Geoff Lemon's Blog, page 66

AFLW 2020 season opener: Carlton beat Richmond – as it happened

Blues register comfortable victory at Princes ParkTigers begin AFLW life with heavy defeat

10.54am GMT

That’s the season underway as well. More teams, more players, more stories, and all going on at the same time as the Women’s T20 World Cup in the cricket will be hosted in Australia too. We’ll have plenty of coverage from that, so look out for the blogs and reports and columns.

As for the footy, Kirby Fenwick is at Princes Park right now writing a piece on the atmosphere of the game and the event tonight, which will be waiting on your sport pages tomorrow morning Australian time. So look out for that and Kirby’s other writing throughout the season.

10.30am GMT

The match ends as it proceeded all night, in Carlton’s forward line. Lauren Brazzale ends up with a shot at goal late in the piece, but pushes it wide. Plenty of behinds for the Blues tonight, but they managed to get enough shots through the middle to make for a comfortable victory. They looked like a team that has spent some time together: not complete polish as yet, but stitching together good sequences of passes and moving well at times.

Richmond couldn’t match that, rarely getting much in the way of quality possession together. The Tigers created pressure early by being hard at the ball, but found themselves locked in desperate defence for too much of the night, and eventually wore themselves out.

10.25am GMT

4th quarter, 3 mins remaining: Vescio sells a dummy, slick move, then drives toward goal, but a late and well-timed first denies the major score. She’s up in the centre square now, getting in everything. Sets up Prespakis for a flying shot at goal with her 20th touch. Another miss. The kick-in ends up at the half-back boundary, with Richmond’s Stahl seeing it over. She’s been fierce at the contest all night, wearing the helmet a la Nathan Burke.

10.21am GMT

4th quarter, 7 mins remaining: A second goal for Richmond! Courtney Wakefield makes up for her earlier miss by slotting her first and the Tigers’ second from open play. The celebrations are almost as good this time around.

10.17am GMT

4th quarter, 9 mins remaining: A quick goal back for Carlton, after a scrappy push forward as Downie receives a pass over the top and dinks it through. Doesn’t matter how they come. Richmond’s glow of happiness gets a little dimmed.

10.13am GMT

4th quarter, 11 mins remaining: Richmond’s women score their first goal! It’s Sabrina Frederick who goes into the history books, and a rare uncluttered piece of lead-up play. Brennan receives the ball in space on the half-forward flank, and has the time to measure her kick long into the forward line. It’s over the head of Frederick, giving her space to run back and lose her opponent to mark. Then Frederick goes back from 40 out and thumps the long kick through! The Tigers celebrate fiercely, and it’s good to see how much that means despite a tough night.

10.02am GMT

Vescio tries to wriggle free on the boundary for one more run at goal but Sarah Sansonetti hangs onto her tight and defuses the threat. That’s the end of the quarter, with the Blues now out by 37 points.

9.59am GMT

3rd quarter, 1 min remaining: Carlton have dropped the hammer now. Their forward-line pressure and dominance in territory was always likely to take its toll eventually. Richmond just can’t get out of defence. At this point there’s a ruck infringement and Maddie Prespakis ends up with the free. From 30 metres out she sends it through and celebrates accordingly.

9.56am GMT

3rd quarter, 2 mins remaining: from that 50 penalty, the Blues come forward cleanly. Prespakis gets the entry into the forward line once again, kicking to the advantage of Harris. Mark! At the top of the square, and Harris goes back and slots her set shot this time around.

9.54am GMT

3rd quarter, 4 mins remaining: Grace Egan gets done for holding the ball for a third time tonight. She’ll have to do some work on speed of disposal. The Tigers can’t get clear though, and give up possession after that through a free for high contact. There’s a scrum inside 50 leading to a ball-up, with Harris in the ruck, then fighting for the ball in the pocket. Rebecca Miller outwrestles her this time around. Brennan is floating down into defence, just trying to have some influence on the contest. Tayla Stahl for Richmond wins a free for a hard tackle on the wing, but the Tigers turn it over and concede a 50-metre penalty for kicking the ball away.

9.51am GMT

3rd quarter, 8 mins remaining: a throw-in for Carlton after the ball trickles into the behind post, and Vescio grabs the crumb heading towards the boundary line, but her snap from the pocket bounces the wrong way. Carlton threatening to blow the Tigers away as the new team tires.

9.49am GMT

3rd quarter, 8 mins remaining: There’s the goal that Richmond missed out on, going to the Blues. Running play into the pocket, Prespakis with time and calm, looping the handball over the top to Brooke Walker who has made good space and receives the ball unmarked to pop through a simple score.

9.47am GMT

3rd quarter, 9 mins remaining: Richmond should have their first goal now, but that’s a shocker of a miss from Courtney Wakefield. Marks strongly about 15 from goal, shoots from 20, but leans back on her kick and screws it across the face of goal for no score.

9.45am GMT

3rd quarter, 12 mins remaining: Richmond start the quarter well, pressing forward, but Carlton come up with one of their best moves of the night from half-back. A couple of handpasses, a fake-out, then Georgia Gee runs the ball out of defence. Finds McEvoy on the wing, who kicks to Harris at half-forward. She’s about to mark but Makur Chuot makes amazing ground running back to spoil. But Richmond are pinged after that for diving on the ball, and a short pass finds Vescio in the pocket. She lines up her set shot and drills it!

9.28am GMT

Almost that opening goal for Richmond in the dying seconds of the quarter, as they race forward from a turnover, get it long inside 50, and have Laura McClelland run back onto the loose ball and screw a snap around her body at goal. But it’s offline, and the Tigers will have to keep waiting.

9.24am GMT

2nd quarter, 1 min remaining: Egan done for holding the ball again in the forward pocket, trying to break a tackle but stripped of the ball. The Tigers get the ball to half-forward but McEvoy arrives to take a tough contested mark for the Blues. They work their way up the field carefully this time, mark to mark rather than trying to surge through the lines. It goes through Sarah Hosking to end up with Harris taking a set shot from the pocket, but misses again.

The Blues are 1.8 (14) at the moment.

9.19am GMT

2nd quarter, 7 min remaining: A long kick towards the 50 for the Blues puts the Tigers under pressure. Vescio strips the ball at the arc and thumps it forward, but through the hands of Harris near the goalsquare with three to beat. The Blues get possession again, back for a mark to Loynes who drives to the square, but a quick kick is touched through for a behind. Then as the game keeps being played in Carlton’s half, Tayla Harris marks about 45 out and launches a long set shot with that high-kicking action, but it fades right of goal and Vescio can’t keep it in.

9.16am GMT

2nd quarter, 9 min remaining: Tigers are on the board! Not that much to cheer about yet, but Brennan grabs the loose ball at 50, runs laterally to the goal, then lets loose a booming shot at the sticks. It fades left for a point, but they’re away.

9.04am GMT

Desperate stuff from Monahan again, who races back to make a tackle on Joanne Doonan as the Carlton player was racing from the pocket towards goal. The ball comes back in and Vescio is claiming a pack mark but the umpire says it was touched. Finally Richmond get a clearing kick and Conti marks to relieve the pressure in the final seconds of the quarter. It’s been a tough one for Richmond, and the advantage is clearly with the more experienced Blues.

9.01am GMT

1st quarter, 1 min remaining: A clean run of marks from Carlton out of defence, Downie to Dalton to McEvoy at centre-half forward. But the final kick only finds a contest. Cleared out, comes back in, and Katie Loynes gets a free kick for high contact! There was a hand clearly grabbing the top of her shoulder. Loynes takes her shot from 25 out and dobs it.

8.58am GMT

1st quarter, 3 mins remaining: Bernardi has the Tigers’ first shot at goal after a mark up forward, but her shot falls short. Brennan takes the crumb but is wrestled over a boundary line.

8.57am GMT

1st quarter, 4 mins remaining: Maddie Prespakis comes off the field looking dazed after an accidental head bump. Bad news. Vescio has her thigh strapped. Katie Brennan gives away a 50-metre penalty as the Tigers try to go forward.

8.56am GMT

1st quarter, 7 mins remaining: Opening round last season was a jumble of nerves, a lot of fumbles. Possession has been a lot cleaner tonight, some good pick-ups and quick handballs. The Blues come forward again, but Phoebe Monahan who wrestled the first behind over the line is there to spoil possession and force another behind. That’s the fifth for the Blues, they’re piecing together a goal in increments.

8.52am GMT

1st quarter, 11 mins remaining: Carlton dominating possession, surging forward again. Vescio rucks a loose ball bouncing near the boundary, Harris roves the tap but is pushed off her kick. At the top of the goalsquare, Hosking has a couple of opportunities to shoot but both times looks to hand off. The second time it comes unstuck.

8.49am GMT

1st quarter, 14 mins remaining: A quick exit from the bounce and the Blues stream forward, into the goal square but Akec Makur Chuot does some desperate work on the last line and the ball is wrestled over for a rushed behind. Coming back out of defence, Carlton’s Grace Egan cuts the ball off but is tackled as she tries to kick. Incorrect disposal.

8.46am GMT

Jade van Dyk had some injury trouble in the warm-up, but she’s taken her place in the starting team. And we’re away...

8.45am GMT

We’re getting the power tunes on the PA: Tigerland followed by Beyoncé singing Freedom. For Carlton tonight, most eyes will be on Darcy Vescio tonight: the forward wasn’t at her best last season with injury, but she’s the most watchable player in the league when she is. Maddie Prespakis won the club best and fairest in her debut season last year, as you do. Brianna Davey tied her for that award, but was traded to Collingwood over the off-season. Tayla Harris is still in navy blue though, she of the iconic photograph fame.

8.29am GMT

The Tigers have drafted ambitiously. Katie Brennan crossed from the Bulldogs in a trade that surprised many. Monique Conti did the same. Sabrina Frederick crossed from the Brisbane Lions, where her powerful style of play impressed over the first couple of seasons. Christina Bernardi arrived from Collingwood.

Carlton meanwhile played off in the grand final last season, though they were thrashed by the Adelaide Crows.

8.22am GMT

Good evening from sunny (smoky sticky hazy) Melbourne, and good evening from the start of footy season. It may only be the start of February but it’s AFLW time, with the expanded women’s competition starting tonight. As has quickly become traditional, Carlton will be one of the teams to kick off the season. And now that season can follow a tradition of the men’s game with Carlton taking on Richmond. The Tigers are one of the new teams joining this year, and they will face the challenges of all new sides entering this competition as the players try to work out how to best operate as a team.

The teams will be back at Princes Park, the old-style home ground of the Carlton Football Club, with the gates open for free entry and a big crowd expected. I’ll be here to keep you updated if you can’t see a television or hear a radio.

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'Put a gap in em': how Roy and HG's The Dream skewered the Sydney Olympics

The fictional broadcasters’ deadpan absurdism and fondness for euphemism was the surprise hit of the 2000 Sydney Olympics coverage

• We’re celebrating unforgettable moments in Australian TV. Vote for your favourite here

The clip is from 2000, but it’s 1990s Australia at heart. The man and woman on screen have a shared vibe of “primary-school music teacher who once came uncomfortably close to joining a cult”. Both foreheads are hung with puffy fringes. His shirt is acrylic cobalt panelled with faux-tribal patterns, her lavender is offset by a loosely knotted gauze scarf. Their singing barely crests a monotone, their dancing never exceeds the self-conscious white Australian sway.

“Go you good thing,” is their refrain in unison, with the conviction of a trainee waiter recommending wet sawdust as a main. “Go, and go in hard. Go you good thing, go.”

Related: It's not about the risotto: MasterChef gave Australia an unvarnished look at human nature | Adam Liaw

Word of mouth went wild. Within a few days swimmer Michael Klim was holding Fatso while receiving a gold medal

Related: Aunty Jack: how a lovable moustachioed thug in a dress brought colour to Australia

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Australia’s latest ODI squad continues shift away from T20 approach | Geoff Lemon

Tough calls were made as selectors moved their 50-over approach closer to a shortened Test than an elongated T20

With a Twenty20 World Cup on home soil less than a year away, it is interesting that the Australian men’s team will sail into 2019 with a 50-over team that looks much closer to the Test line-up than a 20-over outfit. Few of the tyros of the Big Bash are there: instead they will be back home playing in that T20 tournament while the one-day team makes a lightning trip to the subcontinent for three matches at India’s insistence.

Steve Smith and David Warner are the pair that would be present in any format. Alongside them in the one-day squad sits the Test pace attack of Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood, while chairman of selectors Trevor Hohns says that Test spinner Nathan Lyon “remains in the one-day squad selection frame”. Marnus Labuschagne makes the squad after three Test hundreds this summer, without having played much short-form cricket even domestically.

Related: Big Bash League season opens to mixed reviews for innovations

Related: Australia streak ahead with New Zealand already playing catch up | Geoff Lemon

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Australia streak ahead with New Zealand already playing catch up | Geoff Lemon

The tourists’ lack of day-night preparation leaves them to rue a poor start in Perth – and in the series as a whole

It’s never very decorous to say I told you so. But when predictions are borne out to the letter, it would be equally smug not to mention it. Last week I questioned the talking up of the New Zealand Test team’s prospects in Australia, given a history of freezing on such tours. In Perth the two sides repeated the start of their 2015 series blow for blow, with Australia batting for most of two days before rattling through a feeble New Zealand response.

While the Kiwis found their fight later in the match, they all but conceded it at the start. Lockie Ferguson was erratic on debut, Tim Southee was unthreatening, and Australia rattled along at four runs an over. Catches began going down and only four wickets fell on the first day. Holding David Warner and Steve Smith to 43 apiece was a win, but Marnus Labuschagne got a life and made a hundred while Travis Head got away with a dicey half century.

Related: Tim Paine says Australia 'can still get better' after demolition of New Zealand

Related: Peter Siddle emerges as shock option to cover for Josh Hazlewood at MCG

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Australia beat New Zealand by 296 runs in first Test – as it happened

Mitchell Starc took nine wickets to help Australia take a 1-0 series lead before the Boxing Day Test match at the MCG

1.03pm GMT

Related: Mitchell Starc takes nine as Australia storm to 1-0 series lead over New Zealand

12.10pm GMT

Signing off. On behalf of Geoff and myself, thanks for your company on the OBO throughout the Test. We’ll see you again on Boxing Day. Until then, have a happy and safe Christmas. Bye for now!

12.09pm GMT

Mitch Starc speaks. He is the player of the match for his match figures of 9/97. He’s also thrilled with how the quicks got it done with Hazlewood. A technical change has helped him a lot this year working with Andre Adams at NSW, which has got him into a better head space as well. Will be enjoying a few days off before getting ready for the MCG Boxing Day Test.

12.07pm GMT

Tim Paine speaks. Batted well in the first innings to set it up, batting to tea until day to enable bowling under lights. Proud of bowling attack who took 20 wickets with just two seamers and Lyon with part-timers chipping in.

12.06pm GMT

Kane Williamson speaks. Challenging against Australia in the heat who were tactically outstanding and made the most of the new ball under lights. They were a long way ahead from there. It’s important we reflect and don’t get too carried away and look for little improvements before the MCG Test. A drastic difference from the Hamilton surface against England but that’s no excuse.

12.05pm GMT

It was a great performance with the ball. Remember, Hazlewood only bowled eight deliveries in the Test before breaking down. Starc finishes with nine for the mach, Lyon six. It’s a crime that Cummins only collected three - he was equally brilliant. Starc should be player of the match as a result but Labuschagne will probably get the nod. We’ll see. The presentations are coming up shortly.

11.59am GMT

Nathan Lyon speaks. Clinical performance after losing Hazlewood. Couldn’t ask for a better bowling performance. New Zealand are the number two team in the world so they will bounce back in Melbourne on Boxing Day. “Pretty lucky” to get Williamson first ball. Had no idea he was on a hat-trick until Cummins told him. Starc has been working for a long time and is getting the rewards now.

11.56am GMT

There it is! Around the wicket, Southee edges gently into the hands of Smith at slip. Lyon finishes with 4/63. Australia go one-nil up.

11.55am GMT

65th over: New Zealand 171-9 (Southee 4, Ferguson 1) Starc to Southee from around the wicket and he adds four to the Kiwi total, albeit off his pads for leg byes. The next is a yorker, turned away out of the blockhole. Ferguson’s turn with three to face. Better still: he gets off the mark with one to point, Southee keeping the strike with a single of his own in that direction. Lyon’s turn for a fourth.

9,334 at the Casino Stadium tonight. That means the most recent Test at the WACA outdrew this on each day (1-4). Not good.

11.49am GMT

64th over: New Zealand 164-9 (Southee 2, Ferguson 0) Ferguson is batting despite the fact that he has a calf injury, which ruled him out of bowling from the first afternoon. Southee takes an agricultural single to pop him straight down the danger end against Cummins. It’s not a nice over to have to play out from around the wicket on one leg. A bit odd they have sent him out to bat? He has a slog at the last ball and misses, but he’s through it. Starc now has a chance at five.

I missed this when Wagner was in, but this is quite good.

Crowd's chanting `we want Wade'. They want Wade to bowl to Wagner.

11.44am GMT

One to go! Wagner’s stay was an entertaining one, somehow managing to get a leading edge over third man for six. But Starc had the last laugh, winning a conventional outside edge from around the wicket, safely into the gloves of Paine. He has 4/42.

63rd over: New Zealand 163-9 (Southee 1)

11.40am GMT

62nd over: New Zealand 154-8 (Southee 0, Wagner 0) Matthew Wade is enjoying being, well, Matthew Wade. They are very happy to have Wagner out there under lights with the game now very much lost for the Black Caps. Of course, Wade was hit many times by Wagner in his gutsy innings. He’s immediately into the Kiwi bowler here as Cummins completes his second successful over on the trot. Oh, and by getting hrough that Wagner is off his King Pair, I should note.

11.35am GMT

Cummins gets another! 20 wickets now in the Test have now fallen to the short ball and what a short ball this is. Santner had little no chance of getting out of the way, such was the brutal bounce. With both feet off the air, he deflected to Travis Head under the lid.

11.31am GMT

PAINE REVIEWS CORRECTLY! There’s a mark on the hotspot and a spike on the snicko. Watling deserved a half-century but falls ten runs short. Starc has three. Australia should win this tonight.

61st over: New Zealand 154-7 (Santner 0)

11.29am GMT

PAINE GOES UPSTAIRS! Starc was appealing for caught behind down the legside - did Watling glove it? Umpire Llong says no. We’ll see.

11.25am GMT

60th over: New Zealand 154-6 (Watling 40, Santner 0) How will Santner go here? He usually plays his shots, might that be the best way for him to get the Black Caps to the close? Gee, he can’t have a dip at the short one to finish - it’s a brute of a thing that smashes into his shoulder. Ouch. The end of an outstanding Cummins over.

11.21am GMT

Cummins is back into the attack and strikes third ball of his spell! It’s a super bit of bowling from around the wicket, winning the edge of de Grandhomme with a ball he had to play at. Smith does the rest, claiming a sharp catch low to the turf. Four to go. He earned that.

11.14am GMT

59th over: New Zealand 152-5 (Watling 39, de Grandhomme 33) Starc again to CDG, a match-up they like. But he isn’t taking the bouncer on, getting underneath it instead. He leaves the next one up there too - good batting. He continues to stay the course until the final ball, where he has a wee waft at something well wide of off stump. Leave those alone, Colin. And with that, they take a drink. Australia have picked up just one wicket in the two hours I’ve been on the tools. They have 16 overs left to bowl tonight. “It will be hard work to get it done tonight,” agrees Wade, interviewed on TV during the break.

11.10am GMT

58th over: New Zealand 152-5 (Watling 39, de Grandhomme 33) Oooh, another edge from around the wicket for Lyon, Watling deflecting the ball to where second slip would be if one were in position. As they note on commentary, is there anything lost by having a second catcher there given he’s coming from that angle?

11.07am GMT

57th over: New Zealand 148-5 (Watling 36, de Grandhomme 32) The crowd give Starc a big cheer as he returns to the attack. It’s been two hours since he last bowled, so he should be fresh for this stint. There won’t be a second new ball tonight but that usually isn’t a problem for Starc with the pink missile, which he usually gets moving. As Mike Hussey points out on TV, there are fielders spread all over the place behind square to de Grandhomme when he gets on strike, Starc banging it in and making life tough but he makes it through. These two have now put on 50. There are 18 overs left tonight.

11.01am GMT

56th over: New Zealand 146-5 (Watling 36, de Grandhomme 31) Lyon’s biggest weapon right now is bounce rather than turn. He gets one to lift big, Paine just getting his gloves up in time. Other than that, Watling has a plan and he’s sticking to it - using the crease well.

10.59am GMT

55th over: New Zealand 144-5 (Watling 34, de Grandhomme 31) Shot. de Grandhomme jumps across his stumps to work Head with the spin down to the fine leg rope. A shot that is harder than it looks, especially with men around the bat catching. He defends the rest.

10.58am GMT

54th over: New Zealand 140-5 (Watling 34, de Grandhomme 27) It’s not drifting - they’re both giving it a rip and creating. When de Grandhomme is beaten here it prompts a shout for lbw. But, on the whole, the relatively set New Zealand pair are handling this well.

10.51am GMT

53rd over: New Zealand 138-5 (Watling 33, de Grandhomme 26) Head to replace Labuschagne, which isn’t a bad shout given how much turn he was generating before the tea interval. He’s certainly giving it a rip, so de Grandhomme plays him watchfully.

10.49am GMT

52nd over: New Zealand 136-5 (Watling 32, de Grandhomme 25) Around the wicket, Lyon finds two outside edges in a row... the second dropped by Smith at slip! It went quick to his left off Watling’s bat but you don’t expect to see a catcher of his ability put anything down. The other mitigating factor, as Mark Waugh notes, is that he would have seen it late from that angle due to Paine’s gloves. I should note that earlier in the over, Neser put in a superb dive, stop and throw. Before this summer is over, he must have a baggy green.

10.45am GMT

51st over: New Zealand 132-5 (Watling 28, de Grandhomme 25) I do like Labuschagne’s style, racing through his overs like Ravi Jadeja.

10.44am GMT

50th over: New Zealand 130-5 (Watling 28, de Grandhomme 23) “A classic in-out field,” says Michael Hussey of the plan to de Grandhomme with Lyon in operation: four catchers in close, three boundary-riders waiting for another hoick. But there’s nothing for anyone here despite how well the off-spinner is landing them.

On Aleem Dar, I have a note from Greg Mason. “Surely there should be a maximum number of successful reviews before the umpire is sent off and swapped for better one?”

10.40am GMT

49th over: New Zealand 129-5 (Watling 28, de Grandhomme 22) Labuschagne replaces Cummins, who needs a breather. Quite right. de Grandhomme collects three first up from a half-tracker but the spinner is right on the mark with his topspinners to Watling, bringing those cracks into play more than the footmarks.

10.35am GMT

48th over: New Zealand 126-5 (Watling 28, de Grandhomme 19) It’s such a bad decision from Aleem Dar. Paine barely appealed; his finger went up with him. de Grandhomme gets off strike with one into the on side after the reprieve, so to speak. Watling does the rest.

10.33am GMT

ALEEM DAR HAS GIVEN DE GRANDHOMME OUT. It isn’t out. He reviews right away. A massive gap; I can’t believe he gave it.

10.32am GMT

47th over: New Zealand 125-5 (Watling 28, de Grandhomme 18) Cummins searching for those cracks, doing it at pace. Watling in response doing as he has thoughout, defending with soft hands and getting out the way whenever he can. Cummins 16-5-28-0.

IMO Day 4 cracks more dangerous than day 1 divots. Don’t @ me

10.27am GMT

46th over: New Zealand 123-5 (Watling 27, de Grandhomme 17) de Grandhomme has showed plenty of patience against Lyon since hitting his second ball for six... that is, until, he finishes this over with a one-handed smash over square leg. It’s safe and four but deserves to be neither on aesthetic grounds. He’s still there!

10.24am GMT

45th over: New Zealand 119-5 (Watling 27, de Grandhomme 13) Some chaos to begin, de Grandhomme losing the ball after dealing with a biting short one. Leaving his ground, Wade races in and tries to back-heel the ball onto the stumps. Fair to say it was no Mo Salah from yesterday... what a ridiculous goal that was. They both were.

Mohamed Salah. That’s the GIF. pic.twitter.com/rlJEectflH

10.21am GMT

44th over: New Zealand 117-5 (Watling 27, de Grandhomme 12) It was Smith’s fault that they didn’t review the caught behind off Lyon in the previous over, insistent that it was pad not bat, the stump mic reveals. Watling is far more assured against him this time around, blunting the spin time and again off the front foot.

10.18am GMT

43rd over: New Zealand 116-5 (Watling 27, de Grandhomme 11) How is it possible that Cummins has one wicket in this match? In a way, I wish he had none so it could beat McGrath’s effort at Melbourne in 2000, which I have previously written of as being the best pair of none-fas in Test Cricket. This time around he smacks CDG on the thigh pad early in the over before nearly hitting him in the helmet with an accurate short one. The big boy keeps his cool though, steering a square drive out to deep point for three. In doing so, he brings up his 1000th run in Test cricket. With a batting average above 40 and a bowling mark under 30, he’s a legitimate Test all-rounder.

10.13am GMT

42nd over: New Zealand 113-5 (Watling 27, de Grandhomme 8) For once, Paine doesn’t review... on a delivery that found the edge and was out! A lovely piece of bowling from Lyon who had Watling on the front foot, lunging. Paine took it expertly and appealed. But when the decision didn’t go his way, he didn’t send it upstairs. Dear me.

10.11am GMT

41st over: New Zealand 108-5 (Watling 23, de Grandhomme 7) Cummins hasn’t picked up a wicket today but could easily run through this New Zealand lower order. He gets an early look at de Grandhomme and beats his inside edge, before finding it with his next delivery. Watling does well to clip a couple to finish. It’s on.

10.04am GMT

40th over: New Zealand 104-5 (Watling 20, de Grandhomme 6) And second ball, de Grandhomme HITS LYON FOR SIX! As you do. Dance, swing, connect. Over long-on, have that.

10.02am GMT

The players are back on the field. There are 35.2 overs left on this fourth day, which will take Australia the full 150 minutes. Then an extra half an hour at their disposal to finish the match tonight, which can be taken by the umpires if they see fit. Lyon to de Grandhomme, the new man, to complete his successful over. PLAY!

9.58am GMT

Interesting.

Langer tells Ponting Aust may play 5 bowlers - "four quicks and a spinner" at the MCG #AusvNZ

9.47am GMT

Tidy take.

Just above the ground! #AUSvNZ pic.twitter.com/3w0hG2Z1hM

9.45am GMT

That’s out. Nicholls was a long way forward and ball did hit his pad, but it flicked the back of his bat too before looping to Head. The South Australian did really well to get his right hand under it at silly point. A classic off-spinners’ wicket. Lyon has three. And that’s tea.

9.42am GMT

NICHOLLS GIVEN OUT CAUGHT AT SILLY POINT! He’s reviewing it.

9.40am GMT

39th over: New Zealand 97-4 (Nicholls 21, Watling 19) Labuschagne around the wicket to Nicholls, as wide of the crease is is legal. Paine and co continue to work him over for not generating much spin but he might not need to if he can land it in the footmarks there for him courtesy of at Pat Cummins. Not so on this occasion, the left-hander taking a couple to cover then two more off his pads. One over to go.

9.38am GMT

38th over: New Zealand 93-4 (Nicholls 17, Watling 19) Nathan Lyon is back for a brief burst before tea and it’s a lovely over too, Watling having to deal with tons of turn then one that doesn’t spin - possibly hitting a crack? - beating his outside edge with a lot of bounce. When Lyon has his tail up late in a Test match he’s such a different bowler.

9.36am GMT

37th over: New Zealand 93-4 (Nicholls 17, Watling 19) This pair have done well to calm things down across this fourth hour. As Ian Smith says on telly, the job is to now get this to a fifth day. They are going to lose, sure, but if they can make Cummins and Starc work tomorrow in the heat instead of resting, that’s not completely for nothing.

9.32am GMT

36th over: New Zealand 92-4 (Nicholls 17, Watling 18) Paine is having a lot of fun out there, comparing Labuschagne’s over to Kerry O’Keeffe on the basis of how little legspin he was generating. Now they have turned the stump mics up to head his commentary on Head’s fresh over. Nicholls shows a bit more purpose at him this time, coming down the track to clip - albeit not that convincingly - through midwicket for a couple. That’s the second time they’ve had an over of stump mics only without the captain saying an awful lot.

9.28am GMT

35th over: New Zealand 89-4 (Nicholls 15, Watling 17) Marnus to join Head as the other part-time spin option Paine has at his disposal. As Hussey says on commentary, it’s clever captaincy as it gives his two fast bowlers a chance to get a longer rest before they are called upon in the final session for what will be a 150-minute shift. A good over, too; Labuschagne’s leggies are dealt with respectfully by Watling.

9.26am GMT

34th over: New Zealand 86-4 (Nicholls 14, Watling 15) “Ooh! Tim May!” Paine likes Head’s turn an awful lot, comparing him to the fine South Australian offie. Fair enough too when beating Nicholls’ bat a couple of times this over with deliveries that rip a long way. Like it.

9.24am GMT

33rd over: New Zealand 86-4 (Nicholls 14, Watling 15) Watling’s turn for the Cummins interrogation and he’s up to the task, ducking when he can, playing with soft hands when he must. Fine batting. Surely, in the Perth heat, this spell won’t last that many more overs?

It is so very cricket that the ICC World Test Championship's only visible branding at a match is a tiny logo on the umpires' uniforms. The commercial wings of boards really need to push it more than that #AUSvNZ

9.19am GMT

32nd over: New Zealand 86-4 (Nicholls 14, Watling 15) Head on for his first bowl this Test summer. Speaking of nicknames: “Get us one here, Empty.” Good work from the captain. Not a bad over either from the part-timer who was probably a bit more than a part-timer a few years ago when he was a regular in the ODI team, finding his length by the end of the over and skidding onto Nicholls pad from around the wicket with his final ball. There’s a big shout - and it is going on to hit the stumps - but there’s a big inside edge, too.

9.16am GMT

31st over: New Zealand 82-4 (Nicholls 11, Watling 14) More of the same, Cummins hammering in wide of the crease, making life tough every ball. “It doesn’t get any better than this,” says Vaughan of the big quick when they break his action into a slow-motion video.

9.11am GMT

30th over: New Zealand 81-4 (Nicholls 10, Watling 14) Well, that backfired on the host broadcaster. They decided to turn the stump mics up for the Lyon over and go silent on commentary. But after the first ball was driven off the back foot for four - a lovely shot by Watling - the Australians didn’t say anything for the duration.

9.09am GMT

29th over: New Zealand 77-4 (Nicholls 10, Watling 10) It’s a crime that Cummins hasn’t a wicket to his name in this session. He’s been magnificent. Much as it was that afternoon in Manchester when he could not have bowled any better, his colleagues cleaning Englnd up at the other end. This time around, he does find Nicholls edge - a genuine one too - but due to the pitch, it doesn’t carry.

Mark Waugh is still very grumpy that Starc didn’t play more in the Ashes. “He woulda knocked over Jack Leach.” Everyone seen this?

9.06am GMT

28th over: New Zealand 75-4 (Nicholls 8, Watling 10) Lyon is very close to Nicholls’ off-stump first up with one that goes straight on and misses everything. Quality cat and mouse contest between these two, the spinner mixing up his pace but on the same good length.

9.04am GMT

27th over: New Zealand 74-4 (Nicholls 7, Watling 10) As we see so often after a blow to the head with the next delivery, it directed outside the off-stump and wafted at. To be fair, it did plenty. There’s a lot going on out there now. Watling does well to defend the last couple with a nice, straight blade. Gutsy batting.

“Morning all.” Morning, David Kalucy. “Loving the contest and the day night element. Though it may not be traditional it is definitely a Test and that’s the point really, plus the poor cousins in Europe get to “watch” in real time.”

8.57am GMT

Phwoooooar! Off a length and off a crack, Cummins seams back into the grille of Watling’s helmet. He’s fine, immediately giving the thumbs up. But that’s brutal. We saw last year at the Casino Stadium that this pitch can really go up and down later and it certainly is here. Nothing strictly wrong with that, by the way. “He’ll fight,” Vaughan says of Watling, as they bring out a new helmet for him. There is a long delay as the doctors go through their assessments.

8.51am GMT

26th over: New Zealand 70-4 (Nicholls 7, Watling 6) Lyon is too short to Nicholls early and the left-hander makes no mistake, crunching a pull shot into the gap. He’s right back on it after that, bringing the batsman forward with ample flight. For what little it is worth, the requirement for New Zealand is now under 400. Did I hear a new nickname for Starc before drinks, by the way? Let’s keep on that.

8.47am GMT

Six to go. A pretty simple equation for Australia after yet another productive hour. If you go back to the first innings at Adelaide, Lyon was having a tough time of it. Now, after a couple of excellent spells, both to finish the Pakistan series and here against New Zealand, he looks every chance to do a lot of damage here. He’s a Confidence Man, make no mistake. You know the drill: let’s chat.

8.43am GMT

25th over: New Zealand 66-4 (Nicholls 3, Watling 6) Starc’s up-down bowling continues: twice he bowls too far onto the pads. Nicholls flicks him for three, Watling for four. Then an over-correction lets Watling drive through cover for two. Nine from the over. I don’t think Australia will be sweating it much.

Drinks break. I’m out, Adam Collins will be driving you home. If The Cars were wondering.

8.37am GMT

24th over: New Zealand 57-4 (Nicholls 0, Watling 0) A wicket-maiden for Lyon, with Watling now joining Nicholls. This match could be over today.

New Zealand still trail by 411 runs.

8.36am GMT

Lyon to Latham, and keeps tying him in knots. Latham hangs on the back foot while trying to play across the line. Lyon doesn’t turn that one much, and it angles in from around the wicket and hits Latham on the back leg. Latham knows he’s in trouble, looking up at Aleem Dar, who says not out. It’s not a bad call, because that ball could be angling down leg. The Australians aren’t convinced and take a long time to review. But eventually with a shrug Tim Paine decides to have a look, and the tracking shows full impact on leg stump. Latham’s trial is over.

8.30am GMT

23rd over: New Zealand 57-3 (Latham 18, Nicholls 0) Starc is up to seven wickets in the match. Henry Nicholls the next in, who’s been in good touch recently in Test cricket.

8.28am GMT

The short ball plan! It worked for New Zealand, now it’s working for Australia. Mitchell Starc again, he’s unstoppable in this match. Starc telegraphs his mode of attack with his field. Taylor wants to take him on. Nails a pull shot that deserves four but Wade fields it brilliantly at midwicket to stop any run. Then Taylor tries again, premeditated, against a ball that doesn’t get up and is angling across him, and can only nick it outside his off stump. Poor shot, good plan.

8.24am GMT

22nd over: New Zealand 57-2 (Latham 18, Taylor 22) Lyon is due for a wicket before long. Latham tries a huge swat at him, just gets a bottom edge into his pads. Lyon gets another ball to leap, and Latham fends it away for a single behind point. Then Ross Taylor tries a reverse sweep, with a slip in position, and bottom-edges it into the ground.

8.21am GMT

21st over: New Zealand 55-2 (Latham 17, Taylor 21) Mitchell Starc on to replace Cummins. This is the peril of the three-man bowling attack. New Zealand have survived Cummins’ brilliant spell, though it was short. They’ll have one from Starc, then perhaps another few Cummins overs. After that, Australia will have to go to Labuschagne or Wade or even David Warner to partner Lyon. From there, life becomes more possible for NZ.

Starc can’t do what Cummins did though: he gets too full to Taylor, who clouts a bottom-handed cover drive for four, then a more controlled one for three. Then the wrong line to Latham, who can work a brace and then a single off the pads.

8.15am GMT

20th over: New Zealand 49-2 (Latham 14, Taylor 18) Latham is suddenly a cat on a hot tin roof against Lyon. Comes down to try to get to the pitch and nearly gets stumped, having to half fall over to kick the ball away. Nearly endures a raucous appeal for leg before but Latham got an edge on it. Then Lyon bowls a gimme, short and wide, and Latham isn’t clear enough in his mind to hit it properly, only limping it away to point for a dot ball. Watch this space.

8.13am GMT

19th over: New Zealand 49-2 (Latham 14, Taylor 18) Cummins won’t quit. Gets a full over at Taylor, seven balls in fact with a bouncer wided for height. Taylor scores two with a leg-side push, but aside from that Cummins is around his outside edge non-stop.

8.05am GMT

18th over: New Zealand 46-2 (Latham 14, Taylor 16) Is Paine calling Lyon by ‘Gareth’ now? Can’t keep up. “He wasn’t gonna play that Gazza,” trills Paine as Ross Taylor lunges late to smother a ball outside off. Taylor responds by taking a knee to wallop Lyon through square leg for four. Deep backward square goes in front of square in the deep. Taylor reaches well outside off stump to drag a sweep shot to that man for a single.

8.03am GMT

17th over: New Zealand 41-2 (Latham 14, Taylor 11) Cummins keeps asking questions, targeting Latham’s inside edge to force defence to the on side, then outside edge to defend to gully. A bouncer makes Latham dip under it, a full ball takes an inside edge into pad. Then back to his natural length and it just beats the outside edge! What a spell this is.

7.59am GMT

16th over: New Zealand 41-2 (Latham 14, Taylor 11) Lyon getting the ball to jump and turn into Taylor as it did to dismiss Williamson. It is truly impressive just how many nicknames Tim Paine can get through for Lyon in a single over. Goat, Gazza, Garry, Nath, Goaty, Gaz, Gazbo, Lyno. Ever encouraging, and even when Taylor clouts a one-bounce four into a vacant midwicket, Paine says “Oh yes, love that Gaz!”

7.55am GMT

15th over: New Zealand 35-2 (Latham 13, Taylor 6) Cummins bowled a perfect over last time, and this one’s pretty good as well. Moving the ball just a little bit both ways, never far from the stumps. Tries Taylor with a shorter one, and gets a glove on the pull, but it lands safely for a run.

7.53am GMT

14th over: New Zealand 34-2 (Latham 13, Taylor 5) Latham may get away from Cummins for three balls, but now he has Lyon for six. The off-spinner has a ball skipping on nicely with the arm from around the wicket to the lefty, just past off stump. Latham defends most of the over, then cuts two when Lyon gets too short.

7.48am GMT

13th over: New Zealand 32-2 (Latham 11, Taylor 5) Cummins with the ball after the break, and he wastes no time against Latham. First beats the outside edge and flicks a bit of trouser fabric on the way through. An umpire could easily mishear that and pull the trigger, but Nigel Llong gets it right. Then again, as Cummins cuts the ball sharply back into Latham and hits him in front of middle, but going over with the bounce. Not out. Latham manages to escape the examination with an inside edge to midwicket.

7.08am GMT

The result from here should be a formality, it’s just a question of how hard New Zealand can fight. With Australia a bowler down the batsmen are still a chance of making life difficult for the Aussies, but they haven’t done it yet. Two NZ wickets fell in that session after three Australians were dismissed and the home team declared at nine down. A full session of daylight batting is yet to come, and Latham and Taylor have to make the most of it to bed themselves in.

7.05am GMT

12th over: New Zealand 31-2 (Latham 10, Taylor 5) Lyon with the last over before lunch. Taylor drives inside-out between mid-off and cover, through for a run. Left-hander on strike. Slip, short leg, midwicket is open. Deep square leg out there. Lyon drops short though and Latham cuts for two, splitting the field. Latham gets a run to mid-on, then Taylor dances outside his off stump to kick away the last ball of the session.

6.59am GMT

11th over: New Zealand 27-2 (Latham 7, Taylor 4) Lots of field switching. Starc is bowling left-arm around the wicket to the left-handed Latham, presumably looking to create a really sharp angle across him, but is coming over the wicket to the right-handed Taylor. Midwicket, deep square, short leg, leg slip, fine leg. Very much the leg theory field. Pull up to my bumper, baby. Taylor spars at a ball on his hip but misses and gets a leg bye off the thigh pad.

6.54am GMT

10th over: New Zealand 25-2 (Latham 6, Taylor 4) Well, what a bonus. Paine will have to conserve Starc and Cummins, so he would have been bringing on Lyon early to get his fast bowlers operating at the other end for a while before having to turn to a part-timer. Getting the wicket of Kane Williamson first ball of that Lyon over is a lottery-win bonus. Ross Taylor survives the hat-trick ball, then thwacks Lyon away through third man for four.

6.51am GMT

It’s Nathan Lyon time! First ball of the innings for him and he picks up the biggest wicket of all! Kane Williamson is gone, gloving to short leg. Lyon lands his first ball perfectly, in a footmark outside off stump. It spits, bounces, turns, and Williamson is initally looking to turn it away but only ends up flinching, trying to control it somehow, and can’t do it. Simple catch for Wade. Lyon is on a hat-trick, having taken the last wicket of the first innings.

6.48am GMT

9th over: New Zealand 21-1 (Latham 6, Williamson 14) Swing for Starc, beating Latham’s edge outside off. The cordon all go up, but Starc just points to his ear and says he didn’t hear anything. Quite so, there’s daylight between bat and ball. Latham quietly sees out the over. He’s 6 from 26 balls.

6.44am GMT

8th over: New Zealand 21-1 (Latham 6, Williamson 14) Latham manages to scrap another run, off the pads against Cummins. They’re hard won today for Latham. But Williamson, as if to rub it in, flows into a square drive against Cummins for four! Three boundaries already.

6.40am GMT

7th over: New Zealand 16-1 (Latham 5, Williamson 10) The New Zealand captain starts with a bang! Well, more a caress really, as Williamson eases away back-to-back boundaries to deep backward square from Starc’s full and straight deliveries. Then reaches out for a brace behind point. After the way his teammates have struggled through half a dozen overs. Different player, different pitch, different gravy.

6.35am GMT

That’s what Starc’s bounce can do. A miserable Test for Raval comes to an end, as the bowler gets lift and it takes the shoulder of the bat and flies out to point where Lyon is waiting. Pace and bounce. At least Raval has batted for a few overs this time, but his score matches what he made in the first innings.

6.33am GMT

6th over: New Zealand 6-0 (Raval 1, Latham 5) Cummins to Latham, another maiden, though there’s a moment of interest when Latham flicks a ball that hits Travis Head on the shins at short leg. No time for the fielder to react there.

6.26am GMT

5th over: New Zealand 6-0 (Raval 1, Latham 5) There’s a run at last, as Latham stabs off his pads against Starc. A short leg waits for a catch, along with three slips and a gully. Raval opens the face nicely against Starc on the off stump, playing the ball on the bounce, but just too fine to get past third slip. Starc is left-arm over the wicket to these left-handers, and chanelling it nicely just outside the off stump. Plenty of chat from Matthew Wade spurring his teammates on, you can hear his voice ringing around the ground almost every ball. Five more scoreless deliveries for Raval.

6.23am GMT

4th over: New Zealand 5-0 (Raval 1, Latham 4) Cummins comes around the wicket with a left-handed pair at the crease, and gets a whole over at Raval. The bowler does the disciplined thing, working away at off stump, but Raval defends and leaves competently. NZ haven’t scored since the first over.

6.18am GMT

3rd over: New Zealand 5-0 (Raval 1, Latham 4) Starc hits a crack and the ball flies laterally! It jags sharply away from Latham’s edge, beats the bat by a mile. Very little risk of hitting those, plenty of risk if the ball is at the stumps, like the one that got Dawid Malan at the WACA in 2017. Latham faces out a maiden.

6.14am GMT

2nd over: New Zealand 5-0 (Raval 1, Latham 4) A big appeal as Cummins hits Raval on the thigh pad and it lobs to slip. There was no bat on that, says the umpire, and the Australians belatedly agree. Raval leaves most of the over, though plays at one that’s too close to the edge for comfort. Still, even getting through the first couple of overs might feel like a win for a batsman under siege like him. Time to breathe, regroup, face the next.

6.11am GMT

1st over: New Zealand 5-0 (Raval 1, Latham 4) Mitchell Starc to start, and he has the pink ball swinging straight away, into the left-handed Raval. This opening pair made one run between them in the first innings. Raval equals that by stabbing a ball off his pads behind square leg and shouting “Yes, Tom!” Through they come. Tom Latham gets off the mark in rather more authoritative fashion, on-driving straight of the diving fielder. Lovely.

New Zealand trail by 463.

5.56am GMT

Or two days to bat for a draw. Neither a very likely task. With Starc and his boundary-hitting one, Australia decide not to risk Josh Hazlewood with the bat, and Lyon runs off alongside Starc after the wicket falls. Five and a half sessions left in the Test match.

Australia are obviously likely to win, because even if Starc and Cummins tire they’ll have Lyon to bowl on a wicket that did plenty for him at his first attempt. But even if New Zealand lose here, they’ll get some encouragement out of how they’ve bowled in the second innings here. Once they got on a roll, they’ve dominated Australia really with the ball. A similar story to 2015: they’ve started to compete after being blown out of the water early, and that disparity may be the decisive one in this series result.

5.54am GMT

Starc goes down swinging, as is his way. Outside off from Southee, back of a length, a big top edge to almost a short third man position where Ross Taylor is waiting. Simple catch. Five wickets for Southee at a cost of 69 runs.

5.53am GMT

69th over: Australia 217-8 (Starc 23, Lyon 0)

5.47am GMT

68th over: Australia 211-8 (Starc 18, Lyon 0) Well, Starc has his go at Southee with the ball as well as verbally now, slamming a shot back that hits the bowler in his follow-through. Hit Southee on the leg but it probably saved four runs, so he may not be too unhappy. Starc slams another one, he’s really lining up the fielders at the moment, and cover can only make a half stop as that ball whistled towards him. One run from the spillover, the only score from the set.

5.45am GMT

67th over: Australia 210-8 (Starc 17, Lyon 0) Wagner to Starc makes it easy for him first up, a full toss that Starc can swing down the ground for four. Wagner gets back to his usual length, but Starc shows his teammates how it’s done and powers a pull shot away for another! Then a glance off the pads for one, in the air but safe behind square, and Lyon uses his thigh pad in lieu of a bat to deflect a ball to the fine leg fence. “Has he played a shot?” asks Wagner incredulously of Umpire Lalalalallong. Starc meanwhile at the non-striker’s end is in the umpire’s ear complaining about Tim Southee for something or other.

5.41am GMT

66th over: Australia 197-8 (Starc 8, Lyon 0) Change in the bowling, Tim Southee for the first time today. Starc only knows one way, so he drives Southee aerially straight down the ground for a one-bounce four.

5.34am GMT

65th over: Australia 192-8 (Starc 3, Lyon 0) Vision from the dressing room shows Josh Hazlewood padded up, so he will bat despite his hamstring twinge. Australia must want to go as late in the day as possible, even if that only means a couple more overs. JH has played a few long supporting innings in his time. Starc versus Wagner is only going to have one approach, lots of short stuff with two bat-pads either side of the wicket, a yorker slipped in amongst it to test him, and eventually an attempted pull shot that limps away for a triplet of runs.

5.31am GMT

64th over: Australia 189-8 (Starc 0, Lyon 0) Nathan Lyon comes out to join Mitchell Starc, and survives the last ball of de Grandhomme’s over.

5.30am GMT

Another catch off the pull shot! After all that time being tenderised by Wagner, facing de Grandhomme must have felt like a holiday. Wade nails a cover drive for four, carves a wider ball over backward point off the top edge for another, then goes to the well once too often when he gets a half-short ball and spins around for a slap at it. Raval is two-third of the way to the fence and he catches the ball low down while running in. A strange old dismissal, to refuse the shot against Wagner so assiduously and then play it near the end of an already productive over against someone else.

5.25am GMT

63rd over: Australia 180-7 (Wade 9) Wade is setting up so defensively in his mindset that when Wagner slips and bowls him a high full toss, Wade can only pat it back to the bowler. Wagner tries a knuckle ball and Wade ducks and lets it hit him on the thigh. No chance of a left-hander being lbw to a left-armer bowling around the wicket, everything is pitching well outside leg stump. But finally Wagner pitches up and Wade plays a shot, a single away behind square. That brings Cummins on strike, and probably Wagner doesn’t adjust his line to the right-hander well enough, but it gets him a wicket. Short down the leg side and Cummins gloves his attempted glance through to the keeper. Must be a solid blow to the hand because he’s looking a bit ginger with his right hand as he comes off.

5.20am GMT

62nd over: Australia 179-6 (Wade 8, Cummins 13) But while Wade is pursuing his austerity project, Cummins does the scoring at the other end. First he glances de Grandhomme to the fine leg fence, then cuts him through cover for four more! Two bad balls from Colin, who must be aching and creaking after a big bowling workload through the last four days. He’s bowled on each of them.

5.17am GMT

61st over: Australia 171-6 (Wade 8, Cummins 5) The meat-tenderiser approach continues, Wagner bowling short and Wade taking the hits rather than using the bat. Ricky Ponting is hopping into him on the telly, asking why he isn’t trying to score from these short balls to protect his body. Which seems a touch unfair: once you’ve watched four or five teammates get out doing exactly that, it’s a reasonable conclusion that you should stop playing cross-bat shots.

5.11am GMT

60th over: Australia 171-6 (Wade 8, Cummins 5) A good battle shaping between Cummins and de Grandhomme. First ball, hits the pad and the bowler appeals but there’s an inside edge. Second ball, looking for the pads again and Cummins drives gloriously through wide mid-on for two! Just timing, that is a top quality shot, though it gets hauled back. Third ball, squares him up and beats the outside edge.

5.09am GMT

59th over: Australia 169-6 (Wade 8, Cummins 3) Wagner to Wade, who is hit on the glove and that hurts! Wade is a tough character, he stood there and took half a dozen hits on the body last night when the Kiwis were bouncing him and he wanted to preserve his wicket. But this ball has him hopping and yelping reflexively as it crashes into his hand, probably the thumb by the look of things. Wagner is bowling left-arm around the wicket to the left-hander, into the body, and Wade wears another one on the body this morning rather than pulling. A lot of wickets fell to the short ball last night, so he’s just trying to be disciplined. He’s wearing a small forearm guard, covering about half the forearm, and he’s hit there and then around the hip. It’s a maiden, aggressive stuff from Wagner.

5.06am GMT

58th over: Australia 169-6 (Wade 8, Cummins 3) It’s Colin de Grandhomme to start the day with the ball at medium pace. Pat Cummins to face. The over is accurate, on or around the off stump aside from the last ball, that Cummins can glance fine for two runs.

Australia lead by 419.

4.45am GMT

Day four! And haven’t we had a couple of eventful evening sessions. The Kiwis were knocked over by Australia on the second night of this match, then Australia crashed on the third. The difference is that by that point, Australia were well ahead in the match, so they’re not in much trouble as a result. But it was another top-order collapse, and another low score for Steve Smith.

Australia will resume batting this afternoon six wickets down for 167, which sounds bad except they had a 250-run lead on the first innings. So they’re actually 417 ahead already, and the world record run chase is 418, so safe to say New Zealand won’t be running down whatever the nominal target ends up being.

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Morrison's smoke and mirrors can't hide cricket's place in climate crisis

While bushfire smoke and extreme heat disrupt matches in Australia, the prime minister must offer more than photocalls

In the last week of October, Scott Morrison got more involved with the Prime Minister’s XI match than most who have held the office. While the home team took on a touring Sri Lankan side, Morrison spent a Canberra evening running out drink bottles to the players for some good wholesome everyman sporting photo opportunities.

Before the season’s first Test in November he was back at the cricket again, shaking hands with Test players at training in Brisbane and posting some new snaps with a musing: “For our firefighters and fire-impacted communities, I’m sure our boys will give them something to cheer for.”

Related: The Spin | Cricket feels heat as climate crisis creates corridor of uncertainty

Admitting the reality of the climate crisis has been tagged as a political position rather than basic sanity

Does climate change cause bushfires?

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

Steve Smith took a superhuman catch and Mitchell Starc claimed four wickets as New Zealand slumped in reply to the hosts

12.48pm GMT

Related: Steve Smith makes stunning catch as Australia boss Black Caps

12.36pm GMT

New Zealand trail by 307 runs. Needless to say, they are in a world of pain if they don’t have a perfect first session tomorrow - then some. We’ll be back for that, as always, on the OBO! Goodbye for now.

12.35pm GMT

Starc is on telly. Knew to go straight at the stumps when Wagner walked out as nightwatchman. Thought he was a chance for the hat-trick with Taylor going hard. Not to be. Says nice things about Smith’s Superman catch. Disappointed for Hazlewood.

12.33pm GMT

32nd over: New Zealand 109-5 (Taylor 66, Watling 0) Cummins has the final over of the day - exactly the man for the job. Oooh, and Taylor has a wee pop at one outside the off stump and it splits the cordon at a catchable height through about fourth slip! He’s quite right to leave the next alone, an off-cutter the inevitable response - inside edged onto his pad. Last ball of the day... and Taylor on-drives it, gorgeously, for four. What a session of Test cricket. And exhale.

12.27pm GMT

31st over: New Zealand 101-5 (Taylor 58, Watling 0) Taylor doesn’t really mind that wickets are falling around him; he’s going okay. A couple behind point follows the hat-trick avoidance, then another on the pull - a beautifully timed shot, straight to the sweeper. Watling gets through Starc’s final two balls of the evening. One over to go.

12.24pm GMT

ROSSCO SURVIVES! Sure enough, he had a pop at the hat-trick ball and nearly chopped on. I’m genuinely surprised by this. I might tell my therapist this story next week. Thanks for playing along.

12.22pm GMT

30th over: New Zealand 98-5 (Taylor 55, Watling 0) Okay, some history. I’ve been to 116 Test Matches including 54 of the last 57 Australia have played. Through some pretty shoddy luck, and poor timing, I’ve never witnessed a Test hat-trick. This is a bit of a thing on twitter. Per the below, I predicted yesterday - this being the first home Test I’ve missed since December 2013 - that it is certain to happen. So find a telly, Mitch Starc is about to take a hat-trick.

Well, I did call this 27 hours ago. Nothing more certain than Starc getting this done. #AUSvNZ https://t.co/1WibBz6BY4

12.18pm GMT

Bowled him first ball! The classic Starc yorker it was, a little inside edge, then back onto the woodwork! He’s on a hat-trick next over.

29th over: New Zealand 97-5 (Taylor 51) New Zealand lose their number five and their nightwatchman in consecutive balls. Shocker.

12.15pm GMT

Strangled down the legside! Paine had quite a bit to do moving to his right but he’s one of the best in the business for a reason. Just what New Zealand couldn’t afford to happen this close to stumps.

12.12pm GMT

28t over: New Zealand 90-3 (Taylor 51, Nicholls 3) Cummins is banging into Taylor, hitting him on the thigh pad then finding his inside edge past short leg later in the set. Every ball an examination.

We have an update on Hazlewood from CA. He has a left hamstring strain and will undergo an MRI scan tonight. That’s all for now.

12.08pm GMT

27th over: New Zealand 89-3 (Taylor 50, Nicholls 3) Ummm, Labuschagne is convinced Nicholls has edged the final Starc delivery and is going WILD at short leg. Except... he’s the only man appealing. Snicko shows that there is no edge. There was a noise. “100% I heard something,” he says on the stump mic. Gotta love his enthusiasm. Earlier in the over, Taylor reached his half-century with a single off his hip. “One of the grittiest in his career,” Ian Smith’s assessment.

12.03pm GMT

26th over: New Zealand 88-3 (Taylor 49, Nicholls 3) Good call getting Cummins back in the act with eight overs (or half an hour) left. As I predicted when the innings started, there’s some chance Australia won’t get through a session worth of overs with the added half an hour. Sigh. Anyway, Cummins is brilliant. Some indecision early in the over leads to a direct hit at the non-strikers’ end from midwicket. The check upstairs but Nicholls is safely home. Taylor’s edge is found and his bat is beaten before the over is done. Seven overs left but a long, long way to go for New Zealand. Compelling cricket.

11.59am GMT

25th over: New Zealand 83-3 (Taylor 45, Nicholls 2) Taylor keeps the board ticking, driving a couple past mid off before grabbing another around the corner. Nicholls deals with the rest. Gotta get to stumps.

There are 20,018 at the Casino Stadium tonight, CA have told us. The final Test at the WACA in 2017 had 22,000-plus on each of the first two days. Presented without further comment.

11.55am GMT

24th over: New Zealand 80-3 (Taylor 42, Nicholls 2) I admit, I’m down a youtube wormhole on brilliant Smith catches and I haven’t watched a lot of that Lyon over. I know three runs were taken off it and Nicholls was off the mark with a couple behind square.

Was this Smith’s best catch tonight? Or was it this, as a chubby kid?

11.49am GMT

23rd over: New Zealand 77-3 (Taylor 41, Nicholls 0) Henry Nicholls walks out for his first Test innings in Australia and defends to begin with a nice, broad blade. He’s a very organised player. Ooh, Labuschagne is in the game to finish, collecting the ball on the bounce. “Those are the catches you dream of,” says Mark Waugh on commentary. He should know. Cue up the 1999 World Cup Final.

11.45am GMT

Ridiculous.

STEVE SMITH!

It doesn't get any better than that! #AUSvNZ pic.twitter.com/fxMje4Ms7I

11.44am GMT

A ONE-HANDED RIPPER! One of the best catches you’ll ever see from Steve Smith, diving to his right at full stretch at second slip, his right hand dragging the chance in. Starc beat him with a beauty the ball before and now wins the contest. A huge moment in this game.

11.41am GMT

22nd over: New Zealand 76-2 (Williamson 34, Taylor 40) Lyon around the wicket with two catchers on the legside to Williamson. “Let’s have them run each other out!” roars Paine, hinting at the fact that these two have been involved in many mix-ups over the years. It’s a good over from Lyon, which ends with Williamson opening up the face of his bat just enough to run it past Smith at slip and down to the rope. Hands on heads, but he knew what he was doing.

11.38am GMT

21st over: New Zealand 71-2 (Williamson 30, Taylor 39) Starc to Williamson. He isn’t using his bat for the first half of the over, happy to let Starc do his thing short of a length. When he does come back at the batsman, he responds with soft hands in defence. This is superb Test Match cricket between some of the best players in the world.

11.36am GMT

20th over: New Zealand 71-2 (Williamson 30, Taylor 39) Tidy from Lyon, his length brougth back a tad to deny Taylor the drive. The TV cuts to shots of The Richies at the end of the over. No comment.

11.33am GMT

19th over: New Zealand 69-2 (Williamson 29, Taylor 38) Starc is back and Williamson is up to the task, leaping into a full ball with immaculate timing, out to the cover point boundary. So good. But Starc bounces straight back with an unplayable, jagging away from Williamson from a full length after pitching on middle. Too good. The Black Cap numbero uno keeps his cool to drive a couple more out in the cover direction to finish. So much relies on these two getting to the close. There are 14 overs remaining tonight.

11.26am GMT

18th over: New Zealand 63-2 (Williamson 23, Taylor 38) Taylor continues to take the game to Lyon, driving him through cover for a couple then getting two more behind point, albeit off the edge. Paine can’t glove one down the legside, a bye added, before Williamson keeps the strike with an ODI-esque single down the ground. Better.

“This series has lived up to its hype so far,” Abhijato Sensarma declares. “The batting and bowling on display makes for excellent viewing. New Zealand bucked the trend of away losses by winning an all-time great series in the UAE ... If they do it here, which they very much can, it’ll firmly put New Zealand on the map as a real WTC contender. Who do you think will meet India at Lord’s for the Final?”

11.21am GMT

17th over: New Zealand 57-2 (Williamson 22, Taylor 34) Classic Williamson to start again after drinks, using the pace of Cummins to ease him behind point for four. The short ball is evaded with a bit more ease, the defence is tight. It took a while, but the captain is set.

So much adrenaline in the cricket this session #AusvNZ

11.14am GMT

16th over: New Zealand 53-2 (Williamson 18, Taylor 34) Taylor opens up the arms, not without some risk. His drive through cover is in the air, prompting a roar of catch from Paine, but it is wide of the man and down to the rope. He goes again later in the over, getting to the ball after coming down the track, clearing cover. To finish, a deft late cut makes it three boundaries from the over as they go to drinks. Clever batting, denying Lyon the chance to get into his groove.

11.09am GMT

15th over: New Zealand 41-2 (Williamson 18, Taylor 22) Cummins vs Williamson: give me all that you’ve got. Ooh, and he’s only gone and hit him on the hand, the ball then deflecting onto his box. He gives himself a chance to gather his thoughts after that and fair enough, too. Composed, he gets through the rest of it safely.

Imagine bowling a total of eight deliveries in a Test match but one of them was that pornographic thunderbolt to Jeet Raval.

11.04am GMT

14th over: New Zealand 41-2 (Williamson 18, Taylor 22) Shot. Taylor leans on a wider ball that he turns into a half-volley with a big stride, creaming it through cover to move into the 20s. Just as it was in his first over, he then dragged the length back and tightened the screws.

11.02am GMT

13th over: New Zealand 37-2 (Williamson 18, Taylor 18) Cummins beats Williamson this time; a ball he had to play at, straightening a treat beyond his bat. He’s testing him short and full. Box Office.

10.59am GMT

12th over: New Zealand 36-2 (Williamson 18, Taylor 17) The Wade Experiment comes to an end for now, Nathan Lyon thrown the ball for his first twist. He’s too full to Williamson early on, a half-volley timed safely through cover for four. He finds his range thereafter. With Hazlewood more than likely out of the match, this will be the first of many overs he is asked to bowl over the next few days.

10.56am GMT

11th over: New Zealand 32-2 (Williamson 14, Taylor 17) Gosh, this interrogation is not getting any less troubling for the Black Caps. Cummins is ferocious, finding the edge then beating it with a shorter ball that lifts at Taylor. He then tempts him outside the off-stump; the 36-year-old too smart to fall for that trick. A legitimate bouncer finishes the over, so potent that Paine has to leap one-handed to drag it down to in effect save four byes. Excellent wicketkeeping.

10.52am GMT

10th over: New Zealand 32-2 (Williamson 14, Taylor 17) Williamson did hit the last ball of the previous over! We get the snicko on screen and it’s conclusive. Oh dear. Smith was the one Australian who heard the edge. Reminiscent of Steve Waugh at the MCG in 2002 against England in that sketchy fourth-innings chase. Meanwhile, Wade beats Taylor a second time with another outswinger that does plenty. The over doesn’t get any better than that - some looser deliveries worked around the field for three singles - but he’s very much in the contest as the sun starts to set over Casino Stadium.

10.48am GMT

9th over: New Zealand 29-2 (Williamson 13, Taylor 15) There’s a nice graphic showing how late Williamson plays the ball, which serves him well against an unrelenting Cummins. And one time the big quick misses his mark, he’s right in position to clip it away for four. Good batting. Oh, less so the last ball, wafting and missing outside the line of the off-stump. Behind the wicket, Smith reckons he might have tickled it but there’s no response from the bowler or captain.

10.46am GMT

8th over: New Zealand 24-2 (Williamson 9, Taylor 14) Welcome to the attack in the eighth over a Test Match innings... Matthew Wade! With Hazlewood off the field and no all-rounder, he is the next in the pecking order as far as a seam option is concerned. I’ve watched him bowl plenty the nets and he does quite often make life tough for the established batsmen. Anyway, it’s a bit of a mixed bag, as you might expect. He beats Taylor with a lovely outswinger to begin, curling past the blade... then bumps him! But the veteran isn’t missing out the second time the short ball comes down, hammering it behind square for four. By the end of the set, Wade has lost his radar.

“Hi Adam.” Hi Henry Coleman. “Perhaps understandably, a little surly this morning. Given the blessed wonders of escapism in this cricket match as a UK neutral, and the fact you worked in politics for a time, do you have any good yarns of Antipodean politics or sport that may offer a hopeful thought this morning? From one citizen of the world to another, Harry. p.s. cricket x.”

10.39am GMT

7th over: New Zealand 19-2 (Williamson 9, Taylor 9) Less going on here for Starc with Williamson, as they say, getting into his work. The Black Caps skipper plays a neat drive through cover, which should do wonders for his confidence. Earlier in the over, Taylor made decent contact off the back foot, cutting three for himself.

10.33am GMT

6th over: New Zealand 12-2 (Williamson 5, Taylor 6) Cummins wants in on this too, beating Taylor on the inside edge to start his fresh set, not far from the woodwork once more. An edge, albeit one more or less along the ground, follows. Four runs added; some respite. Sure enough, Cummins is back close to the timber hitting the back pad. The huge shout is turned down and Paine doesn’t refer it - contact outside the line? It doesn’t end there. A probing short ball under Taylor’s arm is just kept away from trouble, once again into that leg gully region. Time for a fielder there? Oh, and to finish, Williamson nearly chops on for the third time in his innings so far! Superb stuff!

10.27am GMT

5th over: New Zealand 7-2 (Williamson 5, Taylor 1) Every single ball something is happening. To begin Starc’s over, Taylor creams a straight drive but he gets nothing for it - Williamson’s body is in the way. Next comes the shorter ball - if a leg gully was in play, that was a chance. Next a shout for leg before against Williamson, albeit an ambitious one. A rapid bouncer to finish at the skipper, getting under it at the very last moment. The one saving grace for New Zealand is that there is no longer a shadow across the middle of the pitch. It really was a terrible time for them to start this innings but Australia have made it count. Meanwhile, Patto for Boxing Day?

10.23am GMT

4th over: New Zealand 6-2 (Williamson 5, Taylor 0) Cummins to complete the over with four balls to go in it and immediately finds Williamson’s inside edge. Dear me, not far away from the captain chopping on to give the man they call Winx a wicket with his first delivery. “It’s really tough out there,” says Ian Smith. Too right it is.

Seeing the replay, it’s definitely Hazlewood’s left hamstring causing him trouble. The ball before pulling up he grabbed for that leg. CA are usually pretty good with injury updates - we’ll have one soon.

10.19am GMT

On the way to bowl the third ball of his second over, Hazlewood pulls up in his run - only about five paces into it - and immediately leaves the field.

10.18am GMT

3rd over: New Zealand 2-2 (Williamson 1, Taylor 0) Starc is bowling quickly and accurately with movement back towards Taylor from over the wicket. In other words: a complete bloody nightmare. Oh, and now he’s pinned him on the shoulder with a short ball. Then some drama to finish! Taylor clips well to midwicket and takes on Cummins! You don’t do that. The athlete makes a diving stop and throw. A direct hit would have been that. Instead, a Warner haS enough time to push the ball onto the woodwork after a dive of his own. The TV ump shows Taylor to be in by a foot. Was his bat grounded? Anyway, he’s given not out. IT’S ALL HAPPENING.

10.11am GMT

2nd over: New Zealand 1-2 (Williamson 0, Taylor 0) What a formidale record Hazlewood has since returning to this XI at Lord’s. Since then, he’s been taking his wickets at 20-odd. Sure enough, he’s right on the money to the new man Taylor, who is defending from off-stump.

10.08am GMT

It’s a beauty! Raval shouldn’t have been trying to whip Hazlewood from the line of the off stump and he pays the price, his middle pole bent back when the delivery comes back through the gate from over the wicket. What a bowler, what a start.

10.05am GMT

1st over: New Zealand 1-1 (Raval 1, Williamson 0) Now Williamson walks out with one ball to face in the first over of New Zealand’s reply. There’s an appeal from Paine for a legside caught behind too, albeit not an overly enthusiastic one. It clipped his thigh pad.

Earlier in the over, Starc was right on the money straight away; Raval solid in defence. As Michael Vaughan said on TV, what a tough time to open with shadows all over the pitch from the grandstands. He was then off the mark with one off his hip, via the inside edge.

Right, Australia have 33 overs to bowl and 122 minutes from the start until the scheduled close. The question: how many overs will they burn when they don’t get these in - even with the extra half hour?

10.02am GMT

Latham is gone second ball! He tried to work Starc into the legside to get off the mark but instead, his leading edge returned safely to the bowler for the easiest of catches. Yuk.

9.57am GMT

Alright, the players are back on the field. Raval and Latham, two southpaws, opening for New Zealand. Another, Mitch Starc, has the ball in his hand for Australia. And he’s in good nick. PLAY!

9.55am GMT

Great news for people who care about Glenn Maxwell. Which should be all of us. He’s back in business. Go you good thing.

Glenn Maxwell came off after hitting a fifty for @fitzdonc last month and said, 'I love cricket again.'

Good to see him back: https://t.co/uINH5oFoIc

9.53am GMT

“Morning Collo.” Hello, Nick Toovey. “Seems that the doomsayers of D/N cricket have dropped off that high horse. There doesn’t seem to be any real mention of two separate stats lists anymore?”

They are still out there and I’m sympathetic to some of the arguments. However, I’m glad we’re beyond the stats debate.

9.43am GMT

The changeover is also the tea break. Wagner is on the telly giving an unbeat interview, very happy to get the job done despite being a bowler down with Ferguson ruled out with a calf injury this time yesterday. In this heat, it’s an especially good effort. Starc’s cameo and Paine’s patience got the hosts beyond their primary goal of 400. All told, it’s nicely set up for another eventful session under lights!

I’ll leave you with that Williamson catch. Back after a coffee.

Well held by the Kiwi skipper! #AUSvNZ | https://t.co/0Uay6Vh9fg pic.twitter.com/yACdiDzUBD

9.39am GMT

A short ball ends the innings too, Paine tickling a hook shot into the gloves of Watling, who completes a tidy diving catch. Southee finishes with 4/93 to go with Wagner’s 4/92.

9.37am GMT

Fun while it lasted! Lyon is caught at fine leg by de Grandhomme, ultimately falling for the Wagner trap. But he did collect consecutive boundaries by successfully taking on the short ball, pulling with authority to the square leg boundary then hooking successfully too. But Wagner persisted and it worked. He’s earned four wickets.

146th over: Australia 416-9 (Paine 39)

9.30am GMT

What a catch by the captain! Running back with the flight from mid-off towards the rope, he’s pulled in a beauty over his left shoulder.

145th over: Australia 408-8 (Paine 39)

9.27am GMT

144th over: Australia 405-7 (Paine 39, Starc 28) Wagner is back, with a chance to bank a fifth five-wicket innings of the year. He’s in my team of 2019, make no mistake. He’s so close to slipping through Starc’s defences with an old-fashioned inswinging yorker, but his opposing number gets his blade down just in time to dig it out. Earlier in the set, Paine is fortunate that Williamson didn’t hit from mid-off. We’re about 15 minutes from tea now, which might be the declaration if this were being played in Adelaide or starting at 2pm local time. But in Perth, with a 1pm start (thus, fewer overs played under lights), there’s no reason to pull the pin at the break.

9.19am GMT

143rd over: Australia 403-7 (Paine 38, Starc 27) Southee to Starc, and he’s DROPPED at mid-on! Per the last few overs, he took a few deliveries to get his eye in before winding up, but for the first time he didn’t get all of it, picking out Raval. But, to the dismay of the bowler, he’s put the chance down moving to his right. Painful.

9.16am GMT

142nd over: Australia 403-7 (Paine 38, Starc 27) Mark Waugh doesn’t share the sentiment of my previous post, immediately complaining that Australia haven’t scored quickly enough to satisfy him. Oh well. He likes what Starc is doing though, which now includes a SIX when hammering Santner over long-on and into the crowd. He’s not going at everything, rather, picking his ball to go at and swinging hard. He’s now 27 from 24. More importantly, Australia have passed 400.

Tim Paine's first-class average when batting in Perth: 51.46 #AUSvNZ pic.twitter.com/XqlMsdvAmU

9.13am GMT

141st over: Australia 394-7 (Paine 37, Starc 19) Southee returns and Paine is ticking the board over now too, cleverly deflecting behind point for his second boundary. He’s clocked up 100 balls in the middle now, which he did routinely during the Ashes of 2017-18 and the South African tour that followed. He’s made sure that Australia will get beyond 400. Mostly slow going, but does it really matter?

9.08am GMT

140th over: Australia 388-7 (Paine 32, Starc 18) What a cameo this is turning into from Starc, moving to 18 from 18 balls with another firm strike through midwicket, this time taking Santner across the line to the midwicket boundary. The spinner hasn’t done a thing wrong there either, his over a probing one. The lot in life of a twirler.

9.05am GMT

139th over: Australia 382-7 (Paine 31, Starc 13) Block, block, block... SWING! Classic Starc, deploying his slog sweep against Raval for the second time in two overs, the result another boundary with the ball landing just inside the ropes at cow corner. Lovely strike. A touch odd, though, that Williamson’s midwicket isn’t all the way back.

9.02am GMT

138th over: Australia 377-7 (Paine 31, Starc 8) Between overs, Raval races off the field. The close-up shows that he split a finger open fielding a ball from his own bowling, so that’ll need to be patched up. Santner continues to Starc, who gets down the other end straight away. The skipper’s turn, who has faced 89 balls for his 29. He’s cramped up well by the spinners’ arm-ball, so close to skidding onto the woodwork and/or back pad. A shout for caught behind follows when Paine misses his sweep but Watling is the only man interested.

I’ve received messages in reply to my tweet arguing that cricket is a nice antidode to dread. Responders have put to me that this is a fairly dreary session. I’m not so sure. Give me graft. I’m all in.

8.56am GMT

137th over: Australia 374-7 (Paine 29, Starc 7) This is what Starc does so well, coming in and adding quick runs. Early in the Raval over here, the left-hander gets down low to slog sweep over midwicket, the ball galloping away to the rope. The leggle recovers well though, his accurate wrong’un deployed to keep both batsmen defending.

8.53am GMT

136th over: Australia 369-7 (Paine 29, Starc 2) Edge! Paine splits the gap between the ‘keeper Watling and Taylor at slip. He was cutting Santner off the back foot, who won a bit of extra turn and bounce. As Brendon Julian notes on telly, both catchers had their weight in the wrong foot to put in a realistic dive. His wicket column doesn’t reflect it but Santner has done a lot right over the last day and a half.

8.49am GMT

135th over: Australia 365-7 (Paine 27, Starc 1) Starc is off the mark with a push to cover, which completes Raval’s successful over.

Bowled around his legs! Jeet Raval celebrates his first Test wicket! #OhWhatAFeeling@Toyota_Aus | #AUSvNZ pic.twitter.com/qGdCjpRw6J

8.47am GMT

Hello. Thanks, Geoffers. What a lovely way to pick up your first Test wicket! Just as it was 24 hours ago, the Black Caps have kept themselves in the game by starving the Australians during the toughest period of the day in the Perth heat. They deserve to bowl Australia out this side of 400.

I’m sitting in the same chair at Guardian HQ that I did the morning after the 2017 Election and during 2016 Australian Election night. Once again, I’m going to embrace this distraction. Test cricket is helpful like that. Do so with me in the usual way.

8.41am GMT

He’s done it! A long part-time spell by Raval, and in his 11th over he’s picked up a wicket! With a nice leg-break as well, bowling Cummins around his legs as the fast bowler tried to sweep. Good flight, drew him into the shot and then spins back enough to take leg stump. Patience pays off!

That’s my patience over too – it’s drinks now, and Adam Collins will take over after that. Cheerio.

8.39am GMT

134th over: Australia 362-6 (Paine 25, Cummins 20) Another maiden for Santner! Cummins has now blotted up so much of the strike that he’s gone past Paine for balls faced, despite coming out after him. This must be in line with Paine’s tactical considerations, because the captain is well placed to have a word.

8.35am GMT

133rd over: Australia 362-6 (Paine 25, Cummins 20) Raval to Cummins, and the go-slow continues for another over. There’s a late single to midwicket. Paine hasn’t had much of the strike for the last ten or so overs, and hasn’t done much scoring.

8.33am GMT

132nd over: Australia 361-6 (Paine 25, Cummins 19) Santner bowling left-arm spin around the wicket to the right-handers, with a couple of catching covers waiting for Cummins to try a drive. Or to force him to try something else. Santner makes it easy though with a drag-down that Cummins can swivel and pull for two. When Santner pitches up Cummins drives hard into the ground and bounces it over short cover, but the sweeper is able to get around in the deep and keep the scoring to one.

8.29am GMT

131st over: Australia 358-6 (Paine 25, Cummins 16) A big turner from Raval to start the over to Paine, who leaves it well alone, but when Raval drops shorter Paine cuts hard to the cover sweeper for one. Cummins defends a length ball, then gets one dipping right into the blockhole. Eventually he plays an off-drive for one, wide of mid-off.

8.24am GMT

130th over: Australia 356-6 (Paine 24, Cummins 15) Short from Santner, cut away by Cummins for four! Not in control, that comes off a thick top edge and skirts the backward point fielder on its way to the rope. But runs go in the batsman’s column.

8.23am GMT

129th over: Australia 352-6 (Paine 24, Cummins 11) And another Raval over for only a single, which included a big cut shot from Cummins that missed everything and had Watling throwing his head back. The double spin approach is keeping things quiet.

8.21am GMT

128th over: Australia 351-6 (Paine 24, Cummins 10) Just a single from that Santner over as the squeeze continues. Cummins into double figures.

8.19am GMT

127th over: Australia 350-6 (Paine 24, Cummins 9) Another tidy over from Raval, who has done a job for New Zealand since he came on. Two singles late in the piece. Australia have the brakes well and truly on. Are they just playing a patience game, keeping New Zealand in the heat?

8.13am GMT

126th over: Australia 348-6 (Paine 23, Cummins 8) Serious bounce and a bit of turn for Santner, but he pitches too short of Cummins to threaten the edge as the ball leaps into Watling’s gloves. Fuller and Cummins flicks awkwardly across the line. Can’t score. It’s another maiden.

8.11am GMT

125th over: Australia 348-6 (Paine 23, Cummins 8) Jeet Raval carries on to Paine, who drives a couple through cover but can’t cash in on a subsequent full toss. It’s slow going for Australia – if they had been a bit brisker then they might have gone past 400 and declared this evening, but New Zealand have bowled well and kept the lid at least partway on.

8.08am GMT

124th over: Australia 346-6 (Paine 21, Cummins 8) Wagner uses a more measured length to Cummins through this over, just back of a length for the most part, trying to draw a false defensive shot. Cummins is equal to the task. Wagner must be flagging out there by now, he’s bowled 35 overs of fast attacking bowling in this heat. Adds his seventh maiden over.

8.04am GMT

123rd over: Australia 346-6 (Paine 21, Cummins 8) Some useful bounce now for Raval, beating Paine’s top edge as the Aussie keeper tries to cut, then taking that edge and back-spinning to backward point, who denies a run. Flight and dip on middle stump now and Paine defends. Raval bowls too short after that, but Paine is sufficiently spooked to leave it alone outside off.

8.01am GMT

122nd over: Australia 346-6 (Paine 21, Cummins 8) Wagner dipping short as ever, and Paine is happy to take him on for another single after Cummins slides a run away behind point. The bowler immediately changes to bowl full to Cummins, and there’s a bit of snake in the air as Cummins gets across his pad to cover.

7.57am GMT

121st over: Australia 344-6 (Paine 20, Cummins 7) Jeet Raval is dropping the ball nicely, right in the blockhole against Cummins, then drawing back the length a bit, drawing defensive prods across the front pad. Eventually Cummins can’t help striking at one, driving towards mid-on, but he almost lofts a catch to that man. Gets a single.

7.55am GMT

120th over: Australia 342-6 (Paine 19, Cummins 6) Wagner gets a full set of short balls in at Cummins, but Cummins doesn’t mind too much. He’ll get to repay that with interest when he bowls. A maiden.

7.51am GMT

119th over: Australia 342-6 (Paine 19, Cummins 6) Jeet Raval will keep bowling – Williamson must have liked what he saw before the break. He’s gota strange grip on the ball, almost side on, his hand bent over by his wrist. But he lands them pretty nicely, and gets one to hop at Cummins which could easily have been gloved up for a catch. It keeps the strike for Cummins instead.

7.46am GMT

118th over: Australia 340-6 (Paine 18, Cummins 5) If you needed more of a sense of Neil Wagner’s character, he just prepared for his post-break spell by doing a few push-ups at the top of his bowling mark. It’s 40 degrees mate. Take a spell. He starts with... guess what? A short ball. And another. Paine decides to take that one on, pulling two runs through midwicket. Adds another behind square. I’m going 82 runs early, but Paine has made both of his first-class tons in Western Australia. Maybe his first Test one will be here too.

7.08am GMT

New Zealand are still just hanging on, but only just. They’ve kept taking wickets, two more in this session, and important ones. But Paine and Cummins are perfectly capable of adding runs, and if the score gets much above 360 then Australia will be very hard to pull back in this match. A break from the heat, then more bowling and batting shortly. Maybe even some fielding.

7.05am GMT

117th over: Australia 337-6 (Paine 15, Cummins 5) You know it’s the 117th over when Jeet Raval is bowling. Leg-spin of sorts. Putting a few... Ravalutions on the ball? Shreds one past the edge of Cummins’ bat. The Australian pair take a couple of dashes singles, including one that nearly catches Cummins out of his ground, but he dives in and also does a cool Rabona sort of move with his back legs coming in in scorpion style. Sick. That’s dinner or lunch or whatever we call it.

7.00am GMT

116th over: Australia 334-6 (Paine 13, Cummins 4) Santner bowling with width, and Paine drives a single through cover before Cummins plays a better version of the same shot for four.

6.58am GMT

115th over: Australia 329-6 (Paine 12, Cummins 0) Another demand on Williamson to consider a review, as the last ball of Southee’s over seams in at Cummins and beats the inside edge on the way to Watling behind the stumps. The keeper and captain were appealing hard but the bowler didn’t think it was out, and was right because the ball hit Cummins on the trouser pocket rather than his bat. Before that Paine got into double figures with a square drive.

6.52am GMT

114th over: Australia 326-6 (Paine 9, Cummins 0) New Zealand lose a review after Santner hits Paine on the pad with a ball sliding on, from a left-arm line around the wicket. The review shows it hitting just outside the line of the stumps. Which remains probably the stupidest rule in cricket. Who cares where it’s hitting the pads as long it’s hitting the stumps?

6.48am GMT

113th over: Australia 325-6 (Paine 8, Cummins 0) A wicket maiden for Southee, as Pat Cummins is next at the crease. Plays a nice off-drive first ball, but straight to the field.

6.45am GMT

Ok, hands up – who foresaw Travis Head getting out playing a loose slap outside off stump? Come on, be honest. That’s right, nobody. How could you possibly? Travis Head goes full Travis Head, getting a wide half-volley from Southee, not moving his feet to the ball, hurling an angled bat at it while in a half crouch, and slugging it straight at short cover in the air. Goneski.

6.42am GMT

112th over: Australia 325-5 (Head 56, Paine 8) Santner releases the pressure valve once again, this time for Paine. Floats up an easy half-volley and Paine can throw a cover drive through the line of that for four, then adds a single in the same direction.

6.39am GMT

111th over: Australia 319-5 (Head 55, Paine 3) Southee is back on, and still bowling a tight line with a bit of movement from around the wicket to the left-hander. But when there’s a bit of width Head throws his hands through the ball, and while Jeet Raval makes good ground behind point, his sliding save ricochets off his body and along the rope for an eventual four.

6.34am GMT

110th over: Australia 315-5 (Head 51, Paine 3) Mitchell Santner comes on to bowl, the first over of spin for the day, and he starts it with a hot pie. Sitting up outside leg stump, and guess what, Travis Head can hit those. Sweeps it fine for four, and his milestone. Then cuts a short ball for one.

6.30am GMT

109th over: Australia 310-5 (Head 46, Paine 3) Another maiden for de Grandhomme to Paine, who survives a big shout when the ball would have been going over his stumps. A grasshopper flies onto the pitch and distracts Paine for a while. It’s wild out in the West.

6.26am GMT

108th over: Australia 310-5 (Head 46, Paine 3) Travis Head, the Loosest Man Alive. He nails a pull shot against Wagner for four, which Aleem Dar at square leg has to jump over and which nearly whacks him in the Jatz. But then Head keeps stepping across to try to glance Wagner to fine leg. Wagner is still coming around the wicket and bowling at the hip. Head keeps ending up outside off stump, threatening to glove those down leg side. There’s also a leg slip in place if he hits one. But he’ll just keep doing it, because he’s Travis Head: TLMA.

6.22am GMT

107th over: Australia 306-5 (Head 42, Paine 3) A couple of runs for Paine, who has been on 1 for a long time, as de Grandhomme bowls too straight. Clipped away. Colin gets back on line immediately, five times around the off stump for Paine to decide whether to block or leave.

6.18am GMT

106th over: Australia 304-5 (Head 42, Paine 1) A maiden from Wagner, who takes Head’s name as an inspiration in what to aim for. The fire I mentioned earlier is a scrub fire at Belmont racecourse, and the footage on the TV just looks like a bunch of small palm trees burning. It’s all a bit Miami Vice. Anyway, it’s being put out so apparently all is well. In this very specific instance.

6.14am GMT

105th over: Australia 304-5 (Head 42, Paine 1) Travis Head continues to be a mystery. He is probably the loosest specialist batsman I’ve ever seen, and yet he consistently makes runs. While looking like he should get out at any minute the entire time. Same again, as he swishes and misses at de Grandhomme outside off, then runs a ball straight to Nicholls at cover point and tries to take a run. Paine refuses, rightly, and Head is out of his ground as Nicholls’ throw misses the stumps and gives him an overthrow.

6.10am GMT

104th over: Australia 303-5 (Head 41, Paine 1) Back underway, and Wagner is carrying on with his left-arm line around the wicket to the left-handed Travis Head, using a sharp angle into the batsman to bounce him. Interesting move, giving Head no room to play really with an accurate line. Then when Paine comes on strike Wagner goes over the wicket and bowls full, presumably looking for a leg-before chance.

6.03am GMT

103rd over: Australia 302-5 (Head 40, Paine 1) So it’s back to consolidation time, with Paine facing out a maiden from de Grandhomme. New Zealand still a chance to hold Australia to something attainable if they can get through the second half of the batting order for 50 or 60. Drinks break.

6.00am GMT

102nd over: Australia 302-5 (Head 40, Paine 1) Nearly two in the over for Wagner, who has Head fending just wide of short leg. Tim Paine is at the crease, just his second bat for the summer.

5.57am GMT

Oh dear! It’s always such a surprise these days when Marnus gets out. He looks immovable but Wagner has got the breakthrough! He has worked so hard through both days of this Test match, and finally he gets his reward. Strange dismissal, left-arm around the wicket and angling in to Labuschagne, who steps across and tries to flick it to the leg side. But he misses and has stepped so far across that he exposes leg stump, and Wagner clips it. Perhaps some swing into the right-hander? Wagner is delighted. It’s hard not to love his cricket.

5.53am GMT

101st over: Australia 298-4 (Labuschagne 141, Head 39) Hard work for bowlers on the second day, and de Grandhomme isn’t his first-day self. Gets a bit straight on a couple of occasions, and twice Marnus takes him away through midwicket, once to the boundary and once for two.

5.47am GMT

100th over: Australia 292-4 (Labuschagne 135, Head 39) Wagner has now gone full short ball. Marnus doesn’t mind, pulling for a brace and then a one. Head is content to duck against a leg-stump line.

5.46am GMT

99th over: Australia 289-4 (Labuschagne 132, Head 39) Southee is done with his spell and runs off for a Zooper Dooper, and de Grandhomme replaces him. He’s on the money first up, testing length and a bit of shape to Head. But he’s too full with the next two. Williamson saves the first, diving at mid-off to field at full length, so Head drives straighter next time, inside that line and down the ground for four.

5.37am GMT

98th over: Australia 285-4 (Labuschagne 132, Head 35) Wagner tries a short ball but goes way down leg side. He’s probably pretty sore and tired after yesterday, bowled three long spells in the heat. Then he has a slip from the hand while trying to bowl a slower ball and Labuschagne hits the full toss straight down the ground for four.

5.32am GMT

97th over: Australia 279-4 (Labuschagne 127, Head 34) So there’s a fire burning behind Optus Stadium now. That’s good. That’s great. Everything is fine in Australia in summer, no problems here at all. It looks a fairly minor fire but there’s a big plume of smoke coming off it. Southee bowls too full to Marnus, who drives it dead straight down the ground for four. That’s classy. Then Head gets width and carves it behind point, his absolute pet shot. Runs flowing, 11 from the over. Well and truly Australia’s morning.

5.27am GMT

96th over: Australia 268-4 (Labuschagne 121, Head 29) Wagner coming in to Labuschagne, and bowls a snorter! Terrific short ball, up at the throat and Marnus coming forward is startled by it, flinching and getting gloves up to it. If NZ had a bat-pad on the off side then that would have been a simple catch. Not to be. Another short ball doesn’t get up and Labuschagne pulls uncertainly for a slow single. Head flicks off his pads, but Latham at a deep bat pad on the leg side makes a fine stop.

5.25am GMT

95th over: Australia 267-4 (Labuschagne 120, Head 29) Southee gives up a pie to Head, glanced through fine leg for four. But everything outside off has Head looking a little shaky, as is his wont, and he gets a thick leading edge at one stage towards point.

5.24am GMT

94th over: Australia 263-4 (Labuschagne 120, Head 25) A leg gully in for Labuschagne now, a la Smith yesterday, though Marnus plays far more off-side than Smith. For all the talk of their similarities it’s much more in terms of mannerism than in terms of actual technique or scoring. New Zealand tried to get Marnus with a wide line outside off yesterday, drawing him into a nick, and he nearly did nick on a few occasions. Today he stabs a single to that leg gully region, then Wagner tries a couple of short balls to Head and is nearly rewarded with a glove behind.

5.13am GMT

93rd over: Australia 261-4 (Labuschagne 119, Head 24) Nice shape for Southee again, under hot sun on this green-tinged pitch. The ball stayed in great nick yesterday, always giving the bowlers a little. It’s Southee rather than Wagner who reaches first for the bouncer, but Marnus hooks off his eyebrows for a single. He looks very comfortable playing that shot, it’s one of his strengths. Southee comes around the wicket to the left-handed Head, angling and then swinging the ball in sharply at off stump, close to the ball that bowled Wade last night. Head plays it though, and blocks it. Then forces away three runs through point. Labuschagne likes the intent and cover drives for four! Too full and dealt with. Then drives another run wide of mid-on.

5.08am GMT

92nd over: Australia 252-4 (Labuschagne 113, Head 21) Lockie Ferguson is down by the side of the field in a moon boot. It does make you wonder about the endless debate around injury substitutes in Test matches, rather than just concussion subs. But it’s such a complicated issue that it never seems to get anywhere. Wagner starts his bowling day by going full, not going to waste the new ball. Head drives a single, Marnus steers three runs behind point.

5.06am GMT

91st over: Australia 248-4 (Labuschagne 110, Head 20) Southee kicks off with a maiden. The ball is swinging for him, but he’s just a bit wide of the off stump to Marnus, who leaves most of the over alone.

4.39am GMT

Strewth, cobbers. Time for another fair dinkum true blue session of dinky-di Test cricket from rolled gold Perth Stadium. Hear the serried banks of sandgropers chanting “Labuschagne! Labuschagne!” Are sandgropers the Western Australian ones? I can never remember. It sounds fairly indecent in any case. Keep that behaviour off our beaches. Never mind. They’re Labuschagne freaks over there. Everyone is. The whole country has converted. Peeling off three tons on the trot will do that. Bradman did it a couple of times, Fingleton four. That’s it for Australians. Alan Melville and Rahul Dravid also did four, and Everton Weekes did five. Watch this space.

As for today though, he’s going to try to turn a ton into a big ton. Did it in Brisbane, could go again here. New Zealand bowled really well yesterday though. Swing most of the day. Bowled the short ball well when the day wore on. Got a new ball late last night. They’re a bowler down though, Ferguson will not bowl again. Huge blow, huge workload ahead for the rest. Lucky they have the all-rounder de Grandhomme, but he’s coming off an injury break as well.

Continue reading...

Australia v New Zealand: first Test, day two – live!

Updates from the second day of play at Optus StadiumSciver century leads England women to series win over PakistanAny updates? Email or tweet @collinsadam

12.36pm GMT

New Zealand trail by 307 runs. Needless to say, they are in a world of pain if they don’t have a perfect first session tomorrow - then some. We’ll be back for that, as always, on the OBO! Goodbye for now.

12.35pm GMT

Starc is on telly. Knew to go straight at the stumps when Wagner walked out as nightwatchman. Thought he was a chance for the hat-trick with Taylor going hard. Not to be. Says nice things about Smith’s Superman catch. Disappointed for Hazlewood.

12.33pm GMT

32nd over: New Zealand 109-5 (Taylor 66, Watling 0) Cummins has the final over of the day - exactly the man for the job. Oooh, and Taylor has a wee pop at one outside the off stump and it splits the cordon at a catchable height through about fourth slip! He’s quite right to leave the next alone, an off-cutter the inevitable response - inside edged onto his pad. Last ball of the day... and Taylor on-drives it, gorgeously, for four. What a session of Test cricket. And exhale.

12.27pm GMT

31st over: New Zealand 101-5 (Taylor 58, Watling 0) Taylor doesn’t really mind that wickets are falling around him; he’s going okay. A couple behind point follows the hat-trick avoidance, then another on the pull - a beautifully timed shot, straight to the sweeper. Watling gets through Starc’s final two balls of the evening. One over to go.

12.24pm GMT

ROSSCO SURVIVES! Sure enough, he had a pop at the hat-trick ball and nearly chopped on. I’m genuinely surprised by this. I might tell my therapist this story next week. Thanks for playing along.

12.22pm GMT

30th over: New Zealand 98-5 (Taylor 55, Watling 0) Okay, some history. I’ve been to 116 Test Matches including 54 of the last 57 Australia have played. Through some pretty shoddy luck, and poor timing, I’ve never witnessed a Test hat-trick. This is a bit of a thing on twitter. Per the below, I predicted yesterday - this being the first home Test I’ve missed since December 2013 - that it is certain to happen. So find a telly, Mitch Starc is about to take a hat-trick.

Well, I did call this 27 hours ago. Nothing more certain than Starc getting this done. #AUSvNZ https://t.co/1WibBz6BY4

12.18pm GMT

Bowled him first ball! The classic Starc yorker it was, a little inside edge, then back onto the woodwork! He’s on a hat-trick next over.

29th over: New Zealand 97-5 (Taylor 51) New Zealand lose their number five and their nightwatchman in consecutive balls. Shocker.

12.15pm GMT

Strangled down the legside! Paine had quite a bit to do moving to his right but he’s one of the best in the business for a reason. Just what New Zealand couldn’t afford to happen this close to stumps.

12.12pm GMT

28t over: New Zealand 90-3 (Taylor 51, Nicholls 3) Cummins is banging into Taylor, hitting him on the thigh pad then finding his inside edge past short leg later in the set. Every ball an examination.

We have an update on Hazlewood from CA. He has a left hamstring strain and will undergo an MRI scan tonight. That’s all for now.

12.08pm GMT

27th over: New Zealand 89-3 (Taylor 50, Nicholls 3) Ummm, Labuschagne is convinced Nicholls has edged the final Starc delivery and is going WILD at short leg. Except... he’s the only man appealing. Snicko shows that there is no edge. There was a noise. “100% I heard something,” he says on the stump mic. Gotta love his enthusiasm. Earlier in the over, Taylor reached his half-century with a single off his hip. “One of the grittiest in his career,” Ian Smith’s assessment.

12.03pm GMT

26th over: New Zealand 88-3 (Taylor 49, Nicholls 3) Good call getting Cummins back in the act with eight overs (or half an hour) left. As I predicted when the innings started, there’s some chance Australia won’t get through a session worth of overs with the added half an hour. Sigh. Anyway, Cummins is brilliant. Some indecision early in the over leads to a direct hit at the non-strikers’ end from midwicket. The check upstairs but Nicholls is safely home. Taylor’s edge is found and his bat is beaten before the over is done. Seven overs left but a long, long way to go for New Zealand. Compelling cricket.

11.59am GMT

25th over: New Zealand 83-3 (Taylor 45, Nicholls 2) Taylor keeps the board ticking, driving a couple past mid off before grabbing another around the corner. Nicholls deals with the rest. Gotta get to stumps.

There are 20,018 at the Casino Stadium tonight, CA have told us. The final Test at the WACA in 2017 had 22,000-plus on each of the first two days. Presented without further comment.

11.55am GMT

24th over: New Zealand 80-3 (Taylor 42, Nicholls 2) I admit, I’m down a youtube wormhole on brilliant Smith catches and I haven’t watched a lot of that Lyon over. I know three runs were taken off it and Nicholls was off the mark with a couple behind square.

Was this Smith’s best catch tonight? Or was it this, as a chubby kid?

11.49am GMT

23rd over: New Zealand 77-3 (Taylor 41, Nicholls 0) Henry Nicholls walks out for his first Test innings in Australia and defends to begin with a nice, broad blade. He’s a very organised player. Ooh, Labuschagne is in the game to finish, collecting the ball on the bounce. “Those are the catches you dream of,” says Mark Waugh on commentary. He should know. Cue up the 1999 World Cup Final.

11.45am GMT

Ridiculous.

STEVE SMITH!

It doesn't get any better than that! #AUSvNZ pic.twitter.com/fxMje4Ms7I

11.44am GMT

A ONE-HANDED RIPPER! One of the best catches you’ll ever see from Steve Smith, diving to his right at full stretch at second slip, his right hand dragging the chance in. Starc beat him with a beauty the ball before and now wins the contest. A huge moment in this game.

11.41am GMT

22nd over: New Zealand 76-2 (Williamson 34, Taylor 40) Lyon around the wicket with two catchers on the legside to Williamson. “Let’s have them run each other out!” roars Paine, hinting at the fact that these two have been involved in many mix-ups over the years. It’s a good over from Lyon, which ends with Williamson opening up the face of his bat just enough to run it past Smith at slip and down to the rope. Hands on heads, but he knew what he was doing.

11.38am GMT

21st over: New Zealand 71-2 (Williamson 30, Taylor 39) Starc to Williamson. He isn’t using his bat for the first half of the over, happy to let Starc do his thing short of a length. When he does come back at the batsman, he responds with soft hands in defence. This is superb Test Match cricket between some of the best players in the world.

11.36am GMT

20th over: New Zealand 71-2 (Williamson 30, Taylor 39) Tidy from Lyon, his length brougth back a tad to deny Taylor the drive. The TV cuts to shots of The Richies at the end of the over. No comment.

11.33am GMT

19th over: New Zealand 69-2 (Williamson 29, Taylor 38) Starc is back and Williamson is up to the task, leaping into a full ball with immaculate timing, out to the cover point boundary. So good. But Starc bounces straight back with an unplayable, jagging away from Williamson from a full length after pitching on middle. Too good. The Black Cap numbero uno keeps his cool to drive a couple more out in the cover direction to finish. So much relies on these two getting to the close. There are 14 overs remaining tonight.

11.26am GMT

18th over: New Zealand 63-2 (Williamson 23, Taylor 38) Taylor continues to take the game to Lyon, driving him through cover for a couple then getting two more behind point, albeit off the edge. Paine can’t glove one down the legside, a bye added, before Williamson keeps the strike with an ODI-esque single down the ground. Better.

“This series has lived up to its hype so far,” Abhijato Sensarma declares. “The batting and bowling on display makes for excellent viewing. New Zealand bucked the trend of away losses by winning an all-time great series in the UAE ... If they do it here, which they very much can, it’ll firmly put New Zealand on the map as a real WTC contender. Who do you think will meet India at Lord’s for the Final?”

11.21am GMT

17th over: New Zealand 57-2 (Williamson 22, Taylor 34) Classic Williamson to start again after drinks, using the pace of Cummins to ease him behind point for four. The short ball is evaded with a bit more ease, the defence is tight. It took a while, but the captain is set.

So much adrenaline in the cricket this session #AusvNZ

11.14am GMT

16th over: New Zealand 53-2 (Williamson 18, Taylor 34) Taylor opens up the arms, not without some risk. His drive through cover is in the air, prompting a roar of catch from Paine, but it is wide of the man and down to the rope. He goes again later in the over, getting to the ball after coming down the track, clearing cover. To finish, a deft late cut makes it three boundaries from the over as they go to drinks. Clever batting, denying Lyon the chance to get into his groove.

11.09am GMT

15th over: New Zealand 41-2 (Williamson 18, Taylor 22) Cummins vs Williamson: give me all that you’ve got. Ooh, and he’s only gone and hit him on the hand, the ball then deflecting onto his box. He gives himself a chance to gather his thoughts after that and fair enough, too. Composed, he gets through the rest of it safely.

Imagine bowling a total of eight deliveries in a Test match but one of them was that pornographic thunderbolt to Jeet Raval.

11.04am GMT

14th over: New Zealand 41-2 (Williamson 18, Taylor 22) Shot. Taylor leans on a wider ball that he turns into a half-volley with a big stride, creaming it through cover to move into the 20s. Just as it was in his first over, he then dragged the length back and tightened the screws.

11.02am GMT

13th over: New Zealand 37-2 (Williamson 18, Taylor 18) Cummins beats Williamson this time; a ball he had to play at, straightening a treat beyond his bat. He’s testing him short and full. Box Office.

10.59am GMT

12th over: New Zealand 36-2 (Williamson 18, Taylor 17) The Wade Experiment comes to an end for now, Nathan Lyon thrown the ball for his first twist. He’s too full to Williamson early on, a half-volley timed safely through cover for four. He finds his range thereafter. With Hazlewood more than likely out of the match, this will be the first of many overs he is asked to bowl over the next few days.

10.56am GMT

11th over: New Zealand 32-2 (Williamson 14, Taylor 17) Gosh, this interrogation is not getting any less troubling for the Black Caps. Cummins is ferocious, finding the edge then beating it with a shorter ball that lifts at Taylor. He then tempts him outside the off-stump; the 36-year-old too smart to fall for that trick. A legitimate bouncer finishes the over, so potent that Paine has to leap one-handed to drag it down to in effect save four byes. Excellent wicketkeeping.

10.52am GMT

10th over: New Zealand 32-2 (Williamson 14, Taylor 17) Williamson did hit the last ball of the previous over! We get the snicko on screen and it’s conclusive. Oh dear. Smith was the one Australian who heard the edge. Reminiscent of Steve Waugh at the MCG in 2002 against England in that sketchy fourth-innings chase. Meanwhile, Wade beats Taylor a second time with another outswinger that does plenty. The over doesn’t get any better than that - some looser deliveries worked around the field for three singles - but he’s very much in the contest as the sun starts to set over Casino Stadium.

10.48am GMT

9th over: New Zealand 29-2 (Williamson 13, Taylor 15) There’s a nice graphic showing how late Williamson plays the ball, which serves him well against an unrelenting Cummins. And one time the big quick misses his mark, he’s right in position to clip it away for four. Good batting. Oh, less so the last ball, wafting and missing outside the line of the off-stump. Behind the wicket, Smith reckons he might have tickled it but there’s no response from the bowler or captain.

10.46am GMT

8th over: New Zealand 24-2 (Williamson 9, Taylor 14) Welcome to the attack in the eighth over a Test Match innings... Matthew Wade! With Hazlewood off the field and no all-rounder, he is the next in the pecking order as far as a seam option is concerned. I’ve watched him bowl plenty the nets and he does quite often make life tough for the established batsmen. Anyway, it’s a bit of a mixed bag, as you might expect. He beats Taylor with a lovely outswinger to begin, curling past the blade... then bumps him! But the veteran isn’t missing out the second time the short ball comes down, hammering it behind square for four. By the end of the set, Wade has lost his radar.

“Hi Adam.” Hi Henry Coleman. “Perhaps understandably, a little surly this morning. Given the blessed wonders of escapism in this cricket match as a UK neutral, and the fact you worked in politics for a time, do you have any good yarns of Antipodean politics or sport that may offer a hopeful thought this morning? From one citizen of the world to another, Harry. p.s. cricket x.”

10.39am GMT

7th over: New Zealand 19-2 (Williamson 9, Taylor 9) Less going on here for Starc with Williamson, as they say, getting into his work. The Black Caps skipper plays a neat drive through cover, which should do wonders for his confidence. Earlier in the over, Taylor made decent contact off the back foot, cutting three for himself.

10.33am GMT

6th over: New Zealand 12-2 (Williamson 5, Taylor 6) Cummins wants in on this too, beating Taylor on the inside edge to start his fresh set, not far from the woodwork once more. An edge, albeit one more or less along the ground, follows. Four runs added; some respite. Sure enough, Cummins is back close to the timber hitting the back pad. The huge shout is turned down and Paine doesn’t refer it - contact outside the line? It doesn’t end there. A probing short ball under Taylor’s arm is just kept away from trouble, once again into that leg gully region. Time for a fielder there? Oh, and to finish, Williamson nearly chops on for the third time in his innings so far! Superb stuff!

10.27am GMT

5th over: New Zealand 7-2 (Williamson 5, Taylor 1) Every single ball something is happening. To begin Starc’s over, Taylor creams a straight drive but he gets nothing for it - Williamson’s body is in the way. Next comes the shorter ball - if a leg gully was in play, that was a chance. Next a shout for leg before against Williamson, albeit an ambitious one. A rapid bouncer to finish at the skipper, getting under it at the very last moment. The one saving grace for New Zealand is that there is no longer a shadow across the middle of the pitch. It really was a terrible time for them to start this innings but Australia have made it count. Meanwhile, Patto for Boxing Day?

10.23am GMT

4th over: New Zealand 6-2 (Williamson 5, Taylor 0) Cummins to complete the over with four balls to go in it and immediately finds Williamson’s inside edge. Dear me, not far away from the captain chopping on to give the man they call Winx a wicket with his first delivery. “It’s really tough out there,” says Ian Smith. Too right it is.

Seeing the replay, it’s definitely Hazlewood’s left hamstring causing him trouble. The ball before pulling up he grabbed for that leg. CA are usually pretty good with injury updates - we’ll have one soon.

10.19am GMT

On the way to bowl the third ball of his second over, Hazlewood pulls up in his run - only about five paces into it - and immediately leaves the field.

10.18am GMT

3rd over: New Zealand 2-2 (Williamson 1, Taylor 0) Starc is bowling quickly and accurately with movement back towards Taylor from over the wicket. In other words: a complete bloody nightmare. Oh, and now he’s pinned him on the shoulder with a short ball. Then some drama to finish! Taylor clips well to midwicket and takes on Cummins! You don’t do that. The athlete makes a diving stop and throw. A direct hit would have been that. Instead, a Warner haS enough time to push the ball onto the woodwork after a dive of his own. The TV ump shows Taylor to be in by a foot. Was his bat grounded? Anyway, he’s given not out. IT’S ALL HAPPENING.

10.11am GMT

2nd over: New Zealand 1-2 (Williamson 0, Taylor 0) What a formidale record Hazlewood has since returning to this XI at Lord’s. Since then, he’s been taking his wickets at 20-odd. Sure enough, he’s right on the money to the new man Taylor, who is defending from off-stump.

10.08am GMT

It’s a beauty! Raval shouldn’t have been trying to whip Hazlewood from the line of the off stump and he pays the price, his middle pole bent back when the delivery comes back through the gate from over the wicket. What a bowler, what a start.

10.05am GMT

1st over: New Zealand 1-1 (Raval 1, Williamson 0) Now Williamson walks out with one ball to face in the first over of New Zealand’s reply. There’s an appeal from Paine for a legside caught behind too, albeit not an overly enthusiastic one. It clipped his thigh pad.

Earlier in the over, Starc was right on the money straight away; Raval solid in defence. As Michael Vaughan said on TV, what a tough time to open with shadows all over the pitch from the grandstands. He was then off the mark with one off his hip, via the inside edge.

Right, Australia have 33 overs to bowl and 122 minutes from the start until the scheduled close. The question: how many overs will they burn when they don’t get these in - even with the extra half hour?

10.02am GMT

Latham is gone second ball! He tried to work Starc into the legside to get off the mark but instead, his leading edge returned safely to the bowler for the easiest of catches. Yuk.

9.57am GMT

Alright, the players are back on the field. Raval and Latham, two southpaws, opening for New Zealand. Another, Mitch Starc, has the ball in his hand for Australia. And he’s in good nick. PLAY!

9.55am GMT

Great news for people who care about Glenn Maxwell. Which should be all of us. He’s back in business. Go you good thing.

Glenn Maxwell came off after hitting a fifty for @fitzdonc last month and said, 'I love cricket again.'

Good to see him back: https://t.co/uINH5oFoIc

9.53am GMT

“Morning Collo.” Hello, Nick Toovey. “Seems that the doomsayers of D/N cricket have dropped off that high horse. There doesn’t seem to be any real mention of two separate stats lists anymore?”

They are still out there and I’m sympathetic to some of the arguments. However, I’m glad we’re beyond the stats debate.

9.43am GMT

The changeover is also the tea break. Wagner is on the telly giving an unbeat interview, very happy to get the job done despite being a bowler down with Ferguson ruled out with a calf injury this time yesterday. In this heat, it’s an especially good effort. Starc’s cameo and Paine’s patience got the hosts beyond their primary goal of 400. All told, it’s nicely set up for another eventful session under lights!

I’ll leave you with that Williamson catch. Back after a coffee.

Well held by the Kiwi skipper! #AUSvNZ | https://t.co/0Uay6Vh9fg pic.twitter.com/yACdiDzUBD

9.39am GMT

A short ball ends the innings too, Paine tickling a hook shot into the gloves of Watling, who completes a tidy diving catch. Southee finishes with 4/93 to go with Wagner’s 4/92.

9.37am GMT

Fun while it lasted! Lyon is caught at fine leg by de Grandhomme, ultimately falling for the Wagner trap. But he did collect consecutive boundaries by successfully taking on the short ball, pulling with authority to the square leg boundary then hooking successfully too. But Wagner persisted and it worked. He’s earned four wickets.

146th over: Australia 416-9 (Paine 39)

9.30am GMT

What a catch by the captain! Running back with the flight from mid-off towards the rope, he’s pulled in a beauty over his left shoulder.

145th over: Australia 408-8 (Paine 39)

9.27am GMT

144th over: Australia 405-7 (Paine 39, Starc 28) Wagner is back, with a chance to bank a fifth five-wicket innings of the year. He’s in my team of 2019, make no mistake. He’s so close to slipping through Starc’s defences with an old-fashioned inswinging yorker, but his opposing number gets his blade down just in time to dig it out. Earlier in the set, Paine is fortunate that Williamson didn’t hit from mid-off. We’re about 15 minutes from tea now, which might be the declaration if this were being played in Adelaide or starting at 2pm local time. But in Perth, with a 1pm start (thus, fewer overs played under lights), there’s no reason to pull the pin at the break.

9.19am GMT

143rd over: Australia 403-7 (Paine 38, Starc 27) Southee to Starc, and he’s DROPPED at mid-on! Per the last few overs, he took a few deliveries to get his eye in before winding up, but for the first time he didn’t get all of it, picking out Raval. But, to the dismay of the bowler, he’s put the chance down moving to his right. Painful.

9.16am GMT

142nd over: Australia 403-7 (Paine 38, Starc 27) Mark Waugh doesn’t share the sentiment of my previous post, immediately complaining that Australia haven’t scored quickly enough to satisfy him. Oh well. He likes what Starc is doing though, which now includes a SIX when hammering Santner over long-on and into the crowd. He’s not going at everything, rather, picking his ball to go at and swinging hard. He’s now 27 from 24. More importantly, Australia have passed 400.

Tim Paine's first-class average when batting in Perth: 51.46 #AUSvNZ pic.twitter.com/XqlMsdvAmU

9.13am GMT

141st over: Australia 394-7 (Paine 37, Starc 19) Southee returns and Paine is ticking the board over now too, cleverly deflecting behind point for his second boundary. He’s clocked up 100 balls in the middle now, which he did routinely during the Ashes of 2017-18 and the South African tour that followed. He’s made sure that Australia will get beyond 400. Mostly slow going, but does it really matter?

9.08am GMT

140th over: Australia 388-7 (Paine 32, Starc 18) What a cameo this is turning into from Starc, moving to 18 from 18 balls with another firm strike through midwicket, this time taking Santner across the line to the midwicket boundary. The spinner hasn’t done a thing wrong there either, his over a probing one. The lot in life of a twirler.

9.05am GMT

139th over: Australia 382-7 (Paine 31, Starc 13) Block, block, block... SWING! Classic Starc, deploying his slog sweep against Raval for the second time in two overs, the result another boundary with the ball landing just inside the ropes at cow corner. Lovely strike. A touch odd, though, that Williamson’s midwicket isn’t all the way back.

9.02am GMT

138th over: Australia 377-7 (Paine 31, Starc 8) Between overs, Raval races off the field. The close-up shows that he split a finger open fielding a ball from his own bowling, so that’ll need to be patched up. Santner continues to Starc, who gets down the other end straight away. The skipper’s turn, who has faced 89 balls for his 29. He’s cramped up well by the spinners’ arm-ball, so close to skidding onto the woodwork and/or back pad. A shout for caught behind follows when Paine misses his sweep but Watling is the only man interested.

I’ve received messages in reply to my tweet arguing that cricket is a nice antidode to dread. Responders have put to me that this is a fairly dreary session. I’m not so sure. Give me graft. I’m all in.

8.56am GMT

137th over: Australia 374-7 (Paine 29, Starc 7) This is what Starc does so well, coming in and adding quick runs. Early in the Raval over here, the left-hander gets down low to slog sweep over midwicket, the ball galloping away to the rope. The leggle recovers well though, his accurate wrong’un deployed to keep both batsmen defending.

8.53am GMT

136th over: Australia 369-7 (Paine 29, Starc 2) Edge! Paine splits the gap between the ‘keeper Watling and Taylor at slip. He was cutting Santner off the back foot, who won a bit of extra turn and bounce. As Brendon Julian notes on telly, both catchers had their weight in the wrong foot to put in a realistic dive. His wicket column doesn’t reflect it but Santner has done a lot right over the last day and a half.

8.49am GMT

135th over: Australia 365-7 (Paine 27, Starc 1) Starc is off the mark with a push to cover, which completes Raval’s successful over.

Bowled around his legs! Jeet Raval celebrates his first Test wicket! #OhWhatAFeeling@Toyota_Aus | #AUSvNZ pic.twitter.com/qGdCjpRw6J

8.47am GMT

Hello. Thanks, Geoffers. What a lovely way to pick up your first Test wicket! Just as it was 24 hours ago, the Black Caps have kept themselves in the game by starving the Australians during the toughest period of the day in the Perth heat. They deserve to bowl Australia out this side of 400.

I’m sitting in the same chair at Guardian HQ that I did the morning after the 2017 Election and during 2016 Australian Election night. Once again, I’m going to embrace this distraction. Test cricket is helpful like that. Do so with me in the usual way.

8.41am GMT

He’s done it! A long part-time spell by Raval, and in his 11th over he’s picked up a wicket! With a nice leg-break as well, bowling Cummins around his legs as the fast bowler tried to sweep. Good flight, drew him into the shot and then spins back enough to take leg stump. Patience pays off!

That’s my patience over too – it’s drinks now, and Adam Collins will take over after that. Cheerio.

8.39am GMT

134th over: Australia 362-6 (Paine 25, Cummins 20) Another maiden for Santner! Cummins has now blotted up so much of the strike that he’s gone past Paine for balls faced, despite coming out after him. This must be in line with Paine’s tactical considerations, because the captain is well placed to have a word.

8.35am GMT

133rd over: Australia 362-6 (Paine 25, Cummins 20) Raval to Cummins, and the go-slow continues for another over. There’s a late single to midwicket. Paine hasn’t had much of the strike for the last ten or so overs, and hasn’t done much scoring.

8.33am GMT

132nd over: Australia 361-6 (Paine 25, Cummins 19) Santner bowling left-arm spin around the wicket to the right-handers, with a couple of catching covers waiting for Cummins to try a drive. Or to force him to try something else. Santner makes it easy though with a drag-down that Cummins can swivel and pull for two. When Santner pitches up Cummins drives hard into the ground and bounces it over short cover, but the sweeper is able to get around in the deep and keep the scoring to one.

8.29am GMT

131st over: Australia 358-6 (Paine 25, Cummins 16) A big turner from Raval to start the over to Paine, who leaves it well alone, but when Raval drops shorter Paine cuts hard to the cover sweeper for one. Cummins defends a length ball, then gets one dipping right into the blockhole. Eventually he plays an off-drive for one, wide of mid-off.

8.24am GMT

130th over: Australia 356-6 (Paine 24, Cummins 15) Short from Santner, cut away by Cummins for four! Not in control, that comes off a thick top edge and skirts the backward point fielder on its way to the rope. But runs go in the batsman’s column.

8.23am GMT

129th over: Australia 352-6 (Paine 24, Cummins 11) And another Raval over for only a single, which included a big cut shot from Cummins that missed everything and had Watling throwing his head back. The double spin approach is keeping things quiet.

8.21am GMT

128th over: Australia 351-6 (Paine 24, Cummins 10) Just a single from that Santner over as the squeeze continues. Cummins into double figures.

8.19am GMT

127th over: Australia 350-6 (Paine 24, Cummins 9) Another tidy over from Raval, who has done a job for New Zealand since he came on. Two singles late in the piece. Australia have the brakes well and truly on. Are they just playing a patience game, keeping New Zealand in the heat?

8.13am GMT

126th over: Australia 348-6 (Paine 23, Cummins 8) Serious bounce and a bit of turn for Santner, but he pitches too short of Cummins to threaten the edge as the ball leaps into Watling’s gloves. Fuller and Cummins flicks awkwardly across the line. Can’t score. It’s another maiden.

8.11am GMT

125th over: Australia 348-6 (Paine 23, Cummins 8) Jeet Raval carries on to Paine, who drives a couple through cover but can’t cash in on a subsequent full toss. It’s slow going for Australia – if they had been a bit brisker then they might have gone past 400 and declared this evening, but New Zealand have bowled well and kept the lid at least partway on.

8.08am GMT

124th over: Australia 346-6 (Paine 21, Cummins 8) Wagner uses a more measured length to Cummins through this over, just back of a length for the most part, trying to draw a false defensive shot. Cummins is equal to the task. Wagner must be flagging out there by now, he’s bowled 35 overs of fast attacking bowling in this heat. Adds his seventh maiden over.

8.04am GMT

123rd over: Australia 346-6 (Paine 21, Cummins 8) Some useful bounce now for Raval, beating Paine’s top edge as the Aussie keeper tries to cut, then taking that edge and back-spinning to backward point, who denies a run. Flight and dip on middle stump now and Paine defends. Raval bowls too short after that, but Paine is sufficiently spooked to leave it alone outside off.

8.01am GMT

122nd over: Australia 346-6 (Paine 21, Cummins 8) Wagner dipping short as ever, and Paine is happy to take him on for another single after Cummins slides a run away behind point. The bowler immediately changes to bowl full to Cummins, and there’s a bit of snake in the air as Cummins gets across his pad to cover.

7.57am GMT

121st over: Australia 344-6 (Paine 20, Cummins 7) Jeet Raval is dropping the ball nicely, right in the blockhole against Cummins, then drawing back the length a bit, drawing defensive prods across the front pad. Eventually Cummins can’t help striking at one, driving towards mid-on, but he almost lofts a catch to that man. Gets a single.

7.55am GMT

120th over: Australia 342-6 (Paine 19, Cummins 6) Wagner gets a full set of short balls in at Cummins, but Cummins doesn’t mind too much. He’ll get to repay that with interest when he bowls. A maiden.

7.51am GMT

119th over: Australia 342-6 (Paine 19, Cummins 6) Jeet Raval will keep bowling – Williamson must have liked what he saw before the break. He’s gota strange grip on the ball, almost side on, his hand bent over by his wrist. But he lands them pretty nicely, and gets one to hop at Cummins which could easily have been gloved up for a catch. It keeps the strike for Cummins instead.

7.46am GMT

118th over: Australia 340-6 (Paine 18, Cummins 5) If you needed more of a sense of Neil Wagner’s character, he just prepared for his post-break spell by doing a few push-ups at the top of his bowling mark. It’s 40 degrees mate. Take a spell. He starts with... guess what? A short ball. And another. Paine decides to take that one on, pulling two runs through midwicket. Adds another behind square. I’m going 82 runs early, but Paine has made both of his first-class tons in Western Australia. Maybe his first Test one will be here too.

7.08am GMT

New Zealand are still just hanging on, but only just. They’ve kept taking wickets, two more in this session, and important ones. But Paine and Cummins are perfectly capable of adding runs, and if the score gets much above 360 then Australia will be very hard to pull back in this match. A break from the heat, then more bowling and batting shortly. Maybe even some fielding.

7.05am GMT

117th over: Australia 337-6 (Paine 15, Cummins 5) You know it’s the 117th over when Jeet Raval is bowling. Leg-spin of sorts. Putting a few... Ravalutions on the ball? Shreds one past the edge of Cummins’ bat. The Australian pair take a couple of dashes singles, including one that nearly catches Cummins out of his ground, but he dives in and also does a cool Rabona sort of move with his back legs coming in in scorpion style. Sick. That’s dinner or lunch or whatever we call it.

7.00am GMT

116th over: Australia 334-6 (Paine 13, Cummins 4) Santner bowling with width, and Paine drives a single through cover before Cummins plays a better version of the same shot for four.

6.58am GMT

115th over: Australia 329-6 (Paine 12, Cummins 0) Another demand on Williamson to consider a review, as the last ball of Southee’s over seams in at Cummins and beats the inside edge on the way to Watling behind the stumps. The keeper and captain were appealing hard but the bowler didn’t think it was out, and was right because the ball hit Cummins on the trouser pocket rather than his bat. Before that Paine got into double figures with a square drive.

6.52am GMT

114th over: Australia 326-6 (Paine 9, Cummins 0) New Zealand lose a review after Santner hits Paine on the pad with a ball sliding on, from a left-arm line around the wicket. The review shows it hitting just outside the line of the stumps. Which remains probably the stupidest rule in cricket. Who cares where it’s hitting the pads as long it’s hitting the stumps?

6.48am GMT

113th over: Australia 325-6 (Paine 8, Cummins 0) A wicket maiden for Southee, as Pat Cummins is next at the crease. Plays a nice off-drive first ball, but straight to the field.

6.45am GMT

Ok, hands up – who foresaw Travis Head getting out playing a loose slap outside off stump? Come on, be honest. That’s right, nobody. How could you possibly? Travis Head goes full Travis Head, getting a wide half-volley from Southee, not moving his feet to the ball, hurling an angled bat at it while in a half crouch, and slugging it straight at short cover in the air. Goneski.

6.42am GMT

112th over: Australia 325-5 (Head 56, Paine 8) Santner releases the pressure valve once again, this time for Paine. Floats up an easy half-volley and Paine can throw a cover drive through the line of that for four, then adds a single in the same direction.

6.39am GMT

111th over: Australia 319-5 (Head 55, Paine 3) Southee is back on, and still bowling a tight line with a bit of movement from around the wicket to the left-hander. But when there’s a bit of width Head throws his hands through the ball, and while Jeet Raval makes good ground behind point, his sliding save ricochets off his body and along the rope for an eventual four.

6.34am GMT

110th over: Australia 315-5 (Head 51, Paine 3) Mitchell Santner comes on to bowl, the first over of spin for the day, and he starts it with a hot pie. Sitting up outside leg stump, and guess what, Travis Head can hit those. Sweeps it fine for four, and his milestone. Then cuts a short ball for one.

6.30am GMT

109th over: Australia 310-5 (Head 46, Paine 3) Another maiden for de Grandhomme to Paine, who survives a big shout when the ball would have been going over his stumps. A grasshopper flies onto the pitch and distracts Paine for a while. It’s wild out in the West.

6.26am GMT

108th over: Australia 310-5 (Head 46, Paine 3) Travis Head, the Loosest Man Alive. He nails a pull shot against Wagner for four, which Aleem Dar at square leg has to jump over and which nearly whacks him in the Jatz. But then Head keeps stepping across to try to glance Wagner to fine leg. Wagner is still coming around the wicket and bowling at the hip. Head keeps ending up outside off stump, threatening to glove those down leg side. There’s also a leg slip in place if he hits one. But he’ll just keep doing it, because he’s Travis Head: TLMA.

6.22am GMT

107th over: Australia 306-5 (Head 42, Paine 3) A couple of runs for Paine, who has been on 1 for a long time, as de Grandhomme bowls too straight. Clipped away. Colin gets back on line immediately, five times around the off stump for Paine to decide whether to block or leave.

6.18am GMT

106th over: Australia 304-5 (Head 42, Paine 1) A maiden from Wagner, who takes Head’s name as an inspiration in what to aim for. The fire I mentioned earlier is a scrub fire at Belmont racecourse, and the footage on the TV just looks like a bunch of small palm trees burning. It’s all a bit Miami Vice. Anyway, it’s being put out so apparently all is well. In this very specific instance.

6.14am GMT

105th over: Australia 304-5 (Head 42, Paine 1) Travis Head continues to be a mystery. He is probably the loosest specialist batsman I’ve ever seen, and yet he consistently makes runs. While looking like he should get out at any minute the entire time. Same again, as he swishes and misses at de Grandhomme outside off, then runs a ball straight to Nicholls at cover point and tries to take a run. Paine refuses, rightly, and Head is out of his ground as Nicholls’ throw misses the stumps and gives him an overthrow.

6.10am GMT

104th over: Australia 303-5 (Head 41, Paine 1) Back underway, and Wagner is carrying on with his left-arm line around the wicket to the left-handed Travis Head, using a sharp angle into the batsman to bounce him. Interesting move, giving Head no room to play really with an accurate line. Then when Paine comes on strike Wagner goes over the wicket and bowls full, presumably looking for a leg-before chance.

6.03am GMT

103rd over: Australia 302-5 (Head 40, Paine 1) So it’s back to consolidation time, with Paine facing out a maiden from de Grandhomme. New Zealand still a chance to hold Australia to something attainable if they can get through the second half of the batting order for 50 or 60. Drinks break.

6.00am GMT

102nd over: Australia 302-5 (Head 40, Paine 1) Nearly two in the over for Wagner, who has Head fending just wide of short leg. Tim Paine is at the crease, just his second bat for the summer.

5.57am GMT

Oh dear! It’s always such a surprise these days when Marnus gets out. He looks immovable but Wagner has got the breakthrough! He has worked so hard through both days of this Test match, and finally he gets his reward. Strange dismissal, left-arm around the wicket and angling in to Labuschagne, who steps across and tries to flick it to the leg side. But he misses and has stepped so far across that he exposes leg stump, and Wagner clips it. Perhaps some swing into the right-hander? Wagner is delighted. It’s hard not to love his cricket.

5.53am GMT

101st over: Australia 298-4 (Labuschagne 141, Head 39) Hard work for bowlers on the second day, and de Grandhomme isn’t his first-day self. Gets a bit straight on a couple of occasions, and twice Marnus takes him away through midwicket, once to the boundary and once for two.

5.47am GMT

100th over: Australia 292-4 (Labuschagne 135, Head 39) Wagner has now gone full short ball. Marnus doesn’t mind, pulling for a brace and then a one. Head is content to duck against a leg-stump line.

5.46am GMT

99th over: Australia 289-4 (Labuschagne 132, Head 39) Southee is done with his spell and runs off for a Zooper Dooper, and de Grandhomme replaces him. He’s on the money first up, testing length and a bit of shape to Head. But he’s too full with the next two. Williamson saves the first, diving at mid-off to field at full length, so Head drives straighter next time, inside that line and down the ground for four.

5.37am GMT

98th over: Australia 285-4 (Labuschagne 132, Head 35) Wagner tries a short ball but goes way down leg side. He’s probably pretty sore and tired after yesterday, bowled three long spells in the heat. Then he has a slip from the hand while trying to bowl a slower ball and Labuschagne hits the full toss straight down the ground for four.

5.32am GMT

97th over: Australia 279-4 (Labuschagne 127, Head 34) So there’s a fire burning behind Optus Stadium now. That’s good. That’s great. Everything is fine in Australia in summer, no problems here at all. It looks a fairly minor fire but there’s a big plume of smoke coming off it. Southee bowls too full to Marnus, who drives it dead straight down the ground for four. That’s classy. Then Head gets width and carves it behind point, his absolute pet shot. Runs flowing, 11 from the over. Well and truly Australia’s morning.

5.27am GMT

96th over: Australia 268-4 (Labuschagne 121, Head 29) Wagner coming in to Labuschagne, and bowls a snorter! Terrific short ball, up at the throat and Marnus coming forward is startled by it, flinching and getting gloves up to it. If NZ had a bat-pad on the off side then that would have been a simple catch. Not to be. Another short ball doesn’t get up and Labuschagne pulls uncertainly for a slow single. Head flicks off his pads, but Latham at a deep bat pad on the leg side makes a fine stop.

5.25am GMT

95th over: Australia 267-4 (Labuschagne 120, Head 29) Southee gives up a pie to Head, glanced through fine leg for four. But everything outside off has Head looking a little shaky, as is his wont, and he gets a thick leading edge at one stage towards point.

5.24am GMT

94th over: Australia 263-4 (Labuschagne 120, Head 25) A leg gully in for Labuschagne now, a la Smith yesterday, though Marnus plays far more off-side than Smith. For all the talk of their similarities it’s much more in terms of mannerism than in terms of actual technique or scoring. New Zealand tried to get Marnus with a wide line outside off yesterday, drawing him into a nick, and he nearly did nick on a few occasions. Today he stabs a single to that leg gully region, then Wagner tries a couple of short balls to Head and is nearly rewarded with a glove behind.

5.13am GMT

93rd over: Australia 261-4 (Labuschagne 119, Head 24) Nice shape for Southee again, under hot sun on this green-tinged pitch. The ball stayed in great nick yesterday, always giving the bowlers a little. It’s Southee rather than Wagner who reaches first for the bouncer, but Marnus hooks off his eyebrows for a single. He looks very comfortable playing that shot, it’s one of his strengths. Southee comes around the wicket to the left-handed Head, angling and then swinging the ball in sharply at off stump, close to the ball that bowled Wade last night. Head plays it though, and blocks it. Then forces away three runs through point. Labuschagne likes the intent and cover drives for four! Too full and dealt with. Then drives another run wide of mid-on.

5.08am GMT

92nd over: Australia 252-4 (Labuschagne 113, Head 21) Lockie Ferguson is down by the side of the field in a moon boot. It does make you wonder about the endless debate around injury substitutes in Test matches, rather than just concussion subs. But it’s such a complicated issue that it never seems to get anywhere. Wagner starts his bowling day by going full, not going to waste the new ball. Head drives a single, Marnus steers three runs behind point.

5.06am GMT

91st over: Australia 248-4 (Labuschagne 110, Head 20) Southee kicks off with a maiden. The ball is swinging for him, but he’s just a bit wide of the off stump to Marnus, who leaves most of the over alone.

4.39am GMT

Strewth, cobbers. Time for another fair dinkum true blue session of dinky-di Test cricket from rolled gold Perth Stadium. Hear the serried banks of sandgropers chanting “Labuschagne! Labuschagne!” Are sandgropers the Western Australian ones? I can never remember. It sounds fairly indecent in any case. Keep that behaviour off our beaches. Never mind. They’re Labuschagne freaks over there. Everyone is. The whole country has converted. Peeling off three tons on the trot will do that. Bradman did it a couple of times, Fingleton four. That’s it for Australians. Alan Melville and Rahul Dravid also did four, and Everton Weekes did five. Watch this space.

As for today though, he’s going to try to turn a ton into a big ton. Did it in Brisbane, could go again here. New Zealand bowled really well yesterday though. Swing most of the day. Bowled the short ball well when the day wore on. Got a new ball late last night. They’re a bowler down though, Ferguson will not bowl again. Huge blow, huge workload ahead for the rest. Lucky they have the all-rounder de Grandhomme, but he’s coming off an injury break as well.

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WBBL second semi-final: Heat too hot for Renegades - as it happened

Heat 166-6 beat Renegades 163-4 by four wicketsEarlier, Strikers beat Scorchers by eight wickets

6.55am GMT

Brisbane win, which wasn’t unexpected, but the Renegades should have run them closer. Six wickets down with two overs left looks closer than it was. Melbourne suffered the loss of Danni Wyatt and Tammy Beaumont, but made enough runs anyway. Or it should have been enough, with Brisbane’s bowlers collared late and unable to break through in the middle. But the Renegades bowled and fielded atrociously through the first Powerplay and gave away 70 runs for the opening partnership without one of the league’s biggest stars, Beth Mooney, even having to do much.

For Brisbane’s part, they were ruthless. When both openers fell in consecutive balls, other teams might have been rattled. But Jonassen and Grace Harris kept the foot down, and got their team close enough that the result was never really in doubt.

6.50am GMT

18th over: Brisbane Heat 166-6 (Johnson 6, Short 4) Carly Leeson was supposed to have the dubious honour of conceding the winning runs, but she picks up Grace Harris first. Kirby Short comes in, the skipper, and after a few nervous dots and a single to Johnson, Short cuts four through cover point to seal the win!

6.48am GMT

Another late one for the Gades! What they could have done if they hadn’t conceded so many in the first five or six overs. Leeson isn’t expecting much, but Harris lofts her down the ground to a catch at long-on.

6.46am GMT

17th over: Brisbane Heat 160-5 (Grace Harris 42, Johnson 5) What an eventful over from Kershaw. Mostly full tosses. The overruled wicket. The other wicket. Some near boundaries that aren’t collared properly. Then when she lands her last ball on the pitch, Harris sweeps it for four! Life, hey. A boundary needed to win it.

6.44am GMT

I’ll try to catch you up here. Erica Kershaw on to bowl, just to wrong-foot everyone and she has Grace Harris caught at deep midwicket! Off a high full toss. The umpires check the replay for no-ball though, and rule it illegitimate. I’m not sure about that: it was above waist high when Harris made contact, but it was dipping sharply and would have been below that height when it reached the body. Anyway, she’s reprieved, then when Kershaw lands one of her leg-breaks, Kerr slices it to point.

6.41am GMT

16th over: Brisbane Heat 151-4 (Grace Harris 41, Kerr 1) Strano’s spell ends with 4 for 28. She’s done her part, but her teammates have left her down.

6.39am GMT

Two in three balls now for Strano! The Harris sisters are only together in the middle for a moment, as Laura gets down and tries to sweep and misses. She would be plumb lbw, but she’s saved from that fate as the ball trickles back between her legs and bowls her.

6.35am GMT

Too little too late, but Strano lands this one gorgeously. From around the wicket, it dips, lands on the crease and gets under Jonassen’s shot. Hitting the stumps helps. “Stop bowling full tosses,” was Jess Duffin’s answer on the player mic a few overs ago when asked what her bowlers needed to do to get back in the game.

6.33am GMT

15th over: Brisbane Heat 149-2 (Jonassen 38, Grace Harris 40) Well, when you’re hot you’re hot. Wareham flights a leg-break beautifully. It dips on Harris. It lands well short of her. Harris follows through with the shot anyway. She has no right to make contact. Certainly not to control it. But somehow she drives it on the up, meeting it at around hip height, and skyscrapers it down the ground for six. Next ball, fuller, more conventionally swept for six more! Harris is mauling the Renegades now. Brisbane are 15 runs from the final.

6.30am GMT

14th over: Brisbane Heat 134-2 (Jonassen 36, Grace Harris 27) Lea Tahuhu. Nearly drags an over back. Bowls four dots. A couple of leg byes from another. But Harris is confident, and the one short ball is nailed on the pull for four.

6.25am GMT

13th over: Brisbane Heat 128-2 (Jonassen 36, Grace Harris 23) Leeson. Length. Jonassen under it. Say no more. Six over midwicket. Jonassen’s journey as a top-tier batting talent began with her 99 in the Canterbury Ashes Test of 2015. That’s when she showed she could be more than a lower-order type. She’s usually still stuck down there for Australia, but has made matchwinning runs often in the past few years. But rarely has she made powerful fast runs like she has this WBBL season. Her evolution is fascinating. Grace enjoyed that from the far end, then enjoys it even more when she gets on strike and cracks six of her own over midwicket. A full toss. They only need 36 now from seven overs.

6.22am GMT

12th over: Brisbane Heat 113-2 (Jonassen 29, Grace Harris 15) How often would Harris be the junior player in a partnership? She was the first to ever make a Big Bash hundred back in the first season. She’s got 4 to Jonassen’s 24 now, and make that 25 as Jonassen works a single. Harris fixes that now, dragging six over midwicket! Powerful hitter. Atapattu the bowler, with her offies. Goes with a wider line next ball and Harris cuts four! Flicks square, wants a second but can’t get back. No matter, Jonassen goes over cover for four more. 16 from the over. Barely a run a ball needed for 51 from 48.

6.18am GMT

11th over: Brisbane Heat 97-2 (Jonassen 24, Grace Harris 4) Carly Leeson on to bowl, an interesting action, head down and a tangle of limbs and hair. A couple of singles are a decent start, then Jonassen lifts her over wide long-on for six! Wareham down on the rope is leaping like a salmon, trying to get fingertips on that, but it just carries her. Timing from Jonassen, who is not a heavily built of powerful player, but has a lovely eye. The Heat are on track. 67 from 54 needed.

6.11am GMT

10th over: Brisbane Heat 86-2 (Jonassen 15, Grace Harris 2) Jonassen has been batting beautifully this whole season. Shows that touch against Strano, just gliding her with the left-hander’s angle for two behind point. Driving two wide of mid-off. Lofting on the bounce to long-off.

6.09am GMT

9th over: Brisbane Heat 80-2 (Jonassen 10, Grace Harris 1) It helps build a new stand when you get a big full toss. Floated up from Wareham, and Jonassen puts it away. Lands them better thereafter, but JJ drags away a streaky boundary through midwicket from the last ball of the over. Not letting up.

6.05am GMT

8th over: Brisbane Heat 70-2 (Jonassen 1, Grace Harris 0) Jonassen survives the hat-trick ball from Strano, but suddenly Brisbane have to form a new partnership. The fast opening stand though has still left them in best position.

6.03am GMT

That’s the first thing they needed to do just that. Two in two balls! The batters crossed so Mooney was on strike. She lofts Strano down the ground, straight to long-off!

6.02am GMT

At last for the Renegades, a wicket! Maddy Green has done a huge job for her team. Molly Strano buys the wicket in the end. A massive six down the ground, four more from the outside edge, then finally Green goes once too often and clouts the ball miles into the air but Wareham settles under it to take the catch.

Brisbane need 95 off 74, a comparatively modest ask. Can Melbourne try to pull back control?

5.57am GMT

7th over: Brisbane Heat 59-0 (Mooney 15, Green 36) With the Powerplay done, Wareham the leg-spinner from country Vic is on strike. Did her job and more with the bat, but the Renegades need her even more with the ball. It’s been a disaster so far and they have to pull something from the fire. Nice loop and flight from Wareham, landing them well, but there’s another mistake in the field. Anna Lanning running around at long-off reaches the ball but lets it through her hands for four. More charity runs.

5.55am GMT

6th over: Brisbane Heat 50-0 (Mooney 13, Green 30) The near misses keep coming for Green. A little glove that falls short of the keeper, an attempted loft that skews up high but just clears mid-on and plugs. Tahuhu keeps Mooney quiet in between times, round the wicket to the left-hander to do her for bounce.

5.53am GMT

5th over: Brisbane Heat 45-0 (Mooney 11, Green 26) Clean hitting from Green so far today. Maitlan Brown bowls length on her pads, Green gets under it and clouts it into the midwicket gap for four. A few singles and it’s 8 more from the over.

5.47am GMT

4th over: Brisbane Heat 37-0 (Mooney 9, Green 20) Tahuhu, zeroing in on the pads, tangling up Green. Scrambles a single. Atapattu came flying in to attack that ball, trying to impose herself on the game. Mooney strikes nicely to cover but it’s well stopped. Then more overthrows! Four of them! That’s horrible backing up at fine leg, it might have been Kershaw there. Mooney chops to point, sets off, Green would have been short at the striker’s end by a distance, but the throw misses and there’s no one at backward point to stop the boundary. Plus the run the batters took, that makes it a five. Then another wide from Tahuhu, the Renegades are just donating runs. The final ball is top-edged by Green to deep third, where Kerhshaw tries to make amends by diving and taking a hard fall to stop the boundary. Good effort, but a horrible start from the Gades all round. Brisbane at better than 9 an over.

5.42am GMT

3rd over: Brisbane Heat 27-0 (Mooney 3, Green 17) Molly Strano now, the off-spinner who has played for Australia. Trots up to the crease. Bowls short and Green cuts. Bowls full and Green carts her across the line, landing just inside the rope. Two boundaries. The Heat are flying out of the blocks and Mooney has barely hit a ball!

5.38am GMT

2nd over: Brisbane Heat 18-0 (Mooney 2, Green 9) Another close one for Green, who tries to pull the Kiwi quick Lea Tahuhu and gets a big top edge that lands safely. Then Mooney charges, misses as Tahuhu carves the ball off the seam, and from an angle around the wicket to the left-hander it pitches outside off and misses leg stump, beats Dooley, and goes for four byes. Lots of freebies for Brisbane, but it’s not like the Renegades have done a lot wrong. Just bad luck.

5.36am GMT

1st over: Brisbane Heat 9-0 (Mooney 1, Green 7) The first over is a bit of a shambles for all concerned. Maitlan Brown bowls a wide, Mooney pulls to get off strike, then there’s a pie that Green cuts for four. Green then nearly chops on, edging past her stumps, and Lanning really puts in some effort to make a diving stop at fine leg. Atapattu makes a good stop at cover, then botches her throw to the keeper and gives away a run. Everyone is edgy.

5.19am GMT

That’s a fine total for a final, where pressure does a lot extra. The Renegades have handled this well without Danni Wyatt, who can so often make a fast 50 to start an innings off. Anna Lanning struggled early but made up her deficit with a couple of boundaries before getting out. Atapattu did the same and was unlucky, but her dismissal brought in Melbourne’s clutch player in Duffin. She did the bulk of the work with Dooley, who picked a great time for a personal best score, then Wareham iced the cake.

For Brisbane, Beth Mooney will be the trump card after her outstanding year, then there are plenty of fast-scoring types through the line-up. But a few quiet overs can do wonders...

5.15am GMT

20th over: Melbourne Renegades 163-4 (Dooley 50) Kimmince bowls short, Dooley pulls hard for a single, and that’s her first WBBL fifty. She’s played a key role against her old team. Wareham on strike, swats it for four! Across the line and flat-bats it through square leg! Kimmince digs deep, channels her younger days, and cranks up the bouncer! On around off stump, and Wareham reaches for it but can’t make contact! Full goes Kimmince next ball, and Wareham lofts it into the gap at wide midwicket, racing back for the second.

Two balls to go. Length ball. Wareham gets under it! Lofts it straight! For six! She has 21 from 7 balls! What a cameo this is.

5.10am GMT

19th over: Melbourne Renegades 149-3 (Dooley 49, Wareham 9) Alternatively, Georgia Wareham could add 20 at the death. She skips down and cleans up Jonassen over midwicket for four. Then kneels and slots her sweep shot for four more! Lovely hitting. Winds up and absolutely murders the next ball, but Harris right on the paint at midwicket gets down to keep it to one. Wareham has 9 from 3 balls. Dooley walks down and misses but gets it off her toe away for a leg bye. Jonassen has a typically frugal 1 for 25 from her four overs despite a final over costing 14 with several extras that don’t go against the bowler.

5.07am GMT

Second time lucky! First ball of the over, Duffin slaps and misses and is probably out of her crease as Mooney misses the take and concedes four byes. Second ball, Jonassen bowls fast and zips it through, Duffin plays the same sort of way, and is miles out after missing the ball. That’s huge for Brisbane, could be worth 20 runs at the death.

5.05am GMT

18th over: Melbourne Renegades 135-2 (Dooley 49, Duffin 44) Prestwidge to bowl with 18 balls remaining. Make that 17, as Dooley charges and misses her attempted drive. Even a run a ball here takes them to 150, which would have to be competitive. Dooley advances again, pulls, big top edge but it lands safely around mid-on. Duffin backs away, tries to slam over point, but also gets a big top edge that carries backward point but only yields a run. Prestwidge bowls a wide, then a couple more singles. Only 5 from the over. No, 4. The wide wasn’t called I don’t think? Did it flick the pad?

5.00am GMT

17th over: Melbourne Renegades 131-2 (Dooley 47, Duffin 42) Another half chance from Duffin, as she mows Grace Harris back past the bowler. I don’t know if Harris got a touch on it, but you could hear her in the stump mic yelling “That was a catch!” Dooley goes big next ball, really walloping but it lands short of the boundary at midwicket, netting her two. Then when Duffin gets on strike she hits the same shot but much better, flat rather than high, and nails the gap for four! That’s gorgeous contact. Harris’ last ball for the day, a full toss, and Duffin sweeps it for six! Flat over square leg! This is some knock. 14 from the over!

4.57am GMT

16th over: Melbourne Renegades 117-2 (Dooley 44, Duffin 31) Kimmince is back with her lack of pace, and it nearly brings results immediately. A sliced edge that lands safely at cover point, between two players in the ring. Dooley gets one and gets off strike. Duffin plays Kimmince differently, waiting back, dropping her weight onto the back foot, then slapping her cut shot over cover for four. Top shot against this style of bowling. Duffin backs away again but this time DK bowls fuller and at her legs, resulting in a push to Jonassen at backward point. No run. Kimmince again, on the pads, full toss, whacked away to deep backward square and dropped! Amelia Kerr spills it, a fairly straightforward chance though it would have been spinning, curving in the air a bit, and flat. Duffin nailed the strike, just hit it airborne. Takes a run, Dooley reciprocates, then Duffin walks at Kimmince and nails a pull shot to deep midwicket, but straight to the sweeper. Great shot for one run. Eight from that over.

4.52am GMT

15th over: Melbourne Renegades 109-2 (Dooley 42, Duffin 25) Kerr to Duffin, full toss, slapped over mid-off for four! Backs away leg side of the ball, and for a minute it looks like it might be caught, but there’s enough on it. Duffin gets down to sweep but doesn’t get much of it, only a single. Dooley drops to a knee and laps Kerr away for two runs to fine leg. It’s been quite the hand from Dooley. Down the wicket again and drives to long-on for one. Four in the ring on the off side and one sweeping at cover. Duffin drives back to the bowler, no run. But the last of the over Duffin hangs back in her crease again, waits, gets under the ball and lofts it for four! A cross-bat whack, not much subtlety about it but it gets the job done. A dozen runs from the over. They need five more like it.

4.49am GMT

14th over: Melbourne Renegades 97-2 (Dooley 39, Duffin 16) Sammy-Jo Johnson is back, straight in at the stumps but Duffin gets bat on it, one run. Floats up a slower ball and Dooley picks it to drive, but the cover sweeper gets in the way. Mooney walks up to the stumps so that Duffin might think twice before leaving her crease, so Duffin drops deeper and forces away a run to cover. Dooley cuts one more run. Beam ball from Johnson! Slips out of the hand and nearly hits Duffin on the badge. She manages to knock the ball away, just, and falls over in the process. So she doesn’t take the run to deep backward square. But she can’t take anything off the free hit, slamming it straight to mid-off. To follow that comes a wide, bouncing off the keeper for another extra, and nearly a run out with a direct hit. Then Dooley walks across and finishes the over with a six, launched over long-on and banging off the roof of the stand.

4.42am GMT

13th over: Melbourne Renegades 84-2 (Dooley 31, Duffin 14) Grace Harris bowling really nicely, and also commentating her own overs on the TV broadcast. This is great viewing, she’s talking through her plans to both batters and then delivering. Except for one ball that she drags down to Duffin, who puts away her cut shot for four.

4.39am GMT

12th over: Melbourne Renegades 76-2 (Dooley 29, Duffin 8) Jonassen darts in at the stumps, Duffin skips and lumps it over the bowler’s head for four. Simple game. Advances again but this time the length isn’t there, and Duffin has to open the face and push to point for one. Dooley goes hard across her pads to deep midwicket but won’t chance the second with Prestwidge bearing down. Duffin cuts, only for one with backward point set deep. Dooley charging now, driving over mid-off, just clearing the field, and they only get one. Should have perhaps hustled a second.

4.36am GMT

11th over: Melbourne Renegades 67-2 (Dooley 26, Duffin 2) Amelia Kerr is back. Such a remarkable career already for one so young. Was a bowler to watch in NZ domestic cricket from the age of 14, then battered the highest ever score in women’s ODIs with a double ton against Ireland. Dooley sweeps a run, then Duffin finally gets her first, chopping one square. HawkEye suggests that Duffin should have been out – she moved across her stumps so it did create the illusion that she was hit outside the line. So the Gades got unlucky with Atapattu, and lucky with Duffin. Dooley drives gorgeously to deep midwicket but Kimmince dives for a corking save on the line, with Grace Harris backing her up for the one-two throw.

4.30am GMT

10th over: Melbourne Renegades 60-2 (Dooley 21, Duffin 0) Gorgeous over from Jess Jonassen, the left-arm orthodox. Dooley gets a run first ball, then Duffin is becalmed for the next five. There’s a raucous appeal for a ball that was angled at the stumps, maybe just outside the line? Then Duffin backs away, swings hard, takes the ball off her stumps but lumps it straight to mid-off on the bounce. That’s drinks.

4.27am GMT

9th over: Melbourne Renegades 59-2 (Dooley 20, Duffin 0) Jess Duffin, the Renegades’ key, is out to the middle now. HawkEye suggests that the ball to Atapattu was the googly, and therefore would have missed the left-hander’s off stump by about a metre. It pitched so close to the pad that it was impossible to read the turn. Them’s the breaks, I guess. Duffin blocks out a couple of dot balls to close the over.

4.24am GMT

Very positive play from Josie Dooley. Gets across to Kerr first ball of the over and sweeps hard but only finds the sweeper. Kerr bowls a filthy full toss, real moon ball, and Atapattu tried to hit it so hard at head high that she can only drag it for one. It’s called a no-ball, and Dooley clips the on-drive nicely but finds Harris on the rope. Atapattu charges and doesn’t pick the googly, but gets bat on it to save herself from a stumping. Thick outside edge. But she can’t save herself from the lbw. Atapattu thinks she hit the ball as she came across the line. Huge flight on that once again, it dipped, it landed in front of her pads, she tried to sweep but it was so full that it burrowed under her gloves. She thinks she made some contact, the umpire has a long think and decides not.

4.21am GMT

8th over: Melbourne Renegades 55-1 (Atapattu 20, Dooley 18) Georgia Prestwidge to bowl next, medium pace over the wicket. Dooley gets a single thanks to an overthrow. The left-handed Sri Lankan on strike now, walks at Prestwidge but drives to cover, then wafts at a wider one and misses. Back on leg stump and Atapattu jams a single off her pads. Dooley skips at the bowler and drives her for four! Lovely contact on the off-drive, wide of the fielder! Created a half volley for herself. Then advances again but the line is at her pads, and she gets a fat leading edge through backward point, lucky to hit a gap there.

4.18am GMT

7th over: Melbourne Renegades 48-1 (Atapattu 19, Dooley 12) Amelia Kerr is on, the New Zealand leg-spinner. Bowling with a lot of loop in this over. Beth Mooney is very confident in appealing for a stumping, but Atapattu’s foot had never dragged out of the crease. After a few singles, Chamari sweeps hard behind square for four.

4.13am GMT

6th over: Melbourne Renegades 41-1 (Atapattu 14, Dooley 10) Delissa Kimmince on to bowl, the Australian all-rounder who played a key role in the Women’s Ashes mid-year. She basically bowls about nine different slower balls and rarely gives away runs. She gives Dooley a boundary first ball though, on the pads and easily driven through midwicket. Kimmince turns the screws after that, her unhittable length that sees Dooley face a few dots and then squeeze a single. But Chamari Atapattu has a way of doing things that other players can’t. Leg stump line, she gets under it, flicking to leg, and top edges a six! That was all edge, but it soars away, miles in the air, and carries the fence! What a strike.

4.09am GMT

5th over: Melbourne Renegades 30-1 (Atapattu 8, Dooley 5) A good over from Harris, especially to Dooley, who survives a tight lbw appeal. But right at the end Harris gets a bit short, Atapattu carves away behind point, and another misfield gives a bit of oxygen back to the Renegades innings.

4.06am GMT

4th over: Melbourne Renegades 24-1 (Atapattu 3, Dooley 4) Next in is Josie Dooley, who normally bats down the order, but she’s eased into her work with a full toss on the pads from Sammy-Jo, and Dooley flicks it behind square for four. Cheers.

4.04am GMT

That over starts better from Lanning – she seens width, knows she can throw her hands at it, and gets a thick top edge through the empty slips for four. Then gets a short ball and cleans it up with a pull shot for four more! But she goes to the well once too often, trying to loft on the up over cover, and getting a thick outside edge taken at backward point.

4.01am GMT

3rd over: Melbourne Renegades 12-0 (Lanning 8, Atapattu 3) The Sri Lankan skipper off strike again early, then there’s a misfield from Short that allows Lanning’s off-drive to get through for four! A lucky accident. Jess Jonassen the bowler, and she follows up with a beauty! That turned appreciably and goes past the outside edge! She’s getting lovely bounce too from this surface and she skips over Lanning’s attempted cut shot. Lanning struggling early, 8 from 14 balls, and four of those runs from fortune.

3.59am GMT

2nd over: Melbourne Renegades 6-0 (Lanning 3, Atapattu 2) Sammy-Jo Johnson at the other end, bowls rapidly at times, and she’s right on top of Lanning early. Atapattu gets off strike, there’s a wide, then Lanning is stuck there, mis-hitting, finding the field, and then being startled by a bouncer that she can’t get hear. Good variation.

3.54am GMT

1st over: Melbourne Renegades 4-0 (Lanning 3, Atapattu 1) The Heat opening their bowling with Grace Harris today, a tall off-spinner, giving these batters no pace to work with. Some bounce too, enabling Atapattu to jab away a single off her hip. Lanning flicks nicely square a couple of times, getting an extra run thanks to a boundary line fumble.

3.37am GMT

Melbourne Renegades
Anna Lanning
Chamari Atapattu
Jess Duffin *
Josie Dooley +
Courtney Webb
Erica Kershaw
Georgia Wareham
Maitlan Brown
Carly Leeson
Molly Strano
Lea Tahuhu

Brisbane Heat
Beth Mooney +
Jess Jonassen
Maddy Green
Grace Harris
Laura Harris
Kirby Short *
Amelia Kerr
Delissa Kimmince
Sammy-Jo Johnson
Mikayla Hinkley
Georgia Prestwidge

3.32am GMT

So the chasing will be done by the home side. The Renegades, without Danni Wyatt thanks to her England duties, will have to pile up something bit. Two of the comp’s form batters will go head to head, with Jess Duffin for the Gades befor Beth Mooney for the Heat. The Renegades chased 180-odd here against the Heat only a few days ago. Sri Lanka’s big hitter Chamari Atapattu has been drafted in, and she made a blazing hundred at this ground against Australia in an ODI in early October, after another in a T20 at North Sydney. Anna Lanning, sister of the GOAT, will be at the top of the order in red too, having made some recent runs. Should be a belter.

3.20am GMT

Hello gang. I’ve just finished doing the Adelaide-Perth OBO, where the Strikers have won through to the WBBL final over the Scorchers. Check that out here if you’re not up to speed.

Related: WBBL semi-final: Adelaide Strikers v Perth Scorchers - live!

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WBBL first semi-final: Strikers too slick for Scorchers - as it happened

Adelaide Strikers 130-2 beat Perth Scorchers 126-7 by eight wicketsDevine’s 65 not out sees Adelaide home with 11 balls to spare

3.13am GMT

What a performance from Sophie Devine. She’s such a likeable character – that dry New Zealand sense of humour, always self-deprecating, straight talking, unflappable. She just goes out there and gets the job done, and she’s done that this season time and time again.

She has 764 runs now for the season! So if she gets 14 more in the final, she’ll pass Ellyse Perry’s record for a WBBL season. She has 18 wickets now for the season as well. But most importantly of all, she’s in the final. Adelaide have been underachievers in several seasons of this competition but not this year. One more win to go.

Related: WBBL semi-final: Brisbane Heat v Melbourne Renegades - live!

3.09am GMT

18.1 overs: Adelaide Strikers 130-2 (Devine 65, Patterson 16) First ball of Graham’s over, driven straight for four! Devine does it again. She has batted through the innings so many times this season.

3.09am GMT

18th over: Adelaide Strikers 126-2 (Devine 61, Patterson 16) Getting into the act now is Patterson, with mid-on and mid-off up. Bashes four back down the ground. Kim Garth the bowler, and why she decides to dig one in short I don’t know. It’s wide too, takes off over the keeper, and goes away for five extras. Then a sixth, as she follows with another wide. That’s almost game over at the Scorchers’ own hand. They haven’t helped themselves. Patterson gets off strike, Devine opens the face and glides the ball away for four! Lovely touch. Takes a single off her toes to level the scores. Garth finishes with a dot, hitting Patterson’s pads, but the over cost her 16 runs.

1 run to win.

3.04am GMT

17th over: Adelaide Strikers 110-2 (Devine 56, Patterson 11) Bolton back on with the ball, and she’s denied a stumping! That wasn’t Nicole Bolton’s fault. Flights the ball, Patterson skips and slogs and misses it by a mile, and Redmayne doesn’t take the ball cleanly. Bounces off her gloves and away. Next ball, short, and Patterson rocks back to cut four. Then darts a single to mid-on. Devine back at the business end. Good ball right on off stump, blocked back. And that’s the last blocking she’ll do. Walks at the bowler and clubs her for six! Over long-on now. I think that’s her 29th for the season. But after hitting that one straight, she goes across the line next ball, a sort of sweep, and misses.

Adelaide need 17 from 18 balls.

2.59am GMT

16th over: Adelaide Strikers 99-2 (Devine 50, Patterson 6) Here comes that bigger over! Peschel gives her width, and Devine cuts her for four! Peschel bowls width again, but fuller, and Devine is dropped! She’s dropped! That’s the semi-final, and it’s Bolton again! This time off the boundary, in at backward point. A big square drive from Devine, but lofted, reaching for it and getting it towards the toe. The ball is just above Bolton’s head, but not far. Gets both hands to it and only parries it away. She’s had a nightmare of a game. Two runs from the richochet, and Peschel loses her cool thereafter to bowl a couple of leg-side wides. Devines taps her 50th run to midwicket, and raises her ninth half-century for the season. That’s 749 runs so far. Incredible.

Patterson chips a couple of runs over mid-on, up in the circle. Gets away with it. Dips her knees to drag a pull shot square for a single to close the over. A dozen runs from it.

2.54am GMT

15th over: Adelaide Strikers 87-2 (Devine 43, Patterson 3) Heather Graham is back with the ball, the lucky charm. The bellwether. Got tapped in her last over. Could still turn things around with a wicket here. Run, dot, run, run, run. Devine not playing any big shots, getting off strike as soon as she gets on. Patterson tries a lap shot, Graham bowls wider of off stump, Patterson switches to a reverse lap aiming over short third but can’t make contact.

Adelaide need 40 from 30 balls. Just increasing the tension a bit. They need one bigger over.

2.50am GMT

14th over: Adelaide Strikers 83-2 (Devine 41, Patterson 1) Two runs and the wicket from Garth’s over, and Bridget Patterson is the new player in. Off the mark with a scurried single to cover, Garth has to run and field herself.

2.48am GMT

There’s the breakthrough! Barsby puts her body on the line, literally, as McGrath’s pull shot nails her in the sternum. Garth dropped short, McGrath pounded it flat to deep midwicket, and this time a Scorchers outfielder hangs on at the cost of a large bruise. Barsby has worked like a Trojan today, you can’t fault her.

2.45am GMT

13th over: Adelaide Strikers 81-1 (Devine 40, McGrath 36) Barsby gets through another tidy over for five singles, but that’s just about enough for Adelaide. At one point McGrath shapes to lap the ball, and Barsby pulls out of delivery. Not playing that shot, champ.

Adelaide need 46 from 42 balls.

2.42am GMT

12th over: Adelaide Strikers 76-1 (Devine 37, McGrath 34) Samantha Betts back on to bowl, and McGrath smokes her straight for six! Sashays down the track, makes it into a length ball, gets under it and gives it a ride! Allll the way down into the crowd, huge hit. And some more sharp calling from Devine gets McGrath another brace to midwicket. Big ground here on the leg side, which is something the women’s game is often denied: the space to create twos.

Adelaide need 51 from 48 balls.

2.38am GMT

11th over: Adelaide Strikers 65-1 (Devine 35, McGrath 25) Bolton is back to bowl. She hasn’t provided with the bat today, or in the field. Has to do it with the ball. A few singles worked square. A dot dug back to the bowler. A quick call from Devine to get McGrath back for a second run.

2.35am GMT

10th over: Adelaide Strikers 59-1 (Devine 33, McGrath 21) Graham is back as the bowlers keep swapping. In at the pads and McGrath can’t make contact. Makes contact with the next one, whacked down the ground and dropped! Dropped by Nicole Bolton at long-on. Bolton didn’t have to move. Those ones look easier than they are though. That was nailed, flat and straight at her. Hit the hands hard with her fingers pointing up, and bounced out. Couldn’t grab it on the rebound either.

It’s Bolton straight back into the fray a couple of balls later too, as Devine muscles another fully back down the ground, wide of long-on for four! Then gets another poor ball on her leg stump and flicks it fine for four more. The over costs 11, and Perth could ill afford that.

2.28am GMT

9th over: Adelaide Strikers 48-1 (Devine 24, McGrath 19) Barsby is on to bowl her off-breaks. Very first ball of her spell, McGrath is kneeling and lapping it over her own shoulder for a couple. Modern styles. A couple of dots, then McGrath shuffles and flicks a run to midwicket. Devine advances to drive one straight. McGrath walks across rather than down to shovel another run square.

Adelaide need 79 from 66 balls.

2.25am GMT

8th over: Adelaide Strikers 43-1 (Devine 23, McGrath 15) Peschel to continue. Devine smashes another cut shot but it gets slapped down at cover, richocheting for a single but saving three. McGrath defends off the back foot as Peschel drops back of a length. Overpitches and McGrath cover-drives cleanly but the sweeper saves four. Devine finds the cover fielder in the circle, so after that she opens the face rather than driving and gets two fine of backward point. Last ball of the over... full toss, muscled down the ground for four! Just forced through the line of the ball, back the way it came. A good over from Peschel comes undone, and Devine has 23 from 20 balls without really having played a big shot or taken a risk. That’s what she can do.

2.21am GMT

7th over: Adelaide Strikers 35-1 (Devine 16, McGrath 14) Samantha Betts continues the holding pattern, bowling tight at the stumps with her mediums and conceding four singles. The Strikers pair happy to take their time.

2.17am GMT

6th over: Adelaide Strikers 31-1 (Devine 14, McGrath 12) Heather Graham comes on with her slippery deceptive mediums. She just collects wickets by the bushel in this comp. Her team needs three or four from her today. Just the four singles from her first over, one from the outside edge.

2.14am GMT

5th over: Adelaide Strikers 27-1 (Devine 12, McGrath 10) Time for Nic Bolton, the classic left-handed bat who bowls filthy off-breaks. Loops one in that McGrath tonks with a pull shot, it nearly carries to Barsby at deep backward square but bounces in front. Devine defends Bolton on the front foot. You won’t see that too often. It lasts exactly one ball, as the next is short and wide and Devine crashes it through the covers. Four.

So that’s 710 season runs for Devine now. I thought no one would ever break Ellyse Perry’s 777 from last season, but with this innings and possibly a final to come, Devine could be the one. She adds another single here.

2.10am GMT

4th over: Adelaide Strikers 21-1 (Devine 7, McGrath 9) Peschel is all over the Strikers at the moment. McGrath swinging and missing a couple of times, skewing another couple away for streaking runs. A double then a one. Devine drives nicely to mid-off but only gets one. McGrath gets a full toss but can only clip it straight for the same result. They’re going at five an over despite that big over from Garth.

2.07am GMT

3rd over: Adelaide Strikers 16-1 (Devine 6, McGrath 5) Garth’s second over starts with a couple of wides, which helps the Strikers on the scoreboard. Devine gets a single. Tahlia McGrath is in at first drop, and she absolutely laces a cut shot for four! Hit as cleanly as Bolton, but into the ground and into the gap. Another wide for Garth follows. Nine-ball over thus far. Lanning runs over to pat her on the back and have a calming word. McGrath edges just wide of the keeper! Dropped! Got gloves to it but Redmayne hadn’t moved quickly enough. It was more a first slip catch, and Lanning did have a slip in place a few balls earlier but had just taken her out. Now puts her back in, but more at second slip than first. That’s no use when Garth bowls wide of off stump and Devine nails another cut for four!

13 runs from the over.

2.03am GMT

2nd over: Adelaide Strikers 3-1 (Devine 1) The pressure tells! Taneale Peschele bowls a maiden to Bates, who just could not lay bat on the swinging ball. Beat the outside edge time and again. In the end Bates decides to walk at the bowler to negate the swing. Slides the ball straight to backward point and just sets off. But Bates could set off because she’s already halfway down. Devine was never going to make it to the striker’s end in time. So Devine sends her partner back, and Bates can’t make it back in.

1.59am GMT

1st over: Adelaide Strikers 3-0 (Bates 1, Devine 1) The reply is underway, with the New Zealand duo opening up for the Strikers. Kim Garth is on the money straight away, a bit of swing, a couple of singles, a leg bye. Devine doesn’t always open up blazing, often this season she’s taken her time, batted slowly through a chunk of the innings before exploding late. She’ll probably bat that way given it’s a modest target.

1.48am GMT

The innings swung one way and then the other. First the Scorchers were in dire trouble. Then they recovered well enough that they might have posted 140. Then their innings tailed off late. But from their early slump, to post a target above a run a ball is some achievement. Redmayne was excellent, Barsby battled but found a way to support her, and together they dragged their team towards competitiveness.

Graham has a wicket-taking knack every year in this competition, Garth has the proven skills, Barsby can chip in, but there’s a lack of frontline experience after that with the ball.

1.41am GMT

20th over: Perth Scorchers 126-7 (Garth 2) Sarah Coyte finished the innings off. A sweep for a single from Garth. A meaty slog from Graham that only got one to the midwicket sweeper. Into the pads for a leg bye from Garth. Perfect yorker that Graham digs straight, then sprints back for a second run. Just makes it. Then the attempt to do the same when there was no time to do it. Wickets from the fifth and sixth balls.

1.39am GMT

Mathilda Carmichael faces the last ball of the innings. On a hiding to nothing. Steps across to the off side, misses her shot, and accepts a Golden Globe award.

1.38am GMT

Can’t keep Sophie out of the game. A wipe down the ground from Graham, there was only ever one run there but they were probably hoping for an errant throw. In fact they got one, but it still wasn’t enough to save Graham.

1.34am GMT

19th over: Perth Scorchers 120-5 (Graham 2, Garth 1) Heather Graham with the Irish bowler Kim Garth after the run-out. Schutt does her job: no wicket for her from the over, but only 5 runs at the death.

1.33am GMT

Misunderstanding. Graham strikes the ball away deep on the leg side. Redmayne takes the first, turns for the second then has to turn back. Price’s throw is on the money and the keeper takes the stumps. The umpire doesn’t bother with a TV replay. Refreshing.

1.31am GMT

Megan Schutt returns, on a hat-trick, but Redmayne punches it down the ground for one. That’s her fifty – she’s only hit three fours and a six, but still gone at a strike rate of 122. So she’s been very efficient.

1.29am GMT

18th over: Perth Scorchers 115-4 (Redmayne 49, Graham 1) A second wicket for Devine, who also bowls her fourth wide and her first no-ball in this over, then her fifth wide trying to avoid the free hit going for runs. She bowls it again, full and straight and it only costs a single. 2 for 23 from Devine’s four overs, so you’ll take the extras if it results in those figures.

1.26am GMT

Barsby goes! She’s battled hard in the heat, but she knew it was time to move, one way or the other. Three singles from Devine’s over to that point, Heather Graham’s hitting ability to come in next, and only a couple of overs to go. So Barsby, who was flagging, knew it pretty much had to be six or out for her. She advances at Devine, looking to get under the length and lift it over the leg side, but misses the chance of pace and loses her off stump. She’s done a decent job to get the Scorchers something to bowl at.

1.22am GMT

17th over: Perth Scorchers 107-3 (Redmayne 46, Barsby 30) The luck is with Redmayne today, as she drops to one knee and tries to pound McGrath over midwicket with a slog-sweep, but lands it between the two boundary riders for a couple of runs. McGrath’s slower ball turns into a loopy full toss, but Barsby is advancing and it ends up too high to hit easily. She can only take a single. Redmayne nails a cut shot but only for one. Barsby misses another reverse, but nearly takes out the keeper standing up to the stumps, so the ball gets through everone for a couple of extras. McGrath, annoyed, throws in a bouncer, and it also beats batter and keeper for four more byes. Not the smartest delivery with your keeper up to the stumps. Not many off the bat that over, but 11 to the team score.

1.16am GMT

16th over: Perth Scorchers 96-3 (Redmayne 42, Barsby 29) This Scorchers pair are running really well in this over. Twice what might have been singles become twos, as Redmayne finds gaps and Barsby rides shotgun beautifully, calling her partner through on both occasions by watching the ball and the fielders and gauging their pick-up times. With the pressure on Bates she bowls a wide, Redmayne gets a single, then Barsby plays another reverse swat for four! It’s coming together late for Perth with 11 off the over.

1.12am GMT

15th over: Perth Scorchers 85-3 (Redmayne 37, Barsby 24) With Redmayne up and running, Barsby has decided it’s time to hit out or get out. She’s struggling with the heat out there today, given she has multiple sclerosis. She gets lucky with a couple of runs over cover when the catch doesn’t go to hand, then nails a reverse sweep past a diving short third for four. Another decent over, eight from it.

1.09am GMT

14th over: Perth Scorchers 77-3 (Redmayne 36, Barsby 17) Sarah Coyte now, as the Strikers keep changing up their bowlers. Coyte bowls on middle stump, length ball, and Georgia Redmayne nails it for six! Great shot, clean out of the middle! Across the line, but not a slog, more of a clip shot, and it sails into the stands! What a hit. Her first WBBL six, I think. Then after a couple of singles she goes again, a similar middle stump line and it’s there to be clipped again, this time one bounce for four out at midwicket. Coyte doesn’t adjust her line well enough, bowls on leg stump, and Redmayne glances four! A single back past the bowler to keep the strike, and that makes 17 runs from the over. That was what the doctor ordered.

1.04am GMT

13th over: Perth Scorchers 60-3 (Redmayne 20, Barsby 16) A solid over for the Scorchers against Tahlia McGrath, finding a single from every ball with the field set back. But Adelaide would happily accept six per over from here. Perth have 42 balls remaining to get some sort of total. These two are set now, they have to go.

1.01am GMT

12th over: Perth Scorchers 54-3 (Redmayne 17, Barsby 13) Sophie Devine back for another bit of fun, and she could do it standing on her head. Three singles off the bat, and one wide for a bouncer that she fires in just for kicks. Accurate, at the stumps, and the Strikers’ fielding has been smothering.

12.58am GMT

11th over: Perth Scorchers 50-3 (Redmayne 16, Barsby 11) Still struggling is Barsby. Beaten on the cut again, this time by the leg-spinner Amanda Wellington in her first over. Gets a single, then nearly runs herself out while ball-watching. Redmayne knocks the ball away and sets off for a run, and Barsby only notices and responds when her partner is halfway down. The throw is wide of the keeper, otherwise Barsby would have been gone. Redmayne cuts what should be four but Bridget Patterson does beautifully, sprinting back and sliding across the turf to knock it back and save two.

12.50am GMT

10th over: Perth Scorchers 45-3 (Redmayne 13, Barsby 9) Jemma Barsby’s day is turning into a bit of a shocker. After a couple of singles to start the Coyte over well for the batting side, she gets a leg-stump pie and misses it completely, thudding into her pad. Those are the sort of missed chances that can make a batter feel like they have no control. Five singles from the over in the end, it would have been a team-lifting over with a boundary thrown in there. Drinks break given the extreme heat in Brisbane - 36 degrees today.

12.47am GMT

9th over: Perth Scorchers 40-3 (Redmayne 11, Barsby 6) Every dot ball increases the pressure. Barsby was cutting and missing at Bates last over, now Bates brings on Tahlia McGrath in her own place and Barsby keeps playing and missing the same shot. From the third ball she sprints a single to get off strike. McGrath pitches up and Redmayne gets a thick outside edge for four. Defends the last ball in Test match style.

12.44am GMT

8th over: Perth Scorchers 35-3 (Redmayne 7, Barsby 5) Sarah Coyte to bowl now, and that is gorgeous first up. Full, swinging, right in at the toes, floating in at the yorker zone on middle stump. Redmayne can do nothing with it. Manages to turn away a single next ball, then Barsby is the one becalmed by Coyte’s perfect length. A third dot ball, into the pads. Too much on leg stump after that, but a single to deep backward is the only cost. But releases some pressure by bowling across the lefty Redmayne with the last ball, outside off, and only a good chase around the boundary keeps the cover drive to two runs. Four from the over in total, the total run rate is 4.38. Ouch.

12.40am GMT

7th over: Perth Scorchers 31-3 (Redmayne 4, Barsby 4) Schutt won’t bowl out her spell. Interesting. Two left-handers at the crease, I wonder if that’s a consideration? But she got Bolton. Keeping her on would have been the power move. But Suzie Bates is the captain, and she brings on her own workmanlike mediums. Redmayne takes a single, Barsby gets just enough width to carve a boundary through backward point. But she misses out on two similar balls afterwards, swishing at thin air both times, then tries to squeeze a single but runs it straight to backward point. Bates bowling around the wicket to angle in a bit. Tight in at the stumps and Barsby gets a fat inside edge past her leg stump, and again finds the field. Tidy over after that early boundary, pulled it back.

12.36am GMT

6th over: Perth Scorchers 26-3 (Redmayne 3, Barsby 0) The perfect chance for Tahlia McGrath to bowl, with two fresh players at the crease. Redmayne prods around for a two and a single, Barsby leaves her first ball alone. A delightfully cheap over for the Strikers.

12.34am GMT

5th over: Perth Scorchers 23-3 (Redmayne 0) Georgia Redmayne, former Hobart Hurricane but from New South Wales, now plays for Perth. She comes out to replace Piparo, then watches from the non-striker’s end as Bolton is dismissed from the last ball of the over after the batters crossed. Jemma Barsby will be next in.

12.32am GMT

Schutt is on a hat-trick! Two in two balls, bowled short outside off to Bolton. I wonder if that was deliberate, feeding the left-hander’s pet shot while having a strong off-side field in place. Bolton takes it on, makes nice contact, looks great with her front foot up carving the cut away, but it’s airborne and well caught! Another sub-100 strike rate innings from Bolton, and the senior player has given it away with her team in trouble.

12.30am GMT

Megan Schutt bowls her third over, looking to keep the pressure on with the swinging ball rather than save her overs for the death when the ball might not be moving. Plenty of late-over bowling options for Adelaide. And it works! The right-handed Piparo tries to loft over mid-on, but the ball doesn’t swing in this time! It skews off a leading edge high to mid-off where SJ Coyte takes the catch!

12.27am GMT

4th over: Perth Scorchers 21-1 (Bolton 11, Piparo 5) Overpitched from Devine and Bolton gets a nice simple off-drive down the ground for four. But when Devine gets the length right she’s still swinging the ball and beating the bat. Only six from the over, which the Strikers won’t mind.

12.24am GMT

3rd over: Perth Scorchers 15-1 (Bolton 7, Piparo 4) Schutt with the third over, and pressing home the advantage. Bolton can’t get anything away and after three dot balls, starts playing loose. Slashes one over cover, mistimed for a couple, then so nearly gets caught at mid-on but it just lands wide and rolls away for four.

12.22am GMT

2nd over: Perth Scorchers 8-1 (Bolton 1, Piparo 4) Sophie Devine brings the magic. 16 wickets and 699 runs in her regular season, and now she starts with the most valuable wicket of all in her semi-final. Chloe Piparo comes in and smokes four through cover first ball, but Devine keeps swinging the ball and beating the bat thereafter.

12.18am GMT

That’s huge! Lanning caught at backward point. Well, the Strikers should have had her twice already. Schutt’s lbw shout was hitting in line and hitting leg stump. Then Sophie Devine comes on to bowl the second over. Has Lanning plumb first ball after an opening wide, but the umpire doesn’t give it. Nailed on the front pad near the knee roll. But Lanning might be a bit rattled by the close calls, and she just reaches for a wide one and steers it to backward! A bit of outswing helped get that edge.

12.15am GMT

1st over: Perth Scorchers 2-0 (Bolton 1, Lanning 1) We’re underway at Allan Border Field. Flat pitch, plenty of runs in it. Megan Schutt opens the bowling to Nicole Bolton, with Lanning preferring not to face the ball swinging into her pads. Bolton a left-hander. Beaten first up as Schutt hoops one across her from over the wicket. The second is respectfully blocked. The third, just a single to cover. Lanning will have to face. Huge appeal first up! Swinging in and nailed on the pad! But maybe just an inside edge, and just outside the line. Lanning taking guard on off stump. Survives. Schutt just a touch too short next ball and Lanning gets under it to flip it away to deep backward for a run. Bolton to face the last, and it beats her top edge for bounce after an attempted cut.

12.09am GMT

So to start with, it’s all about the Adelaide bowlers and whether they can rein in Meg Lanning and company. A massive loss for Perth with England keeper and opening bat Amy Jones now missing for Three Lions duties. She’s a double value player and one of the fastest scorers in the world at the top of the order. Lanning’s quality is known, Bolton has a lot of experience but is more naturally at home in the longer forms than the 20-over stuff and has recently been eased out of the Australian team. A career T20 strike rate of less than a run a ball speaks to that. There are a few question marks around the rest of the top order as we get quickly into the all-rounders.

Adelaide, meanwhile, have a varied and threatening bowling attack. Megan Schutt rarely gives away more than a run a ball, Amanda Wellington can shred her leg-breaks more than anyone in the country, and Sarah Coyte is a real clutch player with her seamers.

12.01am GMT

Perth
Nicole Bolton
Meg Lanning *
Chloe Piparao
Georgia Redmayne +
Jemma Barsby
Heather Graham
Kim Garth
Mathilda Carmichael
Samantha Betts
Taneale Peschel
Kath Hempenstall

Adelaide Strikers
Suzie Bates *
Sophie Devine
Tahlia McGrath
Bridget Patterson
Katie Mack
Tegan McPharlin +
Annie O’Neil
Amanda Wellington
Sarah Coyte
Megan Schutt
Alex Price

11.51pm GMT

The women in blue will take the ball first, and let Sophie Devine unleash later in a run chase. That doesn’t seem like too bad a plan.

11.47pm GMT

We’re nearly there. It’s been a long season, games ahoy, and the frantic final stages where the perennial contenders the Sixers were knocked out, and Adelaide nearly won the hosting rights for the finals weekend but stumbled at the last hurdle. So Brisbane have the matches and the home advantage, as well as being the table-topping side and the only team not to lose English players who have had to take off for national duties. But before the Heat contest their right to appear in another final, the Strikers and Scorchers will go first.

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