The Script from Sydney

Geoff Wellsteed, author of Pavilions In Splendour – the Cricket grounds of Cheshire is in Australia to witness the Test series with India.


The Sydney script

I must confess l have given myself a hefty pat on the back. Last summer l concluded that spending the winter watching the Australia Test series against India was a better option than shouting for England in New Zealand. And so, it has proved! What a series and what a trip.

This was a Test match which lasted half its scheduled duration, but provided twice the exciting entertainment one could reasonably expect. (Unless you wave the Indian flag). The outcome was only predictable for the very last few overs when Travis Head and new boy, (all of 31 years old) Beau Webster, his earring glinting in the Sydney sunshine, steered them home against an attack lacking the absent, injured, Bumrah. How different would the outcome have been had he been able to bowl on this lively playing surface? We shall never know. Webster, a decade ago playing for Cheshire County League side, Marple, played a key role in the victory scoring 57 and 39 not out, taking a wicket and holding onto a couple of good catches.

If evidence were needed that low scoring matches make for excellent cricket here was plenty of supporting material. The highest team score was 185 (181, 157 & 162-4) and significantly no Indian batter, Rishabh Pant apart, could contribute more than 26 in either innings. He is the real deal, surviving a life-threatening road accident in 2022 – he drove his Mercedes into a crash barrier and missed 14 months of cricket – he is capable of the most outrageous attacking shots. Surely, very few Test cricketers would be brave enough to hit the first ball of his innings for six when the scoreboard displays 59-3, let alone off Boland who had such terrific Test match figures. Pant is an extravagant, effervescent, exciting cricketer – just the opposite of Boland, and for that matter Bumrah, who are both unassuming, understated men. It was very appropriate that the Man of the Match award went to Boland (10-76) and the Man of the Series to Bumrah (32 wickets). Note that Bumrah buys his Test match wickets at 19.04 and Boland at 17.66. Accepting its pantomime season, (oh yes it is!) the panto baddie award must go to Sam Konstas who tried to wind-up every Indian in sight, players and spectators. Intriguingly, when he is fielding he constantly manipulates his fingers around liquid handwarmers. I'm fascinated to know why he needs such gadgetry when it's 30c in the shade! If there has to be a booby prize winner Steve Smith would be the prime candidate with modest scores of 33 and 4, he missed out on achieving 10,000 Test runs on his home ground finishing the match stuck on 9999.

All good things come to an end, sowell done Australia, to me a 3-1 series victory felt about right. Now I'm homeward bound, via Hong Kong and Kowloon CC, to face the UK winter weather. No such conditions here since John Snow terrorised the Aussies in 1970/71!


Melbourne Test

Since the Brisbane Test we have driven up to Cairns, and then as far north as Cape Tribulation.(The most northerly tip of Queensland was still 500 miles distant, and elusive on unsealed roads without a jumbo-size 4WD). Hereabouts two World Heritage sites sit alongside each other – the magnificent Daintree rainforest and the spectacular Great Barrier Reef. Miles of deserted, golden sand beaches, and more trees than you could ever imagine. It's a world away from the full to the brim, MCG in Melbourne on Boxing Day....

Let's start on Day 5. Now, let me be fair and say chasing over 300 on the final day of a Test match is a tough business and not often accomplished, but surely India got their tactics all wrong here? With their star-studded batting line-up, a blameless pitch, and egged on by thousands of worshipping, chanting supporters the circumstances cried out for them to accept the challenge of scoring 340 from 92 overs. Admittedly, they lost early wickets (33-3 at lunch) but, Pant and Jaiswal subsequently stabilized the innings and an clear opportunity to take the game to the Australians arose against a flagging bowling attack and a soft ball.

An hour of 'IPL' cricket might have given them the upper hand? The huge army of Indian fans deserved, and expected, more. Playing for a draw is a dangerous tactic against warriors as capable as Cummins, Starc, Boland and Lyon, and so it proved. After Pant lost the plot, and gave his wicket away, the Aussies could smell blood,. In next to no time, and without needing the new ball, which was all but due, it was job done in front of a record 74k crowd, the green/gold supporters euphoric, the blue/white masses, crestfallen. (The overall match attendance of 373k beat the previous MCG best set in 1937).

This has been a remarkable series, but this was a particularly absorbing and competitive five-day duel, the advantage swaying back and forth. We witnessed Konstas, the new Aussie poster boy, take-on Bumrah and play some outrageously expansive shots (Greek unorthodox?) hitting the best bowler in the world for 4/6/4 and another 18 in his next over. The admirable, genial, ever-smiling Bumrah added another nine wickets to his already impressive series tally. Enter, naughty boy, Kolhi who encroached into Konstas space and 'shouldered' him. Konstas reciprocated with some choice words and, for his part, the match referee gave an unrepentant Kohli a demerit point and a fine. To add to his woes Kohli then ran out Jaiswal, the new superstar, who was on 82 (before the youngster contributed another 84 in his second knock). The hapless Kohli could only contribute 36 and 5.

We saw a terrific grit-like (sandpaper?) century from Steve Smith, and a lovely maiden hundred from Nitish Kumar Reddy. Marnus Labuschagne made two solid contributions posting 72 and 70 whereas Travis Head, prolific in earlier encounters, offered 1 and 0. That most astute captain, Pat Cummins – how you'd want him in your team – took six wickets and scored 49 and 41, and deservedly picked up the Man of the Match award. And the officials got into the act as well. Joel Wilson having two crucial fourth innings decisions overturned by the third umpire, who himself made an unforgivable mistake, on referral, during the Indian first innings. He was the only man in the whole ground who thought a clean catch was a bump ball. The TV replay was absolutely crystal clear. Who'd be an umpire?

From a seat in the outer it was a privilege to be part of this thrilling cricketing extravaganza, and now the whole bandwagon moves to Sydney. Fireworks on New Years Eve, and, no doubt, more at the SCG?