal start does not continue. Guptill again plays that really simple drive through the line, not swinging too hard, just timing the ball over long-off for six. Then backs away from a shorter ball and cracks it through cover point for four.

1.25am GMT

5th over: New Zealand 30-1 (Guptill 24, Williamson 3) And a good over from the leg-spinner Adam Zampa. Gets away with a full toss first ball that only costs him a single to deep midwicket, but thereafter he lands them nicely. Draws a thick inside edge past Guptill’s stumps for a couple, and otherwise only concedes a few singles.

1.20am GMT

4th over: New Zealand 25-1 (Guptill 21, Williamson 1) Kane Richardson bowls out the over well. Guptill gets one boundary, but miscued, aiming over mid-on but instead getting a leading edge over mid-off. Then he nicks the final ball of the over but it’s a low-pace slower ball and so it bounces through to Matthew Wade behind the stumps.

1.18am GMT

First ball of the other Richardson’s day and he gets a wicket. Bowled back of a length, a slightly slower variation, and Seifert wants to muscle it over the off-side field with everyone up in the ring. Doesn’t make good contact with the cross-bat shot and only skews it away to mid-off.

1.15am GMT

3rd over: New Zealand 20-0 (Guptill 17, Seiftert 3) Shot from Martin Guptill! Jhye Richardson comes on with pace and Guptill smokes him for six. Richardson is bowling in at the stumps and Guptill just shuffles a touch before the ball arrives, half a pace down the wicket, which turns the ball into a half-volley. A simple swing through the line and it vanishes over long-off! What a strike. A couple of balls later Richardson tries the same line but fuller, and this time Guptill stays home and chips it over the bowler’s head for four. He looks good when he’s on.

1.11am GMT

2nd over: New Zealand 8-0 (Guptill 6, Seiftert 2) Ashton Agar the other opening bowler, left-armers from both ends. Orthodox spin in theory from Agar though he doesn’t try to flight or turn one. Just bangs in some straight darts from around the wicket, wide line, in at the legs. And it works, the batsmen only get two singles from the over.

1.09am GMT

1st over: New Zealand 6-0 (Guptill 5, Seiftert 1) Daniel Sams to start with, left-arm brisk. Overpitches first ball and Guptill takes advantage, driving along the ground through extra cover for four. Sams dials back his length after that, using the angle to good effect just across Guptill without giving any width. Good bowling. Three dots then a single, and Seifert punches one run from the final delivery.

1.04am GMT

Got an email in from Jack Jorgensen.

“I really enjoy Aaron Finch as a captain and a batter, but his form is starting to get a bit worrying. It’s not even the lack of runs really, it’s more so the lack of even starts. It seems like he can’t get himself going. Do you think that Riley Meredith is an either/or with Jhye Richardson? Sams offers left-arm variety, and Kane Richardson is more of a change-up bowler, whereas Jhye and Riley seem to fit more the express pace options. By the way, the bowling attack either has a very biblical feel (Kane, Adam, Daniel), or a modern Millenial-name feel (Jhye, Riley). Two bob for your thoughts on the TV umpire in Ind v Eng last night.”

12.54am GMT

There’s a lovely old grandstand at the Uni Oval. A correspondent sent me some photos of the place a couple of days ago, snapped during his daily dog-walk. Wish that we could be over there: this match will be followed by two ODIs between NZ and England women, so plenty of cricket for Dunedin this week. England easily won the first match in Christchurch yesterday.

12.41am GMT

Two unchanged sides will walk out today, New Zealand happy with how things went, Australia wanting to give the same players a chance to fix things up. Interesting that Riley Meredith hasn’t played either of the first two matches after being signed for $1.4million AUD in the IPL auction last week.

New Zealand
Martin Guptill
Tim Seifert +
Kane Williamson *
Devon Conway
Glenn Phillips
Jimmy Neesham
Mitchell Santner
Kyle Jamieson
Tim Southee
Ish Sodhi
Trent Boult

12.39am GMT

Another coin called the right way for Aaron Finch, which was about the only thing that did go right for him the other night. He chooses to chase again. There has never been a T20I at the University Oval in Dunedin, so there’s no way to know how it’s going to play. T20 captains these days prefer to have a look at conditions before having to bat in them.

12.18am GMT

Game two! New Zealand wiped the floor with Australia in the first match of this series on Monday night in Christchurch. This will be an entirely different setup: an afternoon game in Dunedin, with both teams batting in daylight. It might make a difference. Devon Conway was the central player for the home side, reaching 99 not out from the last ball of the first innings to rescue a dodgy start. Then Australia’s start was even worse, and there was no recovery from there. Tim Southee and Trent Boult swung them out.

Related: Devon Conway's 99 leads New Zealand to convincing T20 win over Australia

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New Zealand beat Australia by 53 runs in first T20 international – as it happened

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9.40am GMT

That’s enough from us – a substantial first-up win for New Zealand, and the Australians will just have to shake it off. Not that hard to do in the T20 age. See you on Thursday, that game starts at midday AEDT.

9.39am GMT

Finch tries to be fairly upbeat, says that it’s nice to be in New Zealand playing cricket in front of crowds, and that Philippe’s debut was special even without getting a win in the game. Williamson is obviously full of praise for Conway and says that it was a difficult surface to get set on. Conway says he was nervous coming out early, and that he needs to ride the wave while it lasts of being not out at the end of matches: tonight makes four times in a row. Not too fussed about not getting a century. “Happy days, pretty cool,” he says of making 99 not out.

Big crowds in after the memorial for the 10 year anniversary of the Christchurch earthquake, too, which Williamson speaks about, and the growth that has happened in this city.

Related: Before and after: how the 2011 earthquake changed Christchurch

9.26am GMT

They’ve only lost once at home this season, the Black Caps, and they keep that going in the Beige Shirts tonight. They were in trouble early, recovered really well thanks to their less experienced batsmen, then all but ended the game early on with four early wickets. There was no meaningful recover from there, though Marsh and Agar tried for a while.

Some excellent opening bowling from Boult and Southee: they’ve been around for so long, they’ve been given the job in all formats, but they weren’t tired or jaded in any way. Swing, movement, variation, and they were too good.

9.23am GMT

17.3 overs: Australia 131 (Zampa 5) Jhye Richardson wants those runs! Has a skip out, swings through Santner’s delivery and sends it soaring into the crowd at long-on. But having done it once, he wants to do it again, and Santner is wise to that: he slides through a faster ball wide of the off stump, beating the bat. Richardson misses it and immediately turns around to shake hands with the keeper who has just completed the stumping.

9.19am GMT

17th over: Australia 124-9 (J. Richardson 12, Zampa 5) Trent Boult bowling, and Zampa is doing some No.11 batting that would do Boult proud. Uses a wristy helicopter flick to get two runs over mid-on. Gets a big inside edge on the draw shot past leg stump for four. Dinks one up into the leg side which midwicket can’t quite catch diving forward. Boult is now fed up, and Richardson is the one who has to face his fast bouncer, a real effort ball that zings through past the grille. This last partnership just needs the 61 from 18 balls.

9.17am GMT

16th over: Australia 115-9 (J. Richardson 4, Zampa 5) A few bonus runs for Australia as Sodhi has the ball slip out of his hand and go through at shoulder height. Knowing the next ball is a free hit, Zampa knows he can’t be stumped, so Zorba dances down the wicket and swings with freedom. Thick outside edge, four. One more single and Sodhi finishes up with 4-28 as his night’s work.

9.13am GMT

Four for Sodhi, as Richardson tries to hit him for six down the ground and finds long-off instead. Simple for NZ.

9.12am GMT

15th over: Australia 107-8 (J. Richardson 2, K. Richardson 5) They get through one over at least, of Santner, and add half a dozen runs. The end is coming...

9.10am GMT

14th over: Australia 101-8 (J. Richardson 0, K. Richardson 2) Finally, it’s time for...

DOUBLE RICHARDSON.

9.07am GMT

Now the left-hander goes! Jamieson is short third man for Agar, who gets a big looping outside edge to his diagonal-bat cover drive, and Jamieson dives forward for a good catch. Sodhi has 3 for 20 as his third over comes to an end.

9.05am GMT

The need for runs means that Sams has to go for it. Shortish ball from Sodhi, there to hit, he tries to get under it to pull it for six, instead he gets too far under it and hits it straight up. Jamieson at short fine leg takes the steepler.

9.03am GMT

13th over: Australia 99-6 (Agar 23, Sams 1) There’s that Trent Bridge insouciance from Agar. He steps across his stumps so casually that it looks like he’s pulling out of facing the delivery. Jamieson bowls across the left-hander, and Agar picks it up off the pads high to fine leg, one bounce for four. Turns over the strike and Marsh pulls one for six! Not super short, but full face of the bat as Marsh swings up and into it from below the ball, lifting it.

And with 87 needed from 46, that’s when Marsh gets out. Lays into a cut shot, gets every last bit of it, but Santner dives to his right and pulls off a great catch to save his bowler another four runs of punishment.

8.57am GMT

12th over: Australia 86-5 (Marsh 38, Agar 18) Conway is interested in a third catch for the night, running in from deep point as Marsh slices into the deep from Santner, but can’t reach it in time. Agar edges a very useful boundary. They get 10 from the over. They need 99 from 48 balls.

8.53am GMT

11th over: Australia 76-5 (Marsh 34, Agar 12) Gorgeous shot from Agar! He has the leg-spinner Sodhi turning the ball into him as a left-hander, so he shuffles down a little, slog-sweeps but in elegant style with a diagonal swoosh of the bat, and sends the ball what seems like about 240 metres up, and long enough that it comes down into the crowd. Turns over the strike to Marsh, who can’t get a couple of shots away, but cuts the last of the over for four. Sodhi has been very short tonight.

8.50am GMT

10th over: Australia 63-5 (Marsh 30, Agar 3) Double spin, Santner to partner Sodhi, and Australia in a tailspin here. They don’t want to risk taking on the spinner, but they need about 12 an over. So the singles they’re working from Santner are only making the problem worse. A wide that escapes the keeper and allows two extras will help though. But the extra delivery so nearly brings him a wicket as it runs straight through Marsh’s shot and misses his off stump by a millimetre.

8.46am GMT

9th over: Australia 57-5 (Marsh 28, Agar 1) Into the bowling all-rounders. Agar faces the last ball of Sodhi’s over and drives a single.

The Australians need 128 from 66 balls.

8.45am GMT

Oh, that’s no fun for Stoinis. Facing Ish Sodhi who bowls fast leg spin. After getting a short ball that he cuts behind point for four, Stoinis gets another drag down. Steps away, tries to slot it away through leg. Gets the cue end of the bat instead of the face, and it dinks back to the bowler for a catch.

8.39am GMT

8th over: Australia 52-4 (Marsh 28, Stoinis 4) Full toss from Jamieson, and Marsh tucks it away through wide long-on for four! Understated shot, it just looks like a defensive push but then it beats the mid-on fielder’s dive, going wide of him, and there’s no one within a mile of it in the deep. Jamieson tries to bowl short instead and it jags very wide of off stump, the keeper taking it in front of slip. Wide. There’s a long delay as Jamieson waits for a groundsman to do the 100-metre sprint with a bucket of sawdust, and having fixed his footing the bowler lands his next few on a length outside off. The batsmen drive over the infield once apiece, but only for singles to the cover sweeper.

8.33am GMT

7th over: Australia 45-4 (Marsh 23, Stoinis 3) Marsh with the pull shot again, walking at Neesham for the first ball of the New Zealander’s bowling evening and tugging it behind square. He’s batting entirely leg side, donking the ball off his pads for a couple, then a single. A lot riding on this Marsh innings.

8.29am GMT

6th over: Australia 36-4 (Marsh 15, Stoinis 2) Kyle Jamieson on to bowl, at six-foot-eight or thereabouts, quick and can get the ball to kick off the surface. But Mitchell Marsh is also very tall and loves the short ball, so he hangs back and pounds a couple away. One along the grass for four, one more powerfully for a flat six over midwicket. Impressive.

8.25am GMT

5th over: Australia 24-4 (Marsh 4, Stoinis 1) A boundary from Marsh to close the over, whipping Southee off his legs through midwicket. Thoughts of a catch but he got it too straight for the fielder in the circle.

8.21am GMT

That’s straight out of the Brendon McCullum school of captaincy! Williamson has learned from his sensei well. Fifth over of a T20 International, and New Zealand have two slips in place and an opening bowler sending down the third of his allotment of four. Go for the win from the start. It works, too. This is New Zealand, so Southee is still getting swing, and it moves away from Maxwell who tries a powerful off-drive. Edged, and Neesham at second slip comes across first slip to claim it.

8.18am GMT

4th over: Australia 18-3 (Marsh 0, Maxwell 1) Maxwell to the middle early after all. Boult gives him a couple back of a length, and he hops up to defend, then to get a single away through point. Marsh leaves Boult as the ball angles across. Happy to see off the main bowler, after Wade scooped the first ball of the over for six, then got out from the second ball.

8.14am GMT

Another one gone! Wade tries to go straight down the ground, the ball isn’t full enough for that shot, he ends up trying to force on the up, and it loops up and down for mid off to catch trotting back outside the circle.

8.12am GMT

3rd over: Australia 10-2 (Wade 6, Marsh 0) Just one run from the Southee over, bowling right-arm over the wicket to the left-hander, swinging the ball, hitting the pads, giving nothing away.

8.08am GMT

2nd over: Australia 9-2 (Wade 5, Marsh 0) A change in the order, Maxwell pushed down, Marsh comes up to try to stabilise things. Wade had already tried a scoop against Boult and missed it, wearing it on the arm, before Philippe got out. Trending towards the shambolic, is Australia’s start.

8.06am GMT

Fifth ball of the over again, and the man on debut has his night brought to an end. He has already got off the mark with two runs clipped square, but tries to go across the line again and gets a big leading edge that flies high directly above him. Conway trots in towards the batting crease and takes his second catch of the night.

8.04am GMT

1st over: Australia 3-1 (Wade 2, Philippe 0) Josh Philippe walks out to the middle with one ball to come in the first over, and defends it with a deep forward press.

7.59am GMT

Gone straight away! Fifth ball of the day, having added a single, Finch gets width and plays a cut shot. It wasn’t a fierce one, really just helps it into the air, no chance of keeping it down, and it goes directly to Conway who gets a simple chance to follow up his batting.

7.57am GMT

And the chase begins...

7.48am GMT

A decent target set by New Zealand, better than 9 runs per over required. They were in all sorts early at 19 for 3, with the senior men Williamson and Guptill gone as well as a form player Seifert. But the newer arrivals steadied things up with the 74 runs added between Conway and Phillips, then another 47 with Conway and Neesham, before Santner joined Conway as quiet support to see them to the close.

7.45am GMT

Ah well. He played so well, and it was a sudden surge at the end that took him near a century, so it’s not as though Conway had a century in the bag and then let it slip. What he has done is played tremendously well and helped his team out of a hole.

7.44am GMT

20th over: New Zealand 184-5 (Conway 99, Santner 7) Conway loses strike immediately though, smearing Kane Richardson to deep square leg and not being game to push the throw for the second run. Santner tries to tug a short ball away for a run, but gets it too well and hits the midwicket gap for four! Not a bad result for NZ. Third ball of the over, a swing and a miss, and Conway has backed up so far that he’s almost at the striker’s end before the ball has reached Matthew Wade’s hands. I say hands because Wade already had a glove off, anticipating this move and ready to throw, but Conway was too quick.

Three balls to come, 88 runs to his name.

7.38am GMT

19th over: New Zealand 167-5 (Conway 87, Santner 3) He was born in the 90s, but Conway is into the 80s. Sams, left-arm over to a left-hander, bowls too wide of the off stump a couple of times, then over-corrects by getting onto the pads. Conway picks it up cleanly, lifting it over deep fine leg into the crowd. Very crisp. He tries to follow it up going over cover but skews the shot, and Stoinis from long on has time to run around a long way towards deep extra cover, putting in the dive but the ball bounces ahead of his hands. Conway makes up for it the very next ball, lacing a drive along the ground through the cover gap for four! Next ball, pinches the single. He could ton up if he gets enough strike in the last over.

7.34am GMT

18th over: New Zealand 151-5 (Conway 72, Santner 3) Devon Conway has made scores in the 60s a couple of times for NZ, but now moves into the 70s for the first time. Creates a really nice crack off the bat as he nails a pull shot from Kane Richardson, and works most of the rest of the over nicely: picking up singles, jamming out a yorker for two.

7.29am GMT

17th over: New Zealand 141-5 (Conway 64, Santner 1) Another left-hander to the crease, the tall and skinny Santner, off the mark with a guide to point.

7.28am GMT

The Australians have been getting frustrated by this partnership, but find a way through. The ball beforehand, Richardson misses his attempted slower ball and sees it float down leg. You can hear the “No!” from the bowler, and he raises a hand in apology to his captain, with both fielders up behind square leg and an easy boundary conceded as Neesham glances away. But Richardson is back on target next ball, swinging away from the left-hander outside the off stump, drawing a big drive and a big edge through to the wicketkeeper. Neesham hurls his head back, and now he’s the player frustrated.

7.25am GMT

16th over: New Zealand 132-4 (Conway 61, Neesham 21) Very simple from Neesham: just reaches out and clouts a wider slower ball from Sams over his head back down the ground. Four. Conway puts a lot of muscle into a pull shot and nails that as well. Between them they take 14 from the over. Sams went for plenty late in the game when he was playing India in Canberra recently.

7.20am GMT

15th over: New Zealand 118-4 (Conway 54, Neesham 14) Stoinis a chance for a second wicket as Neesham lifts a ball out into the leg side, but Sams and Maxwell are converging and Sams perhaps hangs back a bit rather than sprinting in for the catch. In the end he reaches the ball on the bounce, parries it back into the field of play, and Maxwell isn’t expecting that, reaching for it while falling backwards and so palming it back into the rope rather than saving it. Stoinis lets loose some aural frustration. The boundary is part of 10 runs from the over.

7.14am GMT

14th over: New Zealand 108-4 (Conway 51, Neesham 7) Maxwell on for his first over, and it’s a rusty start with two left-handers to account for. A couple slide down the leg side, aside from which it’s a mixed bag of singles and twos and byes. What would have been another wide isn’t because Conway shapes to play a reverse sweep, thus eliminating the leg-side extra when he misses the shot.

7.12am GMT

13th over: New Zealand 98-4 (Conway 50, Neesham 1) Stoinis finishes out a tidy enough over, seven runs from it, as Conway brings up another fifty in this format, his third in seven matches.

7.06am GMT

A wicket second ball for Stoinis! Same sort of attempt from Phillips, trying to smash straight down the ground, but the length isn’t full enough and it goes straight up. About seven players could have caught that in the end, with Mitch Marsh running in to a short mid-off to claim it as it comes back down. The big Stoinis celebration comes out.

7.03am GMT

12th over: New Zealand 91-3 (Conway 46, Phillips 28) Kane’s turn in the battle of the Richardsons, and Devon Conway decides to cane him. Glides a boundary between backward point and short third with perfect touch, then hops up and lays into a pull shot to the fence through square leg. Once strike is changed over, Phillips tries a huge hit down the ground and skews it instead, a mile up in the air but falling safely at midwicket with everyone back on the leg side.

7.00am GMT

11th over: New Zealand 81-3 (Conway 37, Phillips 27) First ball of Zampa’s over and Glenn Phillips bombs him for six! A high dipping delivery, I think it was the wrong ‘un out the back of his hand, but it’s pitched too full, and Phillips waits and waits for it to drop outside off stump before launching it back over long on.

And the ground DJ drops SANDSTORM!

6.55am GMT

10th over: New Zealand 67-3 (Conway 36, Phillips 14) That straight line for Agar continues to the left-hander, and Conway’s plan is to take it on with the sweep. It nearly comes undone when he gloves a ball up over the keeper but short fine leg can’t get around. But that doesn’t deter Conway, and he gets hold of the next two running to hit the rope at deep backward square.

6.52am GMT

9th over: New Zealand 55-3 (Conway 25, Phillips 13) Jhye Richardson is back, hitting a hard length outside off stump to the left-handed Conway, getting him off strike with a forced single. Phillips shuffles across to scythe a run to backward point. Likewise Conway, better timed, but Agar dives to save three runs. That brings Phillips back on strike, and he gets back in his crease and pulls a length ball for six! Up and under, it’s a 69-metre boundary and he’s cleared it. Nice.

6.46am GMT

8th over: New Zealand 46-3 (Conway 23, Phillips 6) Agar to bowl, and how’s this: left-arm orthodox, coming wide around the wicket to a left-handed batsman, looking to cut down his angles. So Conway plays a reverse sweep to backward point for four. Phillips has barely faced a ball. He’s 4 from 8 as Conway puts him on strike with a swept single, but manages to carve away two runs through backward point to add to his modest tally. Increased by 50 percent.

Message in from Michael Davidson. “Impressive of Adam Zampa to make it over to NZ for this game after finishing 8th in the Giant Slalom at the skiing world championships in Italy on Friday.”

6.42am GMT

7th over: New Zealand 38-3 (Conway 18, Phillips 3) Zampa back on, and bowling really nicely with the field back. Good bound into the bowling crease, good loop, and he’s rolling them out consistently on the line of the stumps, hitting a good length that makes the batsmen play cautiously, nudging four singles and nothing more.

6.39am GMT

6th over: New Zealand 34-3 (Conway 16, Phillips 1) Lovely shot from Conway in Kane Richardson’s first over, standing tall and punching off the back foot through point for four. Only a couple of singles otherwise from the over, and it’s a very quiet Powerplay for NZ as it comes to an end.

6.37am GMT

5th over: New Zealand 28-3 (Conway 11, Phillips 0) The Australians putting on the squeeze for the first six balls of this over, but Conway drags something back from the seventh! Richardson is too fast, nasty to deal with. Squeezes a ball through Conway’s defence and nearly back onto the stumps. Gives the batsman little to work with. But an earlier wide costs him when he has to bowl a seventh ball, and the left-handed Conway walks across to whip a leg-stump length ball over deep backward square. Sams is back there, but he’s a few metres off the rope. If he were back, he would have snared it, but in the end he can only leap despairingly as it sails over him for six.

6.32am GMT

4th over: New Zealand 19-3 (Conway 3) Fine bowling from Sams! He tightens up Williamson three balls in a row, a tight line from left-arm over. Williamson can’t force him away to the off, then Sams bangs in a sharp bouncer. A bit lucky not to be wided but it was just close enough to get the benefit of the doubt. Williamson bails out of a shot in any case. Four balls without scoring, so Williamson charges the next and pulls it just straight of midwicket, nearly caught. But wants more to finish the over and tries to pull one that isn’t short enough, hip height if that while angling across him. Instead of runs he gets a little top edge through to the keeper to end the over.

6.25am GMT

3rd over: New Zealand 15-2 (Williamson 8, Conway 3) Not full enough to Conway early, and the new batsman pushes a drive through cover for two runs, then works a single to midwicket. Williamson misses a pull and gets a leg bye. Five from the over, another good one.

6.23am GMT

What a delivery! Whoever wrote the $2.4million cheque for Jumping Jhye will be feeling good about themselves. Proper pace, fully pitched, and that ball tails in towards the right-hander from over the wicket, a yorker that beats the forward defensive push and nails off stump. Exciting.

6.20am GMT

2nd over: New Zealand 10-1 (Seifert 1, Williamson 7) A surprise as Adam Zampa comes on to bowl the second over. Not sure anyone was expecting that, Kane Richardson and Maxwell were wandering near the bowling crease, then Finch calls Zampa through. He gets away with a high full toss first ball, with Seifert just pushing it down the ground for one. A single to square leg and a couple of leg byes, and Zampa gets through the over cheaply.

6.17am GMT

1st over: New Zealand 6-1 (Seifert 0, Williamson 6) That’s the sort of poise that Williamson can bring. The early wicket falls, so the NZ skipper arrives, pulls a boundary, then drives two runs between point and backward. Suddenly the start doesn’t look quite so bad.

6.15am GMT

Gone in the first over! Guptill had a few question marks over him coming into this game, and they haven’t dissipated now. Watches two balls sail by outside the off stump from the left-arm angle of Sams, has a big drive at the third one, slices it towards backward point where the tall Agar is waiting, not having to dive.

6.10am GMT

Out come the teams. Good to see New Zealand back in the beige shirts. Carn the mighty beige.

6.08am GMT

A few lesser-known NZ players are getting a chance today as well. Jamieson’s fame has increased after also getting a big IPL bid, but he’s only played six white-ball games for his country alongside his six Tests. Extremely tall, extremely fast, and has taken piles of Test wickets already (36 so far) though fewer in the short forms.

Glenn Phillips suits up for the 18th time in this format, having made a few months ago against West Indies. Devon Conway will play match number seven. Otherwise the names are pretty familiar, with Martin Guptill recovering from a sore hammy to take his place at the top of the stack.

6.02am GMT

A few things to look for in the Australian line-up. Aaron Finch, to start with. He didn’t make a run in the IPL last year, didn’t make a run in the Big Bash, got cut by his IPL team and got passed over in the auction. This is the same man who has the two biggest scores ever made in T20 International cricket. He had a similar rut for Australia in 2018 and 2019 but came back to score a huge number of runs leading up to and during the 2019 World Cup. Australia need him to end this slump so there’s no doubt around him leading the team into the T20 World Cup later this year.

Philippe is an opener for the Sydney Sixers, so it’s a change for him batting first drop, especially if he comes in later in the innings with the field back. Stoinis is again being asked to be a hitter in the middle order despite his best T20 returns coming at the top. He currently holds the record for the most runs in a Big Bash season, made opening the batting for the Melbourne Stars. Marsh is more of a middle-order specialist.

5.51am GMT

New Zealand
Martin Guptill
Tim Seifert +
Kane Williamson *
Devon Conway
Glenn Phillips
Jimmy Neesham
Mitchell Santner
Kyle Jamieson
Tim Southee
Ish Sodhi
Trent Boult

Australia
Aaron Finch *
Matthew Wade +
Josh Philippe
Glenn Maxwell
Marcus Stoinis
Mitchell Marsh
Daniel Sams
Ashton Agar
Jhye Richardson
Kane Richardson
Adam Zampa

5.48am GMT

Electing to chase first up is captain Aaron Finch. That’s the orthodoxy in T20 cricket, to get an idea of how the surface is playing and how to time an innings.

5.32am GMT

Some major points of interest: the recent IPL auction fates of a few of the less heralded Australian and NZ players. Also the fact that some of the biggest names are not playing in this series given they were picked for the now-abandoned Test tour of South Africa instead. I wrote about all of this in more detail.

Related: Australia's new IPL millionaires throw spotlight on New Zealand T20 series | Geoff Lemon

5.28am GMT

Hello hello, it’s cricket time. Australia’s tour of New Zealand is about to get underway, with the men’s teams playing the first of five Twenty20 matches today, while the women’s teams of NZ and England will play the first of three ODIs tomorrow with three T20s to follow. Today and tomorrow the matches will be in Christchurch before the tour moves to Dunedin for the next couple of fixtures.

It’s a bit of a late-season extra as far as Australia’s summer is concerned, with the major international engagements over weeks ago, and a return to lower-key state fixtures that will run all the way into April this season after various virus disruptions. Cricket hasn’t entirely made way for the returning football codes yet.

Continue reading...

Australia's new IPL millionaires throw spotlight on New Zealand T20 series | Geoff Lemon

The cancelled South Africa Test tour has yielded a handsome return for fast bowlers Jhye Richardson and Riley Meredith

Last Friday morning, Jhye Richardson and Riley Meredith found themselves holding an unexpected press conference via video from their quarantine hotel in Christchurch. Ahead of their imminent Twenty20 series against New Zealand, the two Australian fast bowlers had each been offered million-dollar contracts for the Indian Premier League. Their price tags suggest they will be the first players selected for each match, rather than heading over as many players do to make up the numbers.

Related: Chennai Super Kings win battle for Moeen Ali at £700k in 2021 IPL auction

You could see this result as just a further instance of Big Bash names such as Meredith and Richardson upstaging the ranks of established national cricketers

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England must learn from India's win in Australia if they hope to prosper

Cheteshwar Pujara will hold the home side’s batting together while their pace-bowling options are as diverse as their spinners

Test tours of India are daunting. The conditions, the unfamiliarity, the intensity of interest. More daunting just after an India team missing 10 first-choice players has won a Test series in Australia, the other toughest mission in world cricket. With England having arrived for four Tests in Chennai and Ahmedabad, what can India’s last result warn them to look out for?

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The Spin | Vince and Hales emerge from darkness into Big Bash spotlight

Those outside England consideration are heading south to develop their cricket, earn some cash and wear bright clothing

Having spent two hours last week trawling Harry Gurney’s domestic record for recreational reasons, your Australian correspondent appreciates the joys of English imports to the Big Bash League. Not everyone would be excited to learn that Gurney’s best BBL figures are identical to his best T20 International figures (two for 26, if you’re wondering). But anyone could have enjoyed last season’s story of someone described as “left-arm Mr Bean” becoming a decisive bowler in a title win. Anyone could enjoy his online sass after the fact. In life’s rich tapestry, Gurney added a bright new thread.

Despite Covid and quarantine, more English players joined the Bash this season than ever. Six of them at three teams are still in contention, with two matches yet to be played in a finals structure so convoluted the prize presumably must be that David Bowie has to give your baby back. England tours overlap southern summers, so the only established national players this season were Jason Roy, Sam Billings and Dawid Malan, freed up as white-ball specialists during Test tours. Mostly, those available tend to be Moneyball picks who offer specific benefits rather than the faces marketing staff would like to put on promo posters.

Related: Channel 4 wins rights for England's Test cricket tour of India

Related: Gurus, Power Surges and problem-solvers: Big Bash bids to be T20's biggest hitter | Barney Ronay

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Australia appear vulnerable but we have heard this Ashes tale before | Geoff Lemon

England can now see that teams willing to counterattack the Australians can unsettle them

It is probably hackery to roll out Lady Bracknell’s most famous line in another reworked form, but great lines are great because they are universal. In this context: “To lose one home series to India, Mr Paine, may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness.”

Two years ago Australians were, by and large, willing to accept being beaten 2-1 by a visiting India. The circumstances were special. Australia’s Test team was dizzy after the Cape Town sandpaper circus, Steve Smith and David Warner were comfortably the two best batsmen in the country and were missing on suspension, and India brought a once-in-a-generation assembly of fast-bowling quality to take advantage of their absence.

Related: India's bloody-mindedness fired them to historic win in Australia | Geoff Lemon

Related: 'Plunder down under': India revels in cricket team's shock victory at Gabba

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India's bloody-mindedness fired them to historic win in Australia | Geoff Lemon

From one-down, without their captain and a host of first-choice players, India completed one of the great comebacks in one of the great Test series

There is nothing like the feeling after a classic Test series. There may be greater peaks of human joy or pleasure, but this is a high that fades into a particular satisfaction, elation dimming warmly within us like the spot of light that remains when turning off an old television.

It’s because of the amount of time and effort and energy invested, even from those of us who watch rather than play. We have lived that experience until the final payoff and in the great contests the payoff is immense.

Related: Rishabh Pant leads record-breaking chase as India beat Australia to fourth Test and series

Related: 'This will go down in history': India coach Shastri hails 'unimaginable' win

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Australia v India: fourth Test, day two – as it happened

India 62-2; Australia 369No play after Tea due to rain

7.00am GMT

Just two sessions then today, one that will end with neither side completely satisfied with their showing.

Australia required a tail wag to reach something approaching par on a benign surface against India’s third-string attack. Then the tourists were coasting at 60-1 before Rohit Sharma spoiled the mood with a reckless dismissal.

Related: Rain frustrates Australia after bowlers put India under pressure

6.53am GMT

The outfield did not pass the final inspection and play has been abandoned for the day. India will be the happier of the two sides with that decision.

6.51am GMT

Ground staff did everything to get it going, but umpires just did an inspection and appeared to be shaking their heads as they walked off the Gabba. pic.twitter.com/CndWrV2hM7

6.47am GMT

The second inspection is taking place. Stand by...

6.26am GMT

Ok, word is coming through that there will be a second inspection in a further 20 minutes from now (5.45pm AEDT). This appears to be mainly about the wet outfield. Play will then resume at 6pm, all going well. If play does not restart at that point, we’ll be done for the day.

6.24am GMT

Play can be extended by an extra hour this evening - plus the additional 30 minutes for slow over-rates. In other words, we could continue until 7.30pm AEDT.

6.21am GMT

The inspection is underway. The playing surface is incredibly free of puddles so soon after a massive deluge, and Australia’s players are gathered at the boundary edge ready to warm up.

5.51am GMT

Inspection in around 25 minutes or so. We’ll learn our fate then.

The covers are coming off at the Gabba.

The umpires will inspect the field at 4:15pm local time / 5:15pm Melbourne time.

5.48am GMT

So the storm cell appears to have pretty much blown through and the massive puddles are beginning to seep away. It’s now a race against time to get back on before the close.

5.38am GMT

This is from a few minutes ago. Yikes! We might be lucky to get back on at all at this rate. The run-ups will take a while to mop up.

Do not venture out.☔ #AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/MBMh5ZflGa

5.33am GMT

Channel Seven, the host broadcaster, are busy racing horses, so play seems unlikely to resume any time soon.

5.29am GMT

@JPHowcroft I note your concern, but it's not actually possible to listen to "Spring Rain" too many times. #AUSvIND

It is indisputable that The Guardian has the most discerning readers. Onya Kev.

5.17am GMT

I know it’s not spring, and I know I overuse this clip, but whenever it rains in Brisbane it’s hard to overlook this belter from Queensland natives The Go-Betweens.

5.15am GMT

Gabba update: it’s currently running a small river down Vulture Street. #AusvInd pic.twitter.com/ePuZe9A5VN

5.14am GMT

The rain deserves its own Key Event header I think.

5.10am GMT

The decline in Pat Cummins’ batting is one of the stories to come out of this series.

To 31 December 2018, Pat Cummins averaged 20.96 with the bat in Tests. From 1 January 2019, he has averaged 9.72. https://t.co/I01RL0ReWb

5.05am GMT

There is Test cricket happening elsewhere to enjoy during this break in play. Over in Galle England are well on top of Sri Lanka in the first Test of that series, and Joe Root has a double century in the palm of his hand.

Related: Sri Lanka v England: first Test, day three – live!

5.03am GMT

Here we go. It’s hurling it down now at the Gabba. The sky is gun metal grey, the floodlights are on, and there are flashes of lightning not too far in the distance.

The resumption of play after Tea will be delayed. There are still 35 overs to be bowled in the day, so we’re in for another late finish.

I enjoy how they get ahead of the rain in Brisbane. And right they were, it’s just started chucking it down. #AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/lRxPJUpCiW

4.54am GMT

Can we have a 5th Test please?

I share the sentiment - it has been a terrific series - but for India’s sake, maybe schedule it for about six months from now when they might have something approaching a first XI to select.

4.53am GMT

The square is now covered, but the heavens have yet to open.

4.45am GMT

Update from the scene:

They’re about to be very busy. #AUSvIND @1116sen pic.twitter.com/Qoqdkazd4x

4.43am GMT

It’s another evenly poised Test match at Tea on day two. India should be a lot more comfortable, but on a docile pitch and in brilliant touch Rohit Sharma somehow threw away his wicket.

As the plays troop off, the storm clouds continue to mass overhead and it would not surprise me if the covers came on during the break, or if we were late to resume the final session.

4.40am GMT

26th over: India 62-2 (Pujara 8, Rahane 2) One brings two, runs that is, with Rahane clipping Lyon to mid-on for a single. Pujara is happier playing with his pad and sees off the remainder of the over, the final one before Tea.

4.38am GMT

25th over: India 61-2 (Pujara 8, Rahane 1) India’s long runless streak since Rohit’s dismissal eventually comes to an end with Rahane working Hazlewood for a single into the legside, avoiding a duck from his 17th delivery. Pujara is doing Pujara things down the other end, he’s eight from 45.

4.35am GMT

24th over: India 60-2 (Pujara 8, Rahane 0) Another maiden from Lyon to Pujara, let’s call this one Marion. India digging in early for the draw.

4.30am GMT

23rd over: India 60-2 (Pujara 8, Rahane 0) Three maidens in a row. Hazlewood mixes up his lengths to Rahane, keeping the Indian skipper on his toes. This partnership, much like when Smith and Labuschagne are paired at the crease for Australia, now takes on significant proportions.

WinViz as it stands in Brisbane:

Australia - 66%
India - 4%
Draw - 30%#AUSvIND

4.27am GMT

22nd over: India 60-2 (Pujara 8, Rahane 0) Another maiden, this time Lyon to Pujara. That dismissal has transformed the momentum out in the middle. India are suddenly scratching around and Australia are effervescent.

A couple of flashes of lightning have been sighted nearby the Gabba and the groundstaff are all in their golf carts ready to move. If there is a shower anytime soon we’ll likely just go for an early Tea. The radar indicates it’s just a few storm cells, not a blanket of rain.

4.23am GMT

21st over: India 60-2 (Pujara 8, Rahane 0) The new batsman at the crease prompts the return of Hazlewood and he’s on the money with a line and length maiden to the Indian skipper.

Sunny is still going. “What a waste of a wicket! This is Test match cricket!” Mr Gavaskar is going to need to be restrained from aiming a haymaker at Rohit Sharma.

4.20am GMT

20th over: India 60-2 (Pujara 7, Rahane 0) If India fail to post a first innings lead, the inquest into that dismissal will be ugly - and rightly so.

4.18am GMT

“Why, why, why? That’s an unbelievable shot! There’s absolutely on excuse for that shot. You’re a senior player. An unnecessary wicket, gifted away.” Sunil Gavaskar is absolutely fuming - and rightly so. Rohit Sharma could have plunder 200 on this pitch but he’s thrown his wicket away. After cutting Lyon for four he tries to haul the GOAT over long on, mistimes the drive and lobs a simple catch to Starc instead. Absolutely braindead batting. India only need to draw the match to win the series. The tail starts at seven. He’s set for life with no gremlins in the pitch. Just unfathomable

4.14am GMT

19th over: India 55-1 (Rohit 40, Pujara 7) Green replaces Cummins but the runs keep flowing for Rohit. Another checked straight drive skips away down the ground for four, drawing comparisons to Graeme Pollock from Sunil Gavaskar on commentary. There are few demons out there for a batter like Rohit who likes to hit through the line of the ball.

4.09am GMT

18th over: India 51-1 (Rohit 36, Pujara 7) Rohit works Lyon on the 45 for a single to keep the scoreboard ticking over.

4.05am GMT

17th over: India 50-1 (Rohit 35, Pujara 7) Cummins, on that impeccable line and length that he always finds, irrespective of the surface, finds the outside edge of Rohit’s bat, but the shot immediately goes to ground and runs away for four through the gully. Then the star bowler overpitches and Rohit cashes in with another boundary, this one a check drive straight down the ground. India ticking over nicely.

4.02am GMT

16th over: India 41-1 (Rohit 26, Pujara 7) Much to the delight of the vociferous crowd, Nathan Lyon is called upon for his first spell in his 100th Test. He begins by allowing Rohit an easy single in the offside, then we’re reintroduced to the differing interpretations of “playing a shot” with Pujara resuming his tactic of advancing down the pitch and tucking his bat behind his pad and deflecting the ball away. Australia appeal performatively with little expectation, but it’s clearly something that irks them and they’ll be keen to put the pressure on the umpires to consider their decision making.

3.58am GMT

15th over: India 38-1 (Rohit 24, Pujara 6) Rohit navigates Cummins without much difficulty, but after rotating the strike Pujara again looks less comfortable, almost popping up a bat-pad return catch.

We’re moving into cloudwatch at the Gabba now with some menacing grey splodges in the sky and the BOM radar indicating some thundery showers could be on our way. If they arrive, they’re unlikely to last long.

3.53am GMT

14th over: India 37-1 (Rohit 23, Pujara 6) Short and wide from Green and Rohit stands tall and pounds it through point for four. There is precious little margin for error on this surface.

A reminder to send your emails to jonathan.howcroft.casual@theguardian.com and tweets @JPHowcroft.

3.50am GMT

13th over: India 32-1 (Rohit 18, Pujara 6) Cummins pitches up and Pujara plays a neat little push-drive, giving him time to run three as Lyon from cover had to chase has to chase all the way back to long on. Same result the next ball for Rohit, who drives more firmly but has Labuschagne closer at mid off, able to chase it down and dive to scoop it back to Lyon. Tired of this run-scoring nonsense, Cummins bangs in a bouncer over leg stump. Then pitches up again, takes Pujara’s edge, and again it falls short. The soft hands once more. You can get Pujara in the net, but you can’t close it before he escapes.

That’s it for me today. Thanks for your company, I’ll be back for day three. For the rest of the drive today, your chauffeur will be Jonathan Pants Howcroft.

3.49am GMT

Thank you very much Geoffrey. I have to ask, is Big Citrus infiltrating Guardian Sport? Not only is the Lemon represented, but now Rex Clementine is on the tools over in Sri Lanka. I might have to escalate my suspicions if The Curious Orange starts OBOing a series from New Zealand in a few weeks.

3.42am GMT

12th over: India 26-1 (Rohit 15, Pujara 3) Interesting! Cam Green is going to get an early Guy Rundle. Hair flowing, tall, he just cruises up and sends down a couple at nearly 140 kph in his first over. Decent line just outside off. Yet to take a wicket in his fourth Test match. Bowled 33 overs before today. Rohit drives through cover for two runs. Drinks.

3.36am GMT

11th over: India 24-1 (Rohit 13, Pujara 3) Cummins to Pujara, two operators of the highest quality. They’ve had a great battle this series. Cummins works on a length then tries the bumper. Pujara waits for something fuller then steers it behind point for two runs. Compact play.

3.31am GMT

10th over: India 22-1 (Rohit 13, Pujara 1) Hazlewood bangs away on a length and there’s a little bit of initiative from El Che to get off the mark, backing away slightly and knocking one of those balls to cover for a single. Smart play. The stormtroopers are being fairly well behaved, it must be said. A real storm might be brewing out west of Brisbane, inland. The clouds have come over, which will help the comfort of the players a bit. It’s still very warm and humid out there.

3.27am GMT

9th over: India 21-1 (Rohit 13, Pujara 0) This is the benefit of Rohit Sharma: he has the quality to combat good bowling, but he keeps scoring at the same time. Subtle touch against Cummins, just opens the face and steers a decent ball fine of gully along the ground for four.

3.24am GMT

8th over: India 17-1 (Rohit 9, Pujara 0) Hazlewood now threatening danger. Gets a ball to cut back in at Rohit who is trying to leave, and ends up being hit on the pad not offering a shot. That was too high but I’m surprised they didn’t appeal for it anyway. And another shout that would have been close had Rohit not got a faint inside edge for a single. In between those balls though, Rohit collects a pair of twos to the leg side, and Hazlewood’s first of the over was a no-ball.

3.17am GMT

7th over: India 11-1 (Rohit 4, Pujara 0) The quality of Pat Cummins. He dismisses Gill to that peculiar shot, but then he’s very nearly on a hat-trick with a beauty to Pujara. India’s defensive stalwart is so good, but he gets a perfect delivery first ball, seaming away a touch, and edges it inches short of Smith diving forward at second slip. Pujara’s skill is to go softly at the ball, and this time it just, just, saves him. Wicket maiden!

3.15am GMT

Just the quick burst from Starc then, and now Cummins gets a chance with a nearly new Kookaburra. Makes it count. A strange shot from Gill: he’s predisposed to leave that ball but sees it angling in at his stumps. His weight is leaning away from the ball towards leg side by the time he decides to play. And his stabbed defensive shot takes a thick edge through to second slip. No flourish from the young inclusion today.

3.11am GMT

6th over: India 11-0 (Rohit 4, Gill 7) Hazlewood to Rohit, who hooks at a bumper way down the leg side but misses it. Free runs there if he’d got a touch. Warner essays a solo appeal from first slip for a caught behind. Another scoreless over.

3.09am GMT

5th over: India 11-0 (Rohit 4, Gill 7) Full at the stumps from Starc, and Gill manages to keep it out while closing the face of the bat late in order to directe the ball through midwicket for a couple of runs. Then when Starc bowls shorter and wider Gill pounces to cut him for four. He does love a boundary, this young batsman, and what we’ve all been so impressed by is how he’s not remotely overawed by the bowlers he’s facing. If anything he’s underawed. Happy to hit.

3.03am GMT

4th over: India 5-0 (Rohit 4, Gill 1) Shubman Gill gets his scoring underway against Hazlewood with a straight ball wristed to fine leg. That ability to turn a delivery into the kind of delivery that he wants is the sort of quality that sets some players apart from others. Rohit stands very tall to counter Hazlewood’s length, then manages to turn a straight ball through square leg for two. A cagey first few overs.

2.59am GMT

3rd over: India 2-0 (Rohit 2, Gill 0) Starc to Rohit and that’s not helpful for batting. The ball hits a crack, stays low, and jags about half a metre across the batsman. From leg-stump line it beats the outside edge. Yeesh. Will Pucovski walks past the stormtroopers and gets a rowdy ovation.

Abhijato is watching from a distance. “This Test is the only thing which has managed to wake me up this early on a Saturday morning back here in India. Quite pleased with my timing too, since the openers stride out to bat now. I adore many players but none as much as Rohit Sharma. His half-ton in his previous outing showed he’s got the technique. Here’s to hoping he’s the man of the moment who proves he’s got the temperament as well!”

2.53am GMT

2nd over: India 2-0 (Rohit 2, Gill 0) Josh Hazlewood will be the circling Vulture to Mitchell Starc’s Stanley knife. Comes in to Gill and lands it on a dime, as usual. Right-armer to right-hander, if you’re trying to picture the scene. Three slips: Warner, Smith, Wade. Green in the gully. Lyon at point. Labuschagne at mid off, with cover open. Cummins at mid on. Harris at short leg wearing the fascinator. Starc grazing at fine leg. Gill draws his bat inside the line of one ball, drawing some murmurs from the fielders. Sees out the maiden over.

2.49am GMT

1st over: India 2-0 (Rohit 2, Gill 0) Mitchell Starc takes the new ball from the Stanley Street End. And we’re away! He bounds in with those huge strides, tall and lean, slinging the ball down from a left-arm over-the-wicket line, across Rohit Sharma who leaves. Huge bounce on that first ball. A couple more leaves, a defensive shot, then Rohit leans forward and just presses his forward defence into the gap at cover and takes two runs. Decent pace and lift for Starc first up.

2.47am GMT

The players are entering the field and we’re about to start.

“Morning all,” writes John Davis from the UK, presumably. “Just to say how lovely it is to read about cricket with a real crowd. As always, the OBO crowd have been brilliant – thank you for helping us travel vicariously through you, Australia at bedtime and Sri Lanka at breakfast. I showed my class online today pictures of me at Galle in 2016 (three days after the Aussies left, unfortunately) after they mentioned checking England’s score. Would love to be there now. Enjoy the match and the crowd. Can’t wait until we can join you.”

2.09am GMT

We’ll take the 40-minute break now, starting six minutes late. Quite the late flurry from Australia’s 9, 10 and jack. That looks like a very solid score without being a dominant one. As ever, wait until both sides have batted. But it looks like a great batting surface, so if India play to their top order’s ability they could look to score 400 and get a lead. But the quality of Australia’s bowling is not to be disregarded. A score of 369 could be more than enough. I’ll be back with you as India resume.

2.06am GMT

That’s the end at last. Natarajan on debut comes back to bowl, and only needs tow balls to fire one in fast at the base of off stump that Hazlewood can’t do much about. Knocks the stump out of the ground. Natarajan gets a third wicket.

2.05am GMT

115th over: Australia 369-9 (Starc 20, Hazlewood 11) Oh, India. They took 3 wickets for 4 earlier today, but now the last two wickets have put on 54 and counting. A maiden from Sundar to Starc, and we’ve got an extended session past the lunch break given there’s only one wicket left to fall.

2.02am GMT

114th over: Australia 369-9 (Starc 20, Hazlewood 11) Siraj to Starc, who takes a single square. To Hazlewood, bowling a length, trying to get an edge, but he’s forced through the covers for four. Back foot, not timed perfectly but it has enough roll. Next ball, wider, Starc launches onto the front foot and smacks it the same way for four. That one gets there a lot faster. Josh Hazlewood is suddenly the off-side specialist.

2.00am GMT

113th over: Australia 360-9 (Starc 19, Hazlewood 3) The singles keep coming from the spinner, each over that goes by a little more annoying for this Indian side. Three runs from Sundar’s over.

1.53am GMT

112th over: Australia 357-9 (Starc 17, Hazlewood 2) Siraj to Starc, who bides his time. He probably figures he’d rather be out there batting than out there bowling. Defends a few, waiting for the right length to go after. When it comes, he gets it wrong. Big top edge over the bowler, trying to pull, but Mayank Agarwal at mid-off has too far to get across and his sprawling dive is a couple of metres away from where the ball lands. Starc gets a run.

1.48am GMT

111th over: Australia 356-9 (Starc 16, Hazlewood 2) Sundar’s spin with Vulture Street at his back, and he surprises Hazlewood with bounce that gets up near the splice and drops safely in front of the wicket. Slip, short leg, short cover are the close fielders. Backward point, cover point two thirds back, mid-off two third back, mid-on two thirds back, regulation midwicket and backward square leg. Anticipating big shots but that’s not really Hazlewood’s go. You’d be better to crowd him and have the distant catchers for Starc, I reckon. The Large H blocks out a maiden.

1.46am GMT

110th over: Australia 356-9 (Starc 16, Hazlewood 2) Siraj bowling from the Stanley Street End with figures of 1 for 66. He deserves one more wicket to reflect the hard work that he’s done. Sends in a very good bouncer that has Hazlewood falling out of the way like a California redwood under the chainsaw. Siraj then comes around the wicket to the left-hander and pitches up but it’s driven for a run to cover. Third slip drops back to third man for Starc, anticipating a hoick. Instead Starc gets a very sharp bouncer, right-arm over the wicket across the left-hander and over his front shoulder. He flinches out of the way.

1.41am GMT

109th over: Australia 355-9 (Starc 16, Hazlewood 1) Even Josh Hazlewood looks comfortable out there, driving Sundar down to long-off for one. Why does the No11 have a long-off before he’s faced a ball? You tell me.

1.39am GMT

No fifty today. That’s the end of the fun. Sundar is getting good results by just bowling at the stumps. What he’s learned in his exellent T20 career can apply to this kind of batting. Lyon pulls out his trusty sweep shot but misreads the length, playing over the top of a ball that goes under his bat, behind his pads, and hits middle and leg stump.

1.37am GMT

108th over: Australia 354-8 (Starc 16, Lyon 24) Siraj has bowled 24 overs already in this innings, he’ll be creaking. Starts at less than 130 kph to Starc. Second ball is faster, and short, but Starc hooks away off the top edge and it takes a long sprint around from Natarajan at fine leg to slap that back into play on the bounce. Just a single. Lyon plays the short ball comfortably enough as well. Both batsmen have looked completely at ease so far.

1.32am GMT

107th over: Australia 352-8 (Starc 15, Lyon 23) Sundar continues and they milk him like a Jersey cow. One here, two there, six from the over, and the 350 up. India must find a way to put the cork in this. Siraj is warming up, then asking the umpire whether the ball looks alright. It does.

1.29am GMT

106th over: Australia 346-8 (Starc 10, Lyon 22) Thakur to continue, I wonder if Siraj to test them with pace is the move. Saini is a loss at a time like this. Because this pair is playing beautifully! Starc with a back-foot force down the ground for two, then Lyon with a postcard off-drive for four. Another swivel-pull comes out of the middle to fine leg but there’s a man back there. Lyon has still never made a Test fifty, his best was that freewheeling 47 he made when his team was cooked at Cape Town in 2018, but today is as good a chance as he might get. Situation perfect. No pressure, bonus runs, perfect batting conditions, and a tired set of inexperienced bowlers that he can throw off balance.

1.25am GMT

105th over: Australia 338-8 (Starc 7, Lyon 17) I can tell you this: it’s a good pitch for tailenders to bat on. Nice and true, letting you swing through the line. Lyon facing spin for the first time plays the sweep shot, his favourite, and picks up four. This could become damaging for India very quickly. It does, literally, as Lyon sweeps again and smashes short leg on the knee. Prithvi Shaw is under the lid as a sub fielder for Saini. Shaw fits that spot, as the smallest player who remains fit for India. But he’s not happy to be out there after that blow. Lyon is able to divert a leg-side ball behind square for two more.

1.21am GMT

104th over: Australia 332-8 (Starc 7, Lyon 11) Shardul Thakur to Lyon again, who swivels on his heel and pulls a not so short ball through square leg for four. Enterprising Lyon style. The next ball though is proper. Frame that. A classical straight drive past the bowler for four more! Lovely from Lyon. Last ball of the over, he’s up on one foot and playing his swivel shot once more, this time with a deep square leg out for a single and keeping the strike.

1.18am GMT

103rd over: Australia 317-8 (Starc 1, Lyon 2) Ha, both sides of Starc in that over. He plays out five sober, sensible balls against Washington Sundar, gauging the pace and the turn. Then he dismisses the last ball for six! The classic Starc shot, an angled swing over wide long-on, clean as a whistle.

1.14am GMT

102nd over: Australia 317-8 (Starc 1, Lyon 2) Huuuge cheer for Nathan ‘Nathan’ Lyon as he walks to the middle in his 100th Test match. He’s the kind of idiosyncratic batsman who could make a few in these circumstances. I’m reliably told he once made a first-grade century from about 60 balls batting at No6. He gets off the mark immediately with a brace, cross-batted from Thakur to square leg, and the crowd goes wild for it.

1.12am GMT

They’ve lost 3 for 4! What is happening here. Thakur with the inswinger this time, full and booming and nailing Cummins on the ankle in front of middle. He reviews because he has to, with plenty left in hand, but that ball is smashing leg stump on the old DRS.

1.10am GMT

101st over: Australia 313-7 (Cummins 1, Starc 0) We’ll see some swinging now, with Starc at the crease.

1.08am GMT

The tail won’t add anything with Green! He’s bowled by Washington Sundar. What happened there? That’s an off-break speared in at leg stump. Green has shuffled away to leg a touch and then tries to defend, straight down the line of the ball. But it turns away from him. That was definitely an off-spinning delivery out of the hand, and it doesn’t as far as I can tell hit a crack. Maybe it just landed on the seam and jagged slightly. Whatever the case, it goes away from him just a fraction, and gets a shadow of an outside edge before hitting his leg stump. Result for India!

1.05am GMT

100th over: Australia 311-6 (Green 46, Cummins 0) The first of the lower order to the crease, but Paine and Green have Australia are in a good position from here. Whatever the tail can do with Green will be bonus runs. Thakur finishes a wicket maiden.

12.58am GMT

Fifty and gone! Outside the off stump and swinging away, and Paine has been leaving those all day long. The milestone may have disrupted his thinking though, he felt like it was time to have a go at one, but it was not. The away swing turns his off-drive into a regulation edge to the right of second slip, where Rohit Sharma does the job leaning across.

12.55am GMT

99th over: Australia 311-5 (Green 46, Paine 50) Spin time, Washington Sundar’s funny off-breaks to Green. A real leg-side trap: short mid-on, short midwicket, and short leg. The former two are maybe 10 to 15 paces from the bat. Green nearly edes to slip! Goes back but the ball is too full, so he prods at it desperately to keep it out and gets a nick high on the bat that loops rather than going flat, and drops short of Rahane lunging forward. Green flicks another ball square, giving strike to Paine, who drives into the cover gap for his single.

12.52am GMT

98th over: Australia 309-5 (Green 45, Paine 49) One run from his minor milestone is Paine as he drops Thakur to midwicket and runs with the stroke. Simple accumulation. Green plays down to fine leg, a shot that he gets a lot of value from given his height. He can just get over the top of anything vaguely straight and divert it away. Thakur continues wide and Paine leaves. Australia have nearly got through an hour here, that puts them significantly on top.

12.48am GMT

97th over: Australia 307-5 (Green 44, Paine 48) Siraj to Green and now the batsmen are getting some deliveries they can work around. Fuller and straight and Green drives through wide long-on for three. Paine nudges a single square.

12.46am GMT

96th over: Australia 303-5 (Green 41, Paine 47) Shardul Thakur to bowl replacing Natarajan. He’s on the shorter side, powerfully built across the shoulders, and swings the ball conventionally, as he showed when his first ball yesterday picked up Marcus Harris by swinging into the left-hander’s pads and being flicked to square leg. He starts with a warm-up ball, too full, that Paine whips through midwicket for four. Gun-shy, Thakur then bowls too wide for the next five balls and Paine leaves them all alone. Advantage batsman.

12.41am GMT

12.39am GMT

95th over: Australia 299-5 (Green 41, Paine 43) Siraj with another impressive over to Paine, getting the ball to move through the air and off the seam. There won’t be much in this track for long though, you wouldn’t think, and India still haven’t got the wicket they need. It almost comes in unorthodox fashion when Paine shuffles forward to negate the swing and defends back to the bowler on the bounce. The batsman stays where he is, looking at Siraj after the shot, and Siraj realises Paine is out of his crease and pings a throw at the stumps. Paine is a wicketkeeper, so he twigs in time and darts his foot back, and would probably have made it safely had the throw not missed the stumps by a fraction. But that would have been tight.

12.32am GMT

94th over: Australia 298-5 (Green 41, Paine 42) Natarajan to Paine, having come around the wicket, and there’s still inswing with a bit of seam away, but he’s starting his line a few inches too wide. When he bowls at the stumps Paine just blocks a little drive away to mid-on and runs with the stroke. That brings Green onto strike, who edges the ball for four! A proper nick that time from a big drive, reaching away from his body, and it flies through third slip which is untenanted. Two slips and a gully for India. It does make you wonder, with the newer ball, do you really need all of deep point, cover, mid off, mid on, square leg?

12.29am GMT

93rd over: Australia 293-5 (Green 37, Paine 41) Siraj bowls, still getting swing with the new ball but hasn’t been able to make Paine play consistently enough, a lot of balls being left. There’s a leg bye from the over but nothing more, making it technically a maiden to the bowler. That’s three in a row.

David Branch writes in – he should start a partnership with Joe Root. “I read your comment about fast moving thunderstorms and it reminded me of the first day of the last Ashes Test at the Gabba. I was up in Brisbane to meet my brother over from the UK and to catch a bit of cricket. We watched the first session and headed back into the city and got caught in a downpour mid-afternoon. I looked on the radar and there was this tiny red spot right over us which didn’t move for the next 30 minutes. So fast-moving it was not. On a rain-related note, It was hammering down with rain all last eveing in the Doncaster area but I was still able to watch the Big Bash game 20kms away at the MCG where it didn’t really rain until the last over or two. Melbourne’s weather can be really local.”

12.25am GMT

92nd over: Australia 292-5 (Green 37, Paine 41) Swing for the left-arm Natarajan into Green, hitting his pad but almost outside the line of leg and swinging away from leg as it strikes. Green leaves the next, angled across, then pokes after the subsequent ball but misses. A maiden in the end as Natarajan finds some control.

12.20am GMT

91st over: Australia 292-5 (Green 37, Paine 41) An entire bay’s worth of Star Wars stormtroopers have just arrived to sit beneath the press box, so we’ll look forward to seeing whether they veer towards obnoxiousness or jolliness later in the day. They’ve also got a C3P0 and a Yoda, who I must saw is looking a lot broader across the shoulders than the original. Sympathy for the bay attendant who is trying to seat them all in their allocated virus-era seats. Siraj bowls a testing over to Paine, keeping it out beyond his off stump, aside from an inside edge which sneaks past his timbers instead. No run.

12.16am GMT

90th over: Australia 292-5 (Green 37, Paine 41) Huge swing from Natarajan to start his over, but the rest of his delivery is all over the place. One, he’s overstepped to deliver a no-ball. Two, he’s started it wide outside off, so with the away swing it ends up going to first slip. Three, Pant hurts his finger diving across to avoid more byes. If I didn’t mention it already, Navdeep Saini had a muscle strain yesterday and won’t bowl, so India’s attack is Natarajan, Thakur, Siraj, with Washington Sundar for spin.

12.12am GMT

89th over: Australia 290-5 (Green 37, Paine 40) Siraj with the missile from the other, and he tries a couple of bouncers in between pitching up. One of those short balls goes soaring off the surface and clears Pant behind the stumps by a large margin, flying away for four byes. A few singles in between times and Australia have enjoyed a lucrative start.

12.09am GMT

88th over: Australia 282-5 (Green 36, Paine 38) Quite the opening over! Newish ball being taken by Natarajan, up against Green. Natarajan beats the bat a couple of times, once striking the pad, once dipping away from the outside edge by a sliver of daylight. In between times, Green dismisses him twice to the boundary straight down the ground, back past the bowler. We’re certainly underway.

11.59pm GMT

11.43pm GMT

Emails ahoy. “Oh the joy of both waking up to and going to bed to Test match cricket. It may be the winter cricket giddiness, but forgive me this premature comment: Could Cameron Green turn out to be the solution to Australia’s post-Paine skipper conundrum? If he were to continue to play himself into being a middle-order fixture and Paine persists for another two years, Green could be - in both temperament and skill - the ideal man to take the reins, despite his relative youth. Labuschagne is obviously the premier batsman not named Warner or Smith, but there’s something about his presence that, without being harsh, does not seem to lend itself to captaincy.”

You would find a number of people who would agree with you on the latter point, David Reynolds. As for the former, I think we should give the young man time to make enough runs to feel established as a Test batsman before considering higher honours. From my perspective, Pat Cummins is an excellent captaincy candidate once Paine finishes up, and would break the orthodoxy of Australia only ever giving the job to the best batsman rather than the best likely captain.

11.24pm GMT

If you’d like a little more detail on the day’s play, and you’d also like to meet the very cute baby of my OBO colleague Adam Collins, here we are with Winnie Mae going through our daily wrap (while wearing a wrap).

11.20pm GMT

Here is the wires report on yesterday’s play, for the basics.

Related: Marnus Labuschagne century revives Australia against injury-hit India

11.16pm GMT

Had a lot of good correspondence yesterday: people back at work and having a sneaky read, people still on holiday and enjoying that, people late at night on the other side of the world. Fire me off an email or a tweet via the contact details in the sidebar.

11.14pm GMT

Good morning from sunny Brisbane. Sunny for now – there is some Bureau chatter about a thunderstorm late in the afternoon, but if that does happen they tend to blow through fairly quickly in this part of the world, so it doesn’t fill the cricket enthusiast with dread in the way that rain might in other parts of the world. The second day of the deciding Border-Gavaskar Trophy match is here. A lot on the line: the series result, the trophy destination, the respective teams’ ICC rankings and World Test Championship qualifications. Almost too much is on the line. Scale it back, you lot!

The day will start at an even position. Australia 274 for 5, with Tim Paine and Cameron Green to resume. India fielded what the ABC statto Ric Finlay ruled was the least experienced bowling attack (in terms of wickets taken) since England in 1880. Five bowlers with four Tests and 11 wickets between them. That goes up to 13 wickets if you count Rohit Sharma’s part-time spin. So they did well to have Australia 13 for 2 with Warner and Harris gone, and then 87 for 3 with Smith gone, but then things got away.

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