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wisden wrote:Another hundred for Kamindu Mendis! Averages 83 now in tests, 922 runs in 8 test matches!

amazing

140 needed , 5 wkts in hand , Mendes snd DSilva 39* each
SA still ahead as 1 wkts gets them into bowlers.
These 2 need to bring Required below 100 and then one of them bats until the end with bowlers
2019 SL pulled off a miracle chase of 309 after being 226-9 and won that series 2-0
Lanka is most unpredictable as they don't have pressure of expectations

After losing a well-set Kamindu that followed the fall of Mathews, it seemed SA will push the Lankans to the bring. However, a counterattacking 6th wicket unbeaten partnership between skipper Dhananjaya de Silva and wicketkeeper Kusal Mendis has left the test nicely poised going into the last day. Still a tall order for the Lankans and SA would believe its a matter of 1 early wicket tomorrow. The pitch has a few more tricks up its sleeve. However, the 2nd new ball is 28 overs away. That means the ball in play is old and is going soft, so Rabada and Jansen may not be getting as much from it as they otherwise can. Paterson, despite his brilliant first innings performance, is not one to blast out opposition either. Keshav Maharaj is one of the better spinners going around currently, and SA would want to lead the charge tomorrow. but if DDS and Kusal can add another 60-70, South Africa may feel the pressure a lot more. And we know they thrive less in such situations, more often than not. The one big concern for SL though is that their lower order is just hopeless with the bat. The least worst is Prabath Jayasuriya, a decent number 10 who bats 2 positions too high because he has 3 number 11s to follow him.

Very good win for Australia. They’re looking in a good place now at 1-1 with three to play. Head and Labuschagne have found form, which is good for a stressed batting order, and they’ve actually rotated one of their quick bowlers in the process, enforced or not.

India with negative momentum. They won the first test largely through Bumrah, but he is just one bowler, and he’s now one bowler with injury concerns. Further concerns are shown in their batting, with India failing to make 200 in three out of their four innings so far. Concerning times.

SL are providing late excitement, but I think the overnight break should be the sufficient rest and recharge required for SA to break this stubborn partnership early. Then there’s no batting from 8 down, it’s a real throwback tail.

I bailed from the SA/Sri Lanka game after the Maharaj double strike ... so slightly surprised to see Sri Lanka still only five down. As others have said above , the long tail means one more down will probably do for their challenge ; and it is asking a lot of these two to narrow the gap far enough to start playing on SA nerves.  But the beauty of the long game is you just never know...might be worth watching tonight ?

At least closer than the other two recently concluded matches  : whatever the final result , Sri Lanka should be encouraged by their recent efforts here and elsewhere... since being pummelled by Pakistan only 16 months ago they have been on a bit of an upward trend - even winning some away matches against expectations.

Sunil Gavaskar thinks Rohit should open in the next test. Interesting suggestion. The skipper looked out of sorts in both innings. Don't know whether a change of position is going to change much. In such a situation where he's a walking wicket, the difficulty is that the chances of 1 becoming 2 is rather high. Not that KL Rahul, who has already played 1 good innings and had a couple of starts, may not be offering much more going by past pattern, so the same problem can repeat itself with him in the middle. Of the 2, KL has looked more likely to negotiate a few balls at least. The difficulty of mediocrity is a big one for Gambhir and the management. Think they will stick to the same combination for the next test at least.

Kusal and DDS resume for Sri Lanka, Keshav Maharaj and KG Rabada starting off for South Africa. Maharaj's first comfortably negotiated by the batters, ball doing nothing much...

DDS a bit tentative against Rabada in that first over and got beaten a couple of times, but he survived the over which is more important for Sri Lanka.

First boundary of the day for Kusal Mendis, of Rabada. SL chipping away 9 of the target in the first 4 overs of the day. Maharaj not getting the pitch to assist him much in his first couple of overs.

Maharaj with the all important strike. Got Kusal to edge one, that Markram picked up inches of the ground.

The first half hour belonged to Sri Lanka. DDS and Kusal were looking comfortable out there and Maharaj wasn't getting much assistance. then Maharaj struck the telling blow... Think skipper Dhananjaya will have to play his shots a bit now. Jayasuriya can Distinguish the 2 ends of the bat, but the rest of the lot, just clueless!

Rabada with what should be the decisive blow for his side. Got Dhananjaya to edge one to Verreynne. SL 225-7, and with the first of their 3 number 11s in Vishwa Fernando walking out to the middle, the challenge should be all but over for Sri Lanka.

Markram puts down Jayasuriya of Maharaj.

msp83 wrote:Sunil Gavaskar thinks Rohit should open in the next test. Interesting suggestion. The skipper looked out of sorts in both innings. Don't know whether a change of position is going to change much. In such a situation where he's a walking wicket, the difficulty is that the chances of 1 becoming 2 is rather high. Not that KL Rahul, who has already played 1 good innings and had a couple of starts, may not be offering much more going by past pattern, so the same problem can repeat itself with him in the middle. Of the 2, KL has looked more likely to negotiate a few balls at least. The difficulty of mediocrity is a big one for Gambhir and the management. Think they will stick to the same combination for the next test at least.

Shastri also say Rohit should open.
The Bombay lobby with their old favoritism of Bombay players comes up with such arguments since the days of Patill, Sanjay manjrekar and Vengsarakr
The honest view should be, he can't put bat to ball, has played no FC cricket, should sit out....

SL 235-8. With Jayasuriya perishing to an absolute filth of a hit-me short and wide ball from Maharaj which he hit straight to Bavuma, SA is getting ever so closer.

Sri Lankan challenge basically died once Mendis was taken at slip...very close call but reckon the TV umpire got it right , Markham just got his fingers under the ball. Pity as it was looking as if things might have got a bit tight and kept the tension going. Though my wife won't mind...think she's wondering just how much cricket I have to watch in a week

KP_fan wrote:

msp83 wrote:Sunil Gavaskar thinks Rohit should open in the next test. Interesting suggestion. The skipper looked out of sorts in both innings. Don't know whether a change of position is going to change much. In such a situation where he's a walking wicket, the difficulty is that the chances of 1 becoming 2 is rather high. Not that KL Rahul, who has already played 1 good innings and had a couple of starts, may not be offering much more going by past pattern, so the same problem can repeat itself with him in the middle. Of the 2, KL has looked more likely to negotiate a few balls at least. The difficulty of mediocrity is a big one for Gambhir and the management. Think they will stick to the same combination for the next test at least.

Shastri also say Rohit should open.
The Bombay lobby with their old favoritism of Bombay players comes up with such arguments since the days of Patill, Sanjay manjrekar and Vengsarakr
The honest view should be, he can't put bat to ball, has played no FC cricket, should sit out....

The automatic pass that Rohit gets to 'Greatness' is also rather unfair. Someone like Kohli, he was among the very best in the world for a considerable period. Rohit took 6 years after his debut to make it to the test side, took another 6 years to crack it. Even then he frustrated as much, and it was only with the England series of 2021 that he established himself well and proper as a test player. Had a3 year window wherein he was really good. Currently, he doesn't look anywhere close to the version who used to frustrate and wonder. That Rohit could smash the best of them, but inevitably would be unjudicious about it and end up in self-destruction. Right now, he is just struggling to put bat to ball, against spin and pace, against incoming and outgoing deliveries and straighter ones for that matter, on turning pitches and seaming pitches.
The difficult thing is that Sarfaraz, despite his FC record, doesn't seem quite up for test challenges, Easwran, going by reports, isn't the strongest in seaming conditions. Where do they dig deep for the next lineup of players to join Jaiswal, Pant and Gill?

All done in SA.. easy in the end and SA look almost sure things for the WTC final now.

So South Africa getting closer to that WTC final. The Lankan challenge not lasting more than half an hour today. Eventually bowled out for 238, SA winning by 109 runs. Keshav Maharaj finishing with a 5for. Marco Jansen with the last wicket.
Sri Lanka have lost 2-0, and that first innings 42 in the last test was utter embarrasement. But they have shown fight at different stages in the series. And they have a good mix of players, new and senior. Mathews and Chandimal the old firm, Kamindu, Nishanka, Asitha, Kumara, Kusal the young guns, connected in between by Karunaratne, skipper Dhananjaya, and Jayasuriya, who may not have as much experience at the test level, but came with long First Class experience. They should be able to offer a strong challenge to the Australians at home...

msp83 wrote:

KP_fan wrote:

msp83 wrote:Sunil Gavaskar thinks Rohit should open in the next test. Interesting suggestion. The skipper looked out of sorts in both innings. Don't know whether a change of position is going to change much. In such a situation where he's a walking wicket, the difficulty is that the chances of 1 becoming 2 is rather high. Not that KL Rahul, who has already played 1 good innings and had a couple of starts, may not be offering much more going by past pattern, so the same problem can repeat itself with him in the middle. Of the 2, KL has looked more likely to negotiate a few balls at least. The difficulty of mediocrity is a big one for Gambhir and the management. Think they will stick to the same combination for the next test at least.

Shastri also say Rohit should open.
The Bombay lobby with their old favoritism of Bombay players comes up with such arguments since the days of Patill, Sanjay manjrekar and Vengsarakr
The honest view should be, he can't put bat to ball, has played no FC cricket, should sit out....

The difficult thing is that Sarfaraz, despite his FC record, doesn't seem quite up for test challenges, Easwran, going by reports, isn't the strongest in seaming conditions. Where do they dig deep for the next lineup of players to join Jaiswal, Pant and Gill?

Look at the positive......Reddy scored runs in each of 4 outings...and Washington has shown technique to score runs mots times, Jadeja is better than most specialist batters.
Play both jadeaj and Wasy even if bowling of one of them is not needed.
Look for talent that shows potential to handle pace and seem regardless of FC records....and there I believe Samson might make the cut, even Jurel....maybe Tilak Varma

One time one bowler named Andre Nel was loaded with Meaningless aggression and mindless swearing at opposition.
I think it gave him a kick to perform with higher levels of energy
Siraj seems a bit like Nel and both Uncouth in my view.

I have seen aggressive swearing bursts from Slater, Ponting, Damien Fleming but all of those were standalone inappropriate and not a justification for Siraj's mindless mouthing and overt aggression

Siraj should work on his skill set with the ball and keep evolving as a bowler. His home record is distinctly average, and even in more seaming conditions, he hasn't evolved and progressed much. Adding more variations to his bowling, finding ways to be more effective with the older ball, those are areas he needs to get better at. In fact when he burst on to the seen, he was perceived to be a good old operator even if not big on reverse. But he hasn't really shown much impact in that regard. So rather than getting into onfield nonsense, he needs to work on that. Shami's injury imposed absence was an opportunity for Siraj to evolve into the 2nd seamer. But he's unable to progress beyond the 3rd seamer role and was pretty poor at home during the period.

https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/sheffield-shield-2024-25-1444468/tasmania-vs-south-australia-18th-match-1444509/live-cricket-score

One of the most amazing FC games you'll ever see. Tasmania needed 429, in 113 overs, to beat South Australia.

With two overs left, Tasmania were 413/6. Nine runs came off the next three balls to make the equation seven needed from nine balls. Remarkably, three wickets then fell in the next eight balls to alter the game considerably.

That meant all four results were possible off the last ball, with Tasmania needing four to win and just a wicket left. Riley Meredith was unable to strike the winning boundary, and then became hopelessly confused, turning for a pointless second run and getting run out. The difference between a draw and a loss. Maybe he thought it was a limited overs game?

Incredible drama.

T3: Brisbane , not a bad venue for India.
Ganguly scored a 100 and India has a draw in 2003 and won the famous win last time in 2021. Can't remember if they played in between.

Normally it's a true wicket.....par Aussie bounce and rather flat, should suit Indian batting. It's a win the toss and bat first pitch which I am not sure was the case with first two pitches.

Hazelwood is back and Head is the only Aussie batter in form and due for a failure.

India would replace Ashwin for Washington( or Jadeja)  and I would think Deep for Rana.
It's possible one of Bumrah or Siraj pulls up last minute & Rana still plays in addition to Deep.

India need first innings runs as many or a few more than Aussies get and if they can do that they are in the game

So no rain this morning. India win toss and bowl - with Jadeja and Deep replacing Rana and Ashwin. Certainly something for the bowlers in this session so how the openers handle these early overs will be very significant for the match. Can recall a few occasions where captains have lived to regret bowling first at this ground

Khawaja has been under a bit of pressure and appears to have come out with a more aggressive plan today...couple of nice boundaries already, 13 from 22. Probably going to make a score now I've taken him out of my Tipping Competition selection Rain arrives and off they go at 19/0 in the sixth over...

Back on here now so I'm having to do some sharp channel hopping... Khawaja pouncing on a short ball for another four. 24/0. India not quite on it yet I feel. Length has been slightly off.

Well that was a disappointing day's play. Only 13.2 overs then it rained for the rest of the day.
Should get some play tomorrow; which will be mostly overcast and hopefully no rain.

Enjoyed watching the match in Hamilton today. Building up nicely.

Pal Joey wrote:Well that was a disappointing day's play. Only 13.2 overs then it rained for the rest of the day.
Should get some play tomorrow; which will be mostly overcast and hopefully no rain.

Enjoyed watching the match in Hamilton today. Building up nicely.

Hope you are right !

It looked like a passing shower when I saw it.
Surprised to wake up and see a washout.

Pitch looked green and conditions overcast so it didn't look bad to bowl first and tha ball was nipping around off the seam.
Siraj wasn't full enuf but Deep impeccable. Good to see Bumrah was looking fit.

Jadeja in the 11 means he should bat 6, Reddy can't go lower than 7 given his good form, which means Rohit to bat at 8?
Wouldn't mind that .

Rain means chances of a draw and that too isn't necessarily bad .
India would need to win one of two remaining games to go back with a drawn series and the last test is on a flat / spin friendly SCG

Could just catch a couple of overs before the rain desicively arrived. Don't think Indians bowled well to make use of the whatever little life available on the track. Might turn out to be Rohit Sharma's Nasser Moment, the decision at the toss.
Glad to see Jadeja back, gives a bit more of a chance to the no-hoper batting unit. Will be interesting to see whether Rohit would go back to opening the batting...
Deep seems to have bowled pretty OK today. Hopefully, he'll have more to show for his efforts, and the rest of the bowling unit would sustain the pressure that Bumrah creates...

Missed the start here...forgot they'd be starting early to make up time lost to rain. See Khawaja gone already , 38/1 after 18 overs.

...and suddenly it is 38/2 ! McSweeney edging to Kohli at slip and Bumrah has both openers...the under pressure Smith arrives at a tricky time...

Tense period. Bumrah and Deep targeting Smith's pads and he is countering by getting outside off and dabbing singles busily...Marnus meanwhile playing and missing a lot but surviving for now. 51/2 from 23 overs...

Watching two games at once is tough but both are fascinating...Siraj and Marnus having some "chat" ...and disputing rights over switching the bails Tight struggle continues, 72/2 after 33 overs.

And it seems that byplay might have hurt Labuschagne's concentration as he has now nicked off to Reddy ...75/3 at the drink break. India will be delighted to have broken that stand. I expect Bumrah back to have a go at Head...

Smith has survived a couple of close lbw shouts ...one on umpires call and later a faint inside edge. But he's hanging in, 23 from 55 ...and Head is getting going quickly with a couple of early boundaries. 94/3 and this spell from Bumrah will be important...

Back on in Brisbane and India will be hoping to have a similar session to the one NZ have managed in Hamilton ! Big passage of play now , because the ball is 44 overs old and if Smith and Head get going again here they could take the game away rather rapidly...

It was a tough first hour with Bumrah doing his usual damage and Siraj containing the batsmen well. Smith looking as awkward as ever and Head the only one playing some classic shots and surviving some very near edges as he does. Then grinning at his best mates... on the opposite side.

Siraj limped off with what seemed to be a hamstring strain but came back on just before lunch. Don't know how serious it was but you'd think India can't afford to lose him. Deep and Reddy both bowled pretty tightly and the latter put Marnus out of his misery after scoring a scrappy 12 runs off 55 balls. It was psychologically painful stuff to watch.

Watching Marnus bat is always a bit of an ordeal...whether you are on his side or against him

Head looking ominous for India , on to 36, fairly restrained so far , but...will he attack Jadeja from the start ? 127/3...

Didn't take Head too long to overhaul Smith...40 from 65 v 38 from 105. Australia settling well at 140/3...

And now he is going after Jadeja...four , four...150 up , Head to 49. India really need some magic from somewhere.

Drinks 158/3 from 56. Head has revived an extremely sluggish run rate...which may become mportant if the weather forecast is accurate. He likes this Indian bowling...

173/3 and Australia taking a bit of a grip on this. Still early , I guess ; but with a new ball still 19 overs away and not much help for the bowlers now from the pitch...Head on to 66 now , partnership over 100 : different game from this morning . Runs coming in all directions...

Head on 98...some innings , this. Smith more like his old self now , on to 62. Partnership worth 151 and sending Australia in looking like a poor choice now : though it was balanced on a knife edge this morning. Head has changed the game again...

Hundred for Head !

Australia in complete control at the Gabba .284/3 now...3 overs left to a new ball and Smith might like to get to his hundred ahead of it...needs ten more.
Partnership up to 210...think India might already be hoping the forecast heavy rain due on Tuesday turns up...and stays. Reckon only one team is a serious chance of getting a result in this game...

New ball taken... Smith on 95. Head doesn't mind...flicks it to the mid wicket boundary to move to 139...nearly at run a ball ...another excellent innings but it is over now I think ...or is it a bump ball ? Yes...into the ground so he survives

Smith to 99...and now 100 ! Rumours of his demise probably shelved for now

312/3 Thoughtful of Steve to reach the milestone so they can all.pause for drinks ... and I can go out for a run ...

33rd ton for Smith and his 10th v India.

Hmm. I go out running for half an hour and they collapse in a heap

Handy stand by Carey and Cummins but that's ended now too so India are somewhat limiting the damage in this session... If they can take the last three quickly they might still have a toe hold in the game. But I think they will still be up against it : chasing 400 or so ain't going to be easy...

Essentially this Test match will be batting practice for Australia, I feel. And bowling and fielding practice for India.

Have you seen the weather over the next few days, alfie? Looks like rain all day every day.

Rain next few days: