Key events
WICKET! Australia 59-7 (Cummins c Pant b Bumrah 3)
Bumrah wasn’t done after all; he just needed a change of ends. Cummins is drawn towards a length awayswinger and gets a little touch through to Rishabh Pant. The extraordinary Jasprit Bumrah has taken 4 for 12.
24th over: Australia 57-6 (Carey 17, Cummins 1) Harshit Rana replaces Bumrah, whose two-over spell lacked the rhythm and menace of his first. Carey, who has been looking to counter-attack from the start, hits consecutive boundaries with a flick to fine leg and a deft uppercut. If he’s style there in the morning this game could change quickly.
“I’m about to do battle with my new coffee machine (bear with me on this) so I’ll have to read the instructions yet again,” says Gary Naylor. “Unless I put my glasses on, not only can I not read the words, I’m not sure I could tell you their language. I’m a lot older than Virat Kohli and Steve Smith, but I’m not sure (looking at the dropped catch and the first ball miss) that their eyes aren’t on their way to wherever mine have gone.”
You realise they’ll both play five Tests against England in the next 14 months? If they go on to score 800 runs apiece I’m putting your home address and telephone number on every internet forum.
23rd over: Australia 48-6 (Carey 9, Cummins 0) New Zealand’s 3-0 win in India looks even better now. It also highlights the folly of preparing bunsens when you have a pace attack like this.
Carey is beaten three times during a superb over from Siraj, twice on the drive and once trying an uppercut. The daft thing is Australia are 48 for 6 yet the ball must have beaten the bat at least a dozen times, probably nearer two dozen.
22nd over: Australia 48-6 (Carey 9, Cummins 0) Carey has started confidently in the circumstances, although he has a bit of luck when he inside-edges a drive onto the pad off Bumrah.
“No Dennis Lillee in the best ever Test XI?” says Laurence Boyd. “Who’s your spinner? SK Warne?”
Warne, yeah. I’d have McGrath because nobody has ever been as good against the opposition’s best player. Before the World XI sets off for Mars he’d proudly announce which of their top order he was targeting.
21st over: Australia 47-6 (Carey 8, Cummins 0) We’ve focussed on Bumrah’s genius, understandably enough, but Siraj and Rana have also bowled marvellously.
“Regarding your choice of pace attack,” says Krishnamoorthy V, “I would replace Malcolm Marshall with Michael Holding – the other two are spot on.”
Macko was the greatest IMO. His Cricinfo profile, written by our old friend Mike Selvey, captures his greatness perfectly.
WICKET! Australia 47-6 (Labuschagne LBW b Sirah 2)
Mohammed Siraj puts Marnus Labuschagne out of his misery with a very full delivery that hits him below the knee roll in front of the stumps.
Labuschagne’s reviews, just in case, but deep down he knows. He’s gone for 2 from 52 balls and Australia are enduring the evening session from hell.
20th over: Australia 42-5 (Labuschagne 2, Carey 3) Bumrah’s back! There’s still around 35 minutes to play so this could be the game right here. Bumrah’s first over is a maiden to Labuschagne, who played it pretty well. It helped that there wasn’t as much sideways movement as in Bumrah’s electrifying first spell.
“As an Englishman living in New Zealand I followed the recent Black Caps tour of India closely,” says Jon Saunders. “Winning 3-0 in India has to be one of the most astonishing series results of all time and hasn’t get anywhere near as much credit as it should do. If England or Australia did that we wouldn’t hear the end of it. Nobody saw it coming at all, least of all the Kiwis!”
I can’t recall a more unlikely series win, certainly not a more unlikely whitewash.
19th over: Australia 42-5 (Labuschagne 2, Carey 3) “Wasim over Waqar???” queries David Brook.
Left-arm, better batter, was great for longer. At their absolute peak I might pick Waqar though.
18th over: Australia 42-5 (Labuschagne 2, Carey 3) Rana, who is an abundant unit, has words with Labuschagne after going past his edge once again. That was a serious delivery: just full of good, straightening off the seam. The precision of India’s bowling, at a time when it would have been natural to chase wickets, has been exemplary.
A single takes Labuschagne to 2 from 41 balls of the fiercest concentration (what’s the batting equivalent of hard yakka?); Carey mocks him by driving his third ball through extra cover for three.
17th over: Australia 38-5 (Labuschagne 1, Carey 0) The opening day of a marquee series rarely produces numbers like this: 66.5 overs, 188 runs, 15 wickets.
“Bumrah always makes me think of under-14 cricket, when one kid is so much better than the others that the coach actually has to stop him batting or bowling sometimes to give the other kids a go,” says Pete Salmon. “They always had figures of something like six for nine of eight overs, and then had to retire at 30 not out off about 11 balls. I assume all Test cricketers are that kid.”
If he does this for another 3-4 years and finishes with, say, 300 wickets at 20, I think he’ll be a contender for an all-time World XI. At the moment my pace attack would probably be Malcolm Marshall, Wasim Akram and Glenn McGrath, but his average is superior to all of them.
WICKET! Australia 38-5 (Marsh c Rahul b Siraj 6)
Australia are now officially in all sorts. Marsh fenced at a good delivery from Siraj that lifted and straightened to take the edge. Rahul swooped low to his left at third slip – it wouldn’t have carried to second – and took a superb catch.
There’s no soft signal and I wouldn’t want to be the third umpire right now. My instinct is that Rahul got his fingers under the ball at third slip, but I definitely wouldn’t put the farm on it.
Has Marsh been caught by KL Rahul? It looks good but they’re going upstairs.
16th over: Australia 38-4 (Labuschagne 1, Marsh 6) Marsh has started well and, as usual, looks comfortable against pace and bounce. It’s sideways movement that will trouble him, and he needs a thick inside-edge to keep out a good nipbacker from Rana. It might have been going over anyway.
Later in the over Rana collects the ball in his followthrough and flings it back towards Labuschagne. He blocks it with his bat, at which point the entire Indian team appeal for something or other. It wasn’t a big appeal and was almost certainly designed to affect Labuschagne’s concentration.
15th over: Australia 37-4 (Labuschagne 1, Marsh 5) Australia know from the Indian innings that batting will get easier as the ball gets older. The tough part is managing to hang around until that happens. Labuschagne has been dragged into a desperate fight for survival, which almost ends when he leaves a ball that whooshes just past off stump. I think it was ultimately a good leave, though I wouldn’t put the farm on it.
Another maiden from Siraj. Labuschagne has 1 from 36 balls, Marsh 5 from 10.
14th over: Australia 37-4 (Labuschagne 1, Marsh 5) Rana overpitches to Marsh, who pumps him through mid-off for four. That’s a lovely shot, full of authority. Marsh averages around 160 in Tests on this ground, though batting will never have been more challenging than it is right now.
Rana, who hits the pitch really hard, beats Marsh twice with excellent lifting deliveries. India keep finding players. Rana is 22 and making his Test debut after only 10 first-class games; he looks totally at home.
13th over: Australia 33-4 (Labuschagne 1, Marsh 1) Bumrah gives way to Siraj after a spectacular spell 0f 6-3-9-3. There are still 75 minutes remaining so Bumrah should be back before the close. Siraj has words with Labuschagne over something and nothing, then finds the inside-edge with a sharpl delivery. It flies past off stump and through to the keeper. Labuschagne is living exceedingly dangerously.
“People want this series to replicate the 2005 Ashes,” wr ites Digvijay Yadav. “Well, the visiting team has been rolled over. And the best fast bowler in the world has snapped back. (Probably no bigger compliment for both Bumrah and McGrath to be compared to the other.) I hope this lives up. Could make this the greatest rivalry in the world.”
It already is, surely.
12th over: Australia 33-4 (Labuschagne 1, Marsh 1) Mitch Marsh, who loves batting in Perth and is a very good player of pace, takes a single off Rana to get off the mark from his first ball. Labuschagne does likewise to get off the mark from his 24th ball, prompting banterous cheers from the crowd.
Mark Waugh points out that, while that was a jaffa from Rana, Head was stuck on the crease when he needed to get forward. Had he done so he’d probably have survived via a thick edge.
“A warming good morning to you (I’ve got the heater full on),” says John Starbuck. “The problems with playing every Test in Perth are (a) Australia would be the permanent hosts (b) no chance of anything like a sticky dog so almost no spin and (c) we here in the UK would have to be out of bed too early.”
All very good points. BUT LOOK AT THIS CRICKET.
WICKET! Australia 31-4 (Head b Rana 11)
Harshit Rana first Test wicket is the big one! Travis Head has been cleaned up by a devastating delivery from around the wicket: fullish and straightening off the seam to beat Head’s crabby defensive push. This is utterly exhilarating.
11th over: Australia 31-3 (Labuschagne 0, Head 11) Head has a fast-handed flash at Bumrah and connects only with fresh air. That aside he plays the over pretty well and steals a quick single off the fifth ball. Head is such a big wicket because he can change both the state and the mood of the game in half an hour, as India know from bitter experience.
“Oh, the joys of test cricket,” says Phil Withall. “Time at hand, 450 overs to slowly absorb the intricacies of bat and ball, savouring the growing tension as pressure mounts and time recedes. Time for the mind to drift, for conversation and banalities. It also has a perverse way of mutating into absolute chaos, either way I am, and always will be in love with it.”
10th over: Australia 30-3 (Labuschagne 0, Head 10) Travis Head starts the counter-attack with two superb boundaries off Rana, a slashing back cut and a deliberate uppercut that bounces this far short of the boundary sponge. How long this lasts, who knows, but his fearlessness is so impressive. He’s like the Tyler Durden of batting; everyone wants to bat the way he does but only he has the courage to consistently counter-attack when the heat is on.
“Labuschagne is receiving the sort of searching examination that would normally require an MRI scanner and X-ray machine followed by the dread sound of a rubber glove being donned,” says Brian Withington. “Just saying.”
And nobody can have you banged up for that. Actually they can, but let’s not worry about that for now.
9th over: Australia 20-3 (Labuschagne 0, Head 1) Head takes a single off Bumrah’s first ball, the old Geoffrey Boycott tactic.
Labuschagne, who has already been hit on the body multiple times, is smacked in the ribs by a malevolent nipbacker. But he survives another over, 0 from 20 balls now; he knows Bumrah can’t bowl forever.
8th over: Australia 19-3 (Labuschagne 0, Head 0) The hulking debutant Harshit Rana replaces Siraj, who bowled a pretty good spell of 3-1-12-0 that was totally overshadowed by the genius at the other end.
He gets some extravagant swing from the first ball and twice hits Labuschagne in or around the box. A brilliant first over ends with a lifter past the edge. Labuschagne has faced 15 balls without getting off the mark; survival is enough of a challenge right now.
7th over: Australia 19-3 (Labuschagne 0, Head 0) The hat-trick ball is full, straight and would have trapped Head LBW but for a vital inside-edge.
A double-wicket maiden from Bumrah, who has stunning figures of 4-2-7-3. They flatter him not one jot.
Smith skipped towards the off side and was pinned plumb in front by another huge nipbacker. It was so plumb that Smith barely discussed a review; replays show it would have hit the middle of middle.
The astonishing Jasprit Bumrah is on a hat-trick.
WICKET! Australia 19-3 (Smith LBW b Bumrah 0)
Steve Smith has gone first ball!
WICKET! Australia 19-2 (Khawaja c Kohli b Bumrah 8)
Turns out Khawaja wasn’t relatively comfortable; he just hadn’t faced Jasprit Bumrah as much as the right-handers. When he does get stuck at Bumrah’s end it’s a quick kill: a beauty past the edge and then a defensive poke that flies off the edge to second slip.
Glorious bowling from arguably the greatest cricketer India have ever produced. I know he doesn’t have the longevity of Gavaskar, Tendulkar, Kumble etc but I’m not sure they were as superior to their peers as Bumrah. He’s astonishing.
6th over: Australia 19-1 (Khawaja 8, Labuschagne 0) A short ball from Khawaja is pulled smoothly for four by Khawaja, who has looked relatively – relatively – comfortable during a ferocious new-ball spell. I think that’s the first over without at least one false stroke.
5th over: Australia 14-1 (Khawaja 3, Labuschagne 0) Labuschagne is squared up by Bumrah and edges on the bounce to third slip. A nipbacker hits him on the pad to elicit another huge LBW appeal that is turned down. Too high.
Another immense over ends with a length delivery that fizzes past the edge. This is about as good as fast bowling gets.
“Regarding the considerable challenge of facing Bumrah that you vividly described earlier, perhaps one key step would be to turn up at the right ground!” says Brian Withington. “Or maybe batting at the Optus whilst he bowls at the Waca is, in fact, the smart move?”
Look, I’ve been guilty of far worse Freudian slips.
4th over: Australia 14-1 (Khawaja 3, Labuschagne 0) Oof this is sizzling cricket. Khawaja is beaten by successive deliveries from Siraj, the first a Bumrahian jaffa. Can we just play every Test match at Perth for the rest of time?
That Kohli drop was quite unusual. He took the catch cleanly but then tried to turn his right arm to ensure the ball was facing upwards, so that it wouldn’t touch the grass when he landed. In doing so it slipped out and plopped miserably to the turf.
3rd over: Australia 14-1 (Khawaja 3, Labuschagne 0) Bumrah is bowling majestically. He’d been swinging the ball away from a good length; then he pitched one up that snapped back off the seam to trap McSweeney LBW.
Now Labuschagne ahs been dropped second ball! He edged low to second slip, where Kohli seemed to take a lovely low catch but then lost his balance and kind of placed the ball on the ground.
A stunning over ends with a violent seaming legcutter that beats Labuschagne. This man is an utter genius.
WICKET! Australia 14-1 (McSweeney LBW b Bumrah 10)
He’s gone! It would have hit middle just below the bails and McSweeney in on his way. That was a torrid introduction to Test cricket.
It was a beauty from Bumrah, which jagged back from a fullish length to thump the kneeroll of the front pad. Actually this looks really close.
India review for LBW against McSweeney I think he’s outside the line. Jasprit Bumrah wasn’t totally sure and reviewed with about a second remaining.
2nd over: Australia 13-0 (Khawaja 2, McSweeney 10) David Warner, a really excellent addition to the commentary team from what I’ve heard so far, is discussing the unique challenge of facing Bumrah; the confusing cues and so on.
A hostile first over from Siraj includes an edge for four from McSweeney, the ball bouncing just short of slip, and a big LBW appeal that is turned down by Chris Gaffaney. McSweeney offered no stroke and, though it was tighter than the one off Bumrah, it would still have gone over the top.
“As an England fan, waking up to see Australia bowling the touring side out for 150 feels awfully familiar, Rob,” writes Guy Hornsby. “India have looked shaky but isn’t that the way at the moment? I’ll be fascinating to see how they navigate a series in such different form than their last visit. Pant is such box office, but he can’t do it on his own. It feels a pretty uncharacteristically callow line up.”
It does, although they had untold joy in Australia with an under-strength side in 2020-21. Whatever happens here, and right now an Australian win looks likely, I can’t see India going quietly in this series.
1st over: Australia 6-0 (Khawaja 1, McSweeney 4) Bumrah starts with a no-ball to Khawaja, who works it for a single. Nathan McSweeney’s first ball roars back to hit him high on the thigh. There were a few oohs and aahs, and for a horrible split-second I thought he’d been cleaned up, but it was a perfectly safe leave on length.
There’s no amount of visualisation, video analysis, data analysis and ideal 4am prayers can prepare you for the challenge of facing Jasprit Bumrah, on your debut, at the Waca, in an unfamiliar position. The third ball swerves away beautifully to beat the edge; then, when Bumrah gets greedy and goes for the magic inswinger McSweeney tickles him fine for four. He’s on the board.
Now then. Jasprit Bumrah has the ball in hand, and a crucial 140-minute session is about to begin.`
Teatime reading
Tea
It’s been a near perfect start for Australia, who lost a good toss and then got to work on an old-fashioned Perth trampoline. The seamers shared all 10 wickets: four for Josh Hazlewood, who was at his interrogative best, and two apiece for Mitchell Starc, Mitch Marsh and Pat Cummins. It’s no coincidence that nine of the ten wickets were caught in the cordon.
Jasprit Bumrah already had plenty on his plate as strike bowler and captain. Now, with such a small total to defend and a very inexperienced pace attack, he has even more.
WICKET! India 150 all out (Reddy c Khawaja b Cummins 41)
Usman Khawaja has dropped a dolly. Reddy tried to pull Cummins and spliced the ball high towards midwicket. Khawaja strolled in, assumed the reverse-cup position… and dropped it. His reaction suggests he lost it in the sun.
Reddy backs away to smear the next ball for four, which makes him the top scorer in the innings. Not bad for a debutant batting at No8. But then he top-edges another pull stroke and Khawaja scurries back from midwicket to take a much tougher catch. Cricket is a perverse old game.
49th over: India 144-9 (Reddy 35, Sirah 0) “That Rana dismissal was well worth the price of admission,” says Brian Withington. “I think I’ve previously written to you about my admiration for the juggling relay slip catch, and recalling reading a Richie Benaud reference to a late 50s or early 60s Australian tour of England where a particularly spectacular three person effort ‘deserved to be booked immediately as a variety act for the London Palladium’.”
You did indeed. I spent half an hour trying to find it without success. Anyone recall which catch it was?
Incidentally, Reddy and Rana are the sixth and seventh Indian players to make their Test debut in Australia in the last four years; before that there were only eight in 53 years. Theer’s a moral in that story and I haven’t a clue what it is.
WICKET! India 144-9 (Bumrah c Carey b Hazlewood 8)
Four wickets for the outstanding Josh Hazlewood. Bumrah top-edges a pull over the slips for six before thin-edging an immaculate delivery through to Carey.
48th over: India 136-8 (Reddy 34, Bumrah 1) Reddy turns down a single from Cummins’ second ball, then takes one off the fourth. Bumrah gives him the strike back straight away, so Reddy uppercut the last ball for six! Labuschagne was on the boundary, almost as a long stop, but it had just enough to clear him.
47th over: India 128-8 (Reddy 27, Bumrah 0) Hazlewood’s figures get better and better: 12-5-21-3. That was such a good catch from Labuschagne – not just the take but the fact he didn’t snatch at it.
WICKET! India 128-8 (Rana c Labuschagne b Hazlewood 7)
A superb relay catch from Australia – in the slip cordon. Rana edged Hazlewood low to the left of third slip, where McSweeney did pretty well just to get to the ball. He couldn’t take a very difficult chance but Labuschagne reacted beautifully to stoop to his right and grab the loose ball just above the turf.
46th over: India 124-7 (Reddy 27, Rana 3) Rana back cuts his first ball in Test cricket for three. He didn’t exactly get in line but it was still well played.
WICKET! India 121-7 (Pant c Smith b Cummins 37)
It looks like Pant wants to play the long game: bat time, with the occasonal maverick stroke, and then make hay in the evening session.
Cummins decides to test his patience with a series of channel deliveries from over the wicket. Pant ignores the first four but then tries to flick the fifth, a slightly fuller delivery, through midwicket. It flies off a leading edge and is very smartly caught by Smith at second slip.
That’s terrific work from Pat Cummins, both as bowler and captain.
45th over: India 121-6 (Pant 37, Reddy 27) Carey enquires for caught behind when Reddy sways away from a beautiful lifter by Hazlewood. In fact he played that superbly, almost limbo dancing away from the ball as it followed him off the seam. He’s almost suckered later in the over when a fuller, wider delivery snakes past his instinctive defensive prod. Excellent stuff from Hazlewood, who has borrowed his bowling figures from Sir Curtly Ambrose: 11-5-17-2.
44th over: India 121-6 (Pant 37, Reddy 27) The No9 Harshit Rana can bat – he has a burgeoning first-class average of 43 – so India will still have hopes of reaching 200. Batting looks as comfortable now as it has all day, probably for a few reasons: oldish ball, tiring bowlers and, crucially, two batters who have got their eye in.
Watch: Pant hits Cummins for six
43rd over: India 118-6 (Pant 36, Reddy 26) Hazlewood misses his length – remember the date – and Reddy drives beautifully through mid-off for four. India were 59 for 5; they’ve doubled that score for the loss of Washington Sundar.
42nd over: India 114-6 (Pant 36, Reddy 22) Cummins calls time on the Pant v Lyon contest, at least for now, bringing himself back into the attack. Actually he might be calling time on Reddy v Lyon because that was costing Australia a few runs.
Hahahahaha. After five dot balls, Pant plays his no-look lap-sweep for six! We’ve seen that shot dozens of times but it never fails to raise a smile. There was man on the fence as well. Pant fell over towards the off side and cartwheeled comically; he didn’t see it go for six but the noise of the crowd would have told him.
“Critical session here,” writes Chris Parasakevas. “Way back when this is the time when the Fremantle Doctor would start wreaking havoc with the best laid plans, swiftly followed by the underrated West Australian sunset. Was always fascinating to see which team could literally ride it – careers were probably made and destroyed off the direction of the breeze/failing sunlight.
“Without the openness of the Waca, I suppose we’re a little more reliant on how the pitch breaks down. Looks a half-decent compared to some of the cement roads of recent years – enough for the bowlers and batters. Miss the halycon days of breaking the 160 km/h barrier, though…”
As an England fan I have an odd relationship with Perth. I love the place, the Waca was my favourite Test wicket in the world… and England are always stuffed out of sight when they set foot in WA. But look at this pitch; it makes dull cricket nigh-on impossible.
41st over: India 108-6 (Pant 30, Reddy 22) Josh Hazlewood, who bowled a majestic second spell of 5-3-5-2 this morning, replaces Starc. Kumar almost becomes the seventh player to be caught in the cordon, edging the second ball just short of gully. Bounce has been Australia’s biggest weapon on what looks a classic Perth pitch.
40th over: India 105-6 (Pant 28, Reddy 21) Pant charges Lyon’s first ball and smashes it flat whence it came. The long-off is straight so he conly gets a single.
Reddy continues to reverse sweep merrily, first for two and then for another boundary. He’s quietly dominating this partnership, having scored 21 out of 32.
39th over: India 98-6 (Pant 27, Reddy 15) Pant slogs Starc into a galaxy far, far away. When the ball eventually descends to earth it goes over the shoulder of Cummins, who drops a tough diving chance. He was never really set. It’s tempting to think he dropped it because it was Pant – a bit like Steve Smith with Ben Stokes at Lord’s last year – but I’m not sure it was that. The way Cummins was moving and searching for the ball suggests it swirled a fair bit.
