Australia v India, WTC Final, The Oval, 7-11 June, 2023

Ussie goes early.  At least they don't have the one with the arsey surname.

Green deck + Duke ball = very hard work.

Soleil.

thanks for playing Warner into form, Indian numbnuts!

Burned review.

When did Matt Hayden become such a dick?

he's always been a dick ...we just couldn't let trev think he was right

Ha.

Meanwhile the Grub is out to a weak strangle. Probably thinks he's done enough for T1 selection.

Given Ooze's early dismissal, probably a fair session for Aus.

Shame about the Grub falling just before Oranges.

Marnus misses a straight ball. Ugh.

Well done Blowie. Nice 50 when required.

1-97 in the session. Decent.

Smudge holding the fort and Blow playing some shots.

Absolutely brilliant counterattacking ton by Head to follow Smudger's workman-like 50.

Awesome innings at almost a run a ball.

What a partnership!!!

Marnus goes just after Lunch then Smudge and Travis bat for the rest of the day, putting on 251*.

A peerless 146* from Head and a rock solid 95* from Smudge to set Aus up in this Test.

Brilliant!!

Great D1

Still another 200 needed from this pair before there’s any safety (or real stats excitement). Great batting, fast outfield. Commentators keep comparing Head to Gilly but I see him more as a left-handed Walters, in his approach. First middle order batsman we’ve had for a while who can change the game in a session (like Dougie used to).

Great fight back from Head and Smith to put Aus in the box seat.
Time will tell if the Oval pitch is a benign road, without any cloud cover or the Bannies are just making up numbers.
One thing that is certain, and will probably come up during the Ashes , is that the Duke Balls + cloud cover + green top makes batting difficult.

Draw.

But Head shows again why he's Australia's most important batter.

FYI, Smith has now scored over 1000 runs in his last 6 tests (and 9 innings) in England.

JGK wrote:Draw.

But Head shows again why he's Australia's most important batter.

Still shaking my head about the Travis being "dropped" for T1 in India. Madness.

Cool stat from Twitter today - since Head was first selected in 2018, Australia haven't won a Test match where he didn't play.

After Marnus and Wavy Davy battled through the early movement, the Bannies were guilty of being foxed by a wicket that wasn't nearly as spicy as it looked. Head put them to the sword.

Shades of Headingley '05.

skully wrote:After Marnus and Wavy Davy battled through the early movement, the Bannies were guilty of being foxed by a wicket that wasn't nearly as spicy as it looked. Head put them to the sword.

Shades of Headingley '05.

There was no Headingley Test in ‘05…

Where was the flood? Punter won the toss and sent Eng in. They made 400 on day 1.

Anywho, 4 very soft dismissals (including the 2 ton makers) have probably scuttled a 500+ total.

All out 469.

Not so good from 3-360 but sent in on a greeny, I'll take it.