Brilliant Bumrah But Aussies Hold Sway at “The G”
Australia v India — Day 4, Melbourne
AUSTRALIA 474 and 228–9 (leading by 333 runs)
INDIA 369
I watch a LOT of Test Match cricket and have done so for over four decades within a sporting odyssey that I hope whomever is the great scorer in the sky grants me a few more years yet. My goodness last night/early this morning or a sunshine filled day in the future if you were lucky enough to be inside the Melbourne Cricket Ground was as good as Test Match cricket gets. Dropped catches. Run outs. Stumps flying everywhere. A champion bowler running rampant for an Indian team who threw everything they had at their Australian hosts who wilted and collapsed but didn’t break and who still hold sway and all the cricketing aces entering a Day 5 that, by dint of the fluctuating fortunes of Test Match cricket, could see the roles reversed tomorrow and another day of cricket I’m already childishly excited to watch. Crawling into bed at 7am my mind was racing even quicker than my untamed internal beast usually does. The mathematics are easy to explain I reasoned to myself, but how can I possibly describe how magnificent a spectacle this was to watch? The two best teams in world cricket trading sporting blows. The sheer brilliance of Jasprit Bumrah. The ROARS of Virat Kohli as every Aussie wicket fell. The stubborn resistance of Marnus Labuschagne. Those oh so costly dropped catches. A team outplayed and on the ropes punching their rival squarely on the nose and yet they still didn’t topple over.
Magnificent stuff. Truly magnificent. I’ll just rustle up some raspberry jam on toast, make a fresh cup of tea, and compose myself before we continue.
Act One: The Mathematics
The rudimentary mathematics are fairly easy to explain even for a sleep deprived and excitable mind such as mine, so here we go. India, commencing Day 4 trailed Australia by 116 runs on 1st Innings with one final wicket in hand. Day 3 centurion Nitish Kumar Reddy added 9 runs, his partner Mohammed Siraj 2 and when Reddy “holed out” to Mitchell Starc with his only false shot of a magnificent innings, India were all out for 369 to trail the Aussies by 105. By the end of the three session breaks in play (which we’ll come to in more detail shortly), Australia were first 53–2 (Lunch), 135–6 (Tea) and 228–9 (Stumps), so the hosts had first increased their lead on 1st Innings to 158, then 240 and by the close of an exhilarating day of cricket, an unbeatable looking 333. These basic cricketing numbers in a scorebook come nowhere close to describing the beautiful action on the field of play or for that matter Aussie captain Pat Cummins decision to continue batting until the end of the day as a 300 run lead seems enough to me let alone 333 and now he and his bowlers have even less time to bowl India all out for victory tomorrow.
Perhaps he was as swept up in the excitement of it all as I was or maybe he fancied another round of raspberry jam on toast and just wanted to enjoy the spectacle?
We may never know and perhaps that’s for the best.
Act Two: India and a “brilliant, brilliant, brilliant” Bumrah
Focussing squarely on India, they were bloody magnificent today and so in keeping with their schizophrenic nature of being either unplayable or a downbeat, disinterested mess. We’ll quickly skate over the two dropped catches from wunderkind Yashasvi Jaiswal which cost a combined extra 43 runs and hope, for the sake of the kid, that these don’t come back to haunt him or his team tomorrow, and marvel instead at the sheer brilliance of currently the world’s greatest bowler, Jasprit Bumrah. The 31 year old from Ahmedabad ended the opening session with figures of 8 Overs 1 Maiden 1 Wicket for 18 Runs but this was frankly a criminal return for an outstanding spell of bowling and the first on a day of umpteen spells I’ve lost count of whereby he was tossed the ball by his captain Rohit Sharma and came roaring in again, and again, and again and again. The magician should have had Usman Khawaja early when on just 2 but Jaiswal spilled the straight forward catch at Leg Slip before he magnificently clean bowled Sam Konstas for just 8 runs moments later, pinging back his middle stump perfectly in the process. So good was the master that he was simply unplayable, passing the edge of the Aussies bats, Marnus Labuschagne in particular time and time again, with Bumrah caught on the stump microphone exclaiming “You are probably the luckiest man I’ve ever seen…in my life!”, but this was later in the afternoon session and after he’d ripped the heart out of the Australian batting order and after Mark Waugh had summed up his mesmeric morning spell of bowling with the priceless “He’s bowled so many peaches he could open a fruit and veggies stall!”
It wasn’t entirely all Bumrah as Mohammed Siraj roared in all day and claimed the wickets of Usman Khawaja and Steve Smith and how the unlucky Akash Deep didn’t snag two or maybe three wickets too is anyone’s guess, but back came Bumrah, again, and with 3 wickets at the cost of just 4 runs, the prized scalps of Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh and Alex Carey too, the master had reduced Australia to 91–6 and the roars of Virat Kohli were matched by the thousands of Indian fans screaming their approval in the vast bowl of the MCG. Travis Head, celebrating his birthday, departed for just 1, Mitchell Marsh for a duck and quite simply “Brilliant! Brilliant! Brilliant!” according to FOX TV commentator Harsha Bhogle before he spoke for the cricket connoisseur soon after with the almost immediate departure of Alex Carey for just 2 with “Oh stop it Jasprit Bumrah! We’re running out of words! And the Australians are running out of batters to face you!”
At 91–6 and only at this stage leading by 196 runs, Australia were teetering on the brink of collapse and India chasing 4 more quick wickets to set up a manageable run chase for a spectacular victory tomorrow.
Into the crisis strode their captain, Pat Cummins.
Act Three: Australia, and a refusal to be beaten
Returning to the somewhat cold mathematics of the game, there are some facts and figures today and throughout this Test Match that will be ignored come tomorrow, but which need highlighting for their significance whomever eventually triumphs. Forever the dependable man for a crisis whether with ball or bat in hand, Pat Cummins rose to the challenge for his country again with 41 2nd Innings runs to go with his 49 in the 1st Innings and, lest we forget, his unselfish chase for runs even when on the precipice of a Test Match 50 and his ultimate demise. How valuable will his 90 combined runs prove to be come tomorrow? Marnus Labuschagne, granted a “life” when on 46 and dropped by Jaiswal, made a magnificent 70 to join his first dig of 72 and a combined 142 runs. See above for the question of significance. Then, with their backs to the wall and a grim determination to eke out as many runs as they could, how valuable will the final wicket partnership of 55 runs between Nathan Lyon and Scott Boland prove to be when time is called on this magnificent Test Match tomorrow? Lyon (41 not out from just 54 balls received) scored the vast majority of this invaluable last Aussie stand, but please don’t discount the keeper of my cricketing heart Scott Boland and his stout, dogged 10 not out from 65 balls received.
Will Pat Cummins want his late day heroes to bat on in the morning and push their already massive lead of 333 to 350 perhaps or even higher? I already believe 333 is far too many on this 5th Day MCG wicket but luckily for all concerned I’m not Pat Cummins, but I’d hazard a guess he wants to see Scott Boland, roared on by his local crowd, steaming in for quick wickets rather than late innings runs tomorrow, but time, as it always does, will tell.
A remarkable day of Test Match cricket and we still have all four results possible entering Day 5. The Aussies, due in large part to their captain’s late day runs and the partnership of Lyon and Boland are huge favourites, but it’s game on tomorrow. As an excited neutral, one hopes India haven’t fired their best shots today in a team performance that must be acclaimed for the magnificence and sporting spectacle that it was. Truly magnificent.
But those damn Aussies just refuse to lose don’t they!
Even this English “Pom” can’t but admire their bloody minded spirit.
Incredible day. Here’s to another tomorrow.
Thanks for reading. Over the past boundary four cricket watching years I’ve turned my daily journals into a hat-trick of self-published books on the grand old game and should you be an Aussie or fan of the India cricket team reading this now, here are my second and third books which I hope will pique your interest in supporting an indie author:
"The Spirit of Cricket" - link to Amazon
Tea and Biscuits in India" - link to Amazon
Whilst you’re here I may as well brag about the release of my two self-published books during December 2024. Both are free to read if you subscribe to Amazon Kindle “Unlimited” or reasonably priced in both paperback and hardback. Go on, treat yourself or a loved one and help out an Indie Author! Buy the books if you’re financially able to.
We HAVE to keep the spirit of reading books alive and well.
Thanks.
"My Ironbridge Summer" - link to Amazon
"still life, with gooseberry" - link to Amazon
Thanks for reading. I hope this message in a bottle in The Matrix finds you well, prospering, and the right way up in an upside down world.