And here’s Geoff’s report from Adelaide:
Summary
Thank you for joining me this afternoon for the conclusion of a Test match that ended well before the halfway mark. Australia wrapped things up in quicktime, helped in no small part by India’s inability to handle the barrage of short balls.
It was exactly the Test the hosts were looking for. Not only the convincing series-levelling result, but runs to batters under pressure (McSweeney and Labuschagne) and wickets to captain Cummins to silence any doubters about his form. Australia are still far from the finished article but they can head to Brisbane in good spirits.
India are now the team with questions to answer. Their attack looked reliant on Bumrah, who didn’t look fully fit, and a succession of batters looked vulnerable to Australian conditions after seeming at ease in Perth. It was a particularly ignominious return for Rohit Sharma who did not look happy coming in at No 6 and failing in both innings.
It remains to be seen whether the main story that comes from this Test is the squabble between Head and Siraj that overshadowed yesterday’s play. Both men have had their say since the incident but there does not appear to be agreement on what actually transpired. Presumably the match referee will pass judgement in the coming hours.
You can follow all the news ahead of the third Test on these pages, and I will be back for the start of play on Saturday morning. Hope to see you then.
Updated
Pat Cummins:
A great week. We knew we were far away from the team we want to be in Perth. This is back to how we want to play.
[Own form] The rhythm felt pretty good this week. Good to get a few wickets.
[Mitchell Starc taking a wicket with the first ball of the Test] Amazing. There’s not that much noise in the group. Starc is amazing. He does it time and time again. Feel very lucky and privileged his in our team.
[Travis Head] He loves batting here. One of those momentum shifts. The game could have gone either way when he walked out to bat. He took it out of their hands.
[Scott Boland] Scotty just came in straight away. Again, we feel so lucky to have someone like him. He probes with every ball around the top of off.
Rohit Sharma:
A tough week for us. We didn’t play well enough to win the game. Australia played better than us. There were times in the game where we would have grabbed those opportunities but we failed to do that and it cost us the game.
What we did in Perth was very special and we wanted to come out here and do that again but again, we know that every Test match has its own challenge. We knew was going to be challenging with the pink ball. Like I said, Australia was better than us.
[Brisbane] Quite looking forward to it. Not much time in between as well. We just want to go out there and think that what we did right in Perth and also what we did last time on here. Some really good memories there. We understand the challenge of every Test match so we want to start well and play well.
Travis Head player of the match
To the surprise of nobody, the man whose innings transformed this Test receives a medal for his efforts.
It was a tight one. People might suggest otherwise but nothing was ever guaranteed.
Nice to get some runs again… I feel like I’m in good form.
Pat gives me great confidence to see the game and play it how I want to see it. I felt like it was a great opportunity into that second new ball to try get as many as we can get. Try to put them under pressure. A hot couple of days and I felt like the new ball was going to be tough work so it’s nice to be able to come off and I feel like I picked out the moments throughout the innings really well. Was able to get the ball rolling and it was a great session last night.
While Australia celebrate, here’s more on the comments from both Travis Head and Mohammed Siraj following yesterday’s confrontation.
“After bowling him out, I celebrated, then he abused me,” Siraj said in comments translated into English by the India Today website. “You can see on TV as well. In the start, it was my celebration, I didn’t say anything to him.
“In the press conference, he said wrong thing. He lied. No way he said ‘well bowled’. We respect everyone. I always respect everyone because cricket is a gentleman’s game. Travis Head’s actions were wrong. I did not feel good.”
Pre-play predictions from our Fox Comms box, for the timing of last ball. David Warner going for 4:05pm, and Boland to take the final wicket.
— Ben Jones (@benjonescricket) December 8, 2024
More impressive than the 335* in my opinion pic.twitter.com/32Wdhh1jAK
At the start of play there was a chance India could have made a fist of this Test, but it took Australia just 99 minutes to complete a victory that has fundamentally reshaped this series.
Runs to Labuschagne, wickets to Cummins, concerns over Bumrah’s fitness, and two dismal batting efforts from the tourists leave Australia in the ascendancy heading to Brisbane next Saturday.
Australia win by 10 wickets
3.2 over: Australia 22-0 (McSweeney 10, Khawaja 12) Chasing 19. Khawaja pulls Siraj for four to complete the victory.
Updated
3rd over: Australia 18-0 (McSweeney 10, Khawaja 8) Chasing 19. Just the one over from Bumrah with Nitish replacing him from the River End. McSweeney is delighted by the change, waiting on a full swinging delivery and square driving handsomely for his first boundary. That was a lovely confident stroke. Then he rocks back and cuts a long hop to the same portion of rope with an easy swipe of his blade. This has been a perfect day for Australia.
2nd over: Australia 10-0 (McSweeney 2, Khawaja 8) Chasing 19. Adelaide Oval boos tell you Mohammed Siraj is sharing the new ball, but he starts too full to Khawaja allowing Australia’s left-handed opener to get off the mark with a pushed couple down the ground. Khawaja then doubles his side’s score by clipping a half-volley off his pads that rockets to the square-leg fence. Another pushed two down the ground brings the run chase to single figures.
1st over: Australia 2-0 (McSweeney 2, Khawaja 0) Chasing 19. Lovely line and length and shape from the outset from Bumrah. McSweeney nibbles at a couple but doesn’t get drawn into a proper false stroke, before pushing a couple into the covers to settle the nerves. Australia are away.
Bumrah has the new ball, McSweeney is on strike…
India gather in a huddle before walking out for the last rites of this Test match. McSweeney and Khawaja are the men in the middle for Australia, hoping to see off this small run chase in quick time.
India 175 (Australia require 19 runs for victory)
Two dismal displays of batting for India end with them setting Australia just 19 runs for victory. They lasted just 44.1 overs in the first innings backed up by just 36.5 in the second dig.
Not only that, but they have witnessed a return to form of Pat Cummins (5/57) in this second innings, and a reminder that when Australia’s quicks go around the wicket and short at the tail they are terrifying and effective.
WICKET! Siraj c Head b Boland 7 (India 175)
Siraj stands and delivers, lofting Boland over extra cover for a couple, then rocking back and muscling a pull through midwicket. He goes again but this time he skies a massive cue end into the Adelaide sky, and who’s under it? Who else, Travis Head.
36th over: India 168-9 (Bumrah 2, Siraj 1) Siraj should be gone first ball! Cummins continues his assault from around the wicket and the ball takes a top edge and flies through to Carey but the keeper can’t hold on high to his right despite a Hollywood dive and a later juggle. It might actually have been Smith’s catch at first slip. Then Bumrah is fortunate to survive when a similar delivery beats the raised gloves and crashes into his helmet and into Smith’s hands at second slip.
Between deliveries, Australia’s nearest fielder – Travis Head – has a quiet word with his foe. It looked friendly enough.
While the players take a drink, he’s a fun list.
Most sixes off the quicks by a visiting batter in Australia:
— Ben Jones (@benjonescricket) December 8, 2024
Viv Richards - 8
Stuart Broad - 6
Nitish Kumar Reddy - 6
WICKET! Nitish c McSweeney b Cummins 42 (India 166-9)
Six and out from Nitish! Cummins stays around the wicket bowling his bumpers and Nitish hooks the first powerfully over deep backward square. Then he steps to leg to ramp over the cordon, but Australia have a man back for that very shot and McSweeney takes a simple catch. Not for the first time this series Nitish has looked a very handy Test number seven.
Boos from the crowd indicate Mohammed Siraj is next to the crease.
35th over: India 160-8 (Nitish 36, Bumrah 2) Boland replaces Starc with India trailing by two runs. Unsurprisingly Nitish decides to cut loose and mullers a length delivery over cow corner for a one bounce four. Australia will have to bat again!
Meanwhile, the Head v Siraj contretemps shows no sign of going away. The Australian spoke about yesterday’s heated send-off in a press conference after play, and now Siraj has responded to Star Sports in India, accusing his opponent of lying. Cricket at its finest.
34th over: India 155-8 (Nitish 31, Bumrah 2) Cummins remains around the wicket aiming at the body of India’s tail, but Bumrah is equal to his first delivery, pulling away for a couple. Then he hooks and misses the next two. Will we make lunch?
“My observation is that the cricket is most enjoyable with the sound off,” emails Mark, marching towards his fridge for some afternoon snacks.
WICKET! Rana c Khawaja b Cummins 0 (India 153-8)
Another first ball single for Nitish gives Cummins another good look at Rana. He only needs two deliveries to find the bouncer from around the wicket that India’s No 9 finds too hot to handle, fending a shot off the splice of the bat looping to Khawaja in the gully. India’s meek resistance continues to crumble.
33rd over: India 152-7 (Nitish 30, Rana 0) While Nitish was happy to give Rana the strike against Cummins he protects his lower order partner from Starc, rejecting a single from the first ball of the over. He gets the scoreboard moving again on delivery number four, hoping Rana can survive a couple of testers. He does, just, again almost perishing by fending the final ball of an over, but this time the bouncer clunks into the helmet.
32nd over: India 151-7 (Nitish 29, Rana 0) Nitish accepts the single first ball, which gives Cummins five looks at Rana. Most of these are short, at the body, and the last – from around the wicket – is fended in the air over the head of short leg. Travis Head does his best to turn, dash, and dive, but the ball just evades his grasp as he crashes to the floor.
31st over: India 150-7 (Nitish 28, Rana 0) Nitish accepts a single before allowing Rana a couple of deliveries, one of which is a Starc trademark inswinging yorker that he does well to dig out. Matthew Hayden on TV says Australia are “marching towards a famous victory”. I’d volunteer they are strolling to an anticlimax before lunch on day three.
30th over: India 149-7 (Nitish 27, Rana 0) Cummins bowled three very similar deliveries in a row to Ashwin who could easily have stepped inside the line and watch the ball sail through. On each occasion he aimed weak pulls, eventually connecting with a glove. India still trail by eight runs.
WICKET! Ashwin c Carey b Cummins 7 (India 148-7)
Cummins also adopts the straight and short tactic to Ashwin, and after a few loose deliveries that bring the tactic into question, Ashwin gloves a weak attempted pull through to Carey behind the stumps. This has been a poor half-hour from India to start this day. Australia have hardly been at their best but two wickets have already fallen.
29th over: India 145-6 (Nitish 27, Ashwin 5) Starc tries to go straighter at Ashwin but he’s equal to it, defending stoutly then levering a pull for a single. Nitish is less convincing, poking at a delivery that squirts off an outside edge and looks destined for Smith’s mitts, only to see it bounce millimetres short of second slip’s fingers and trundle all the way to the rope.
28th over: India 140-6 (Nitish 23, Ashwin 4) Another over passes by with little to report. Nitish picks up a couple. The deficit is 17.
27th over: India 138-6 (Nitish 21, Ashwin 4) Ashwin picking up three with a neat push from the crease down the ground is the only moment of note in a Starc over that continues the theme of India’s second innings: not much happening until a wicket-taking jaffa.
26th over: India 134-6 (Nitish 20, Ashwin 1) That was the dream start for Australia, and with Pant surely goes any hope India have of making this match anything bordering on a contest. Smith really did make that catch look simple, despite ending up taking it in front of first slip. He moved so early and got into a perfect position to get both bucket hands safely around the fast moving ball.
Cummins opens from the River End and Nitish gets the scoreboard moving with a glance down to fine leg. There’s a little extra bounce for the Australian skipper, but both batters negotiate it safely to rotate the strike.
WICKET! Pant c Smith b Starc 28 (India 128-6)
Starc begins with a sighter outside off that Pant leaves alone, but the Indian keeper cannot allow a second delivery to pass un-mullered so he sashays down the pitch and aims a mighty hoick at ball two. He doesn’t connect, but there’s a noise as ball nears bat and Australia go up unconvincingly for a catch behind. Somewhat reluctantly Cummins presents the T sign but DRS quickly shows daylight between bat and ball.
Not to worry. Before the over’s out Starc hits a perfect line and length, Pant comes forward, and prods a regulation outside edge that Smith pouches comfortably at second slip.
25th over: India 128-6 (Nitish 15)
High fives abound as Australia take to an Adelaide Oval bathed in sunlight.
They are joined by Rishabh Pant and Nitish Kumar Reddy. What have they got in store for us over the next couple of hours? A game-changing burst of runs, or a quick collapse and a couple of days of golf?
England have completed victory in Wellington by a humungous 323 runs for their first series victory in New Zealand since 2008. Bring on the Ashes.
Here’s some conversation starters for you.
Australia are clear on top of the ICC Test rankings, but only one of their top seven would be competing for a spot in a World XI right now (Travis Head). Is there a precedent for this? What does it mean about where Australia are at in their cycle? Is batting diminishing in importance as the pace of the game speeds up?
What is going on if New Zealand can smash India in India, then England can smash New Zealand in New Zealand?
Seven nations are represented in the top ten ranked Test batters on the ICC rankings, with seven also featuring in the top 12 ranked bowlers. I want to think that’s good for the game, but worry that it’s a reflection of an era of mediocrity.
How good is Second Death of My Face by WH Lung?
And elsewhere in Australia v India action, Australia have smashed a mahooosive 371/8 batting first in the second ODI in Brisbane. Georgia Voll and Ellyse Perry both smacked quickfire centuries.
You can keep an eye on India’s chase here:
Elsewhere in Test cricket, a Tom Blundell century has delayed England’s inevitable series-clinching victory in Wellington.You can follow that live over here:
If any Indian supporters were hoping the weather might rescue them today, I’m afraid the forecast is for bright sunshine in Adelaide, although temperatures will be kept in check by a southerly breeze.
Don’t just take my word about what happened yesterday. Here’s how Geoff Lemon saw things.
In practical terms, state-based parochialism is irrelevant in modern Australia, a performative dance for politicians to half-heartedly perform around budget allocations or State of Origin. Even with cricket’s domestic structure still built along those borders, the consensus from outside South Australia admits that Adelaide Oval is the country’s best ground, and Adelaide’s Test the summer’s most enjoyable. The festival feel is unique, the city always turns out. Even among grumbling at being allocated the struggling West Indies the past two summers running, Adelaide cracked 50,000 people over the first two days both times. For the same team, Perth didn’t get that many in five.
Preamble
Hello everybody and welcome to the third, and probably final, day’s play of the second Test from Adelaide. India will resume their second innings 128-5, still 29 runs away from making Australia bat again.
That Australia are in such a commanding position is due mostly to the brilliance of Travis Head. The hometown hero delighted 50,000 of his fellow South Australians with a match-defining 140 yesterday, belting the pink ball to all parts and motoring his side out of difficulty and into the ascendancy. Head’s value to this side has never been greater and he stands apart as Australia’s key man for the remainder of this series.
With Head scoring his runs briskly during the first two sessions of the day, Australia were unconcerned when they were bowled out shortly after Tea because it meant they could rip into India under lights. But it was not a typically ferocious assault from the home bowlers with little movement in the air or of the seam, yet still India lost half their batting order inside 21 overs. Instead of Australia’s familiar consistency wearing down opponents, this was a session of middling overs blessed by the occasional jaffa – almost all of which jagged a wicket.
After looking a shadow of his first innings self, Mitchell Starc found a trademark inswinging yorker to blow the set Shubman Gill’s house down. Rohit Sharma also saw his zing bails light up after a beauty from Cummins, but he looked less at ease strolling out at bedtime at number six. Around them Alex Carey took three catches behind the stumps as India disintegrated imperceptibly.
Not that Rishabh Pant could care less. He had the time of his life, improvising his way to 28 off 25 balls, including an ostentatious reverse hook over the slip cordon. While he remains at the crease, who knows what kind of total India might manage? But it will require something miraculous to deny the home side a series levelling victory, and something memorable to stop that win occurring before Adelaide Oval gets to show off another Pantone party sunset.
I would be delighted to receive your emails during this first session and a half. Please send them to: jonathan.howcroft.casual@theguardian.com.
