3 minute read

In the current/post COVID era, just getting to watch Test Cricket involving countries that have to travel the world and quarantine is a great thing for all.

The positive is that India is here but the negative is how soon we won't be seeing one of the best in the world.

AUSTRALIA V INDIA

First Test (D/N)

17 - 21 December 2020 @ Adelaide Oval

Oh how we have missed you. Test cricket has been a part of our lives for over 140 years and there was a real threat we may not see it this summer.

But thanks to some nimble organisational work, commercial imperatives and a framework which had worked well through the English Summer, we've gone into bubbles to get through these games.

The Indian team naturally comprises their full squad but due to COVID restrictions and quarantining requirements, the home team also has to be together like a touring party in the Hub.

The trouble is there has been the need for more changes than there were on the Collingwood list this year.

This really could be a transitional period for Australian cricket – certainly with the bat and potentially with the ball as well.

How some players react to that narrative will be a real fascination. Superannuation-enhancing IPL and even BBL performances won't impact on selections for the long form so it comes down to the current tenants versus Sheffield Shield formguides. Will the selectors think of the future or to the past?

And then there is the casualty ward!

The natural place to start is straight to the top. We are playing these four games on the firm and bouncy Aussie decks so David Warner would have been in his domain. Through his groin strain, he's out of Adelaide and who knows if longer.

It was going to be all about his partner but now the talkfests in the lead up are about the right combination.

Joe Burns has scored four hundreds in 21 matches @ 38 since debuting against this same opponent on Boxing Day in 2014. He has been in and out like the Hokey Pokey. Warner is said to enjoy him in that role BUT … surely that is not the foremost feature in the minds of the selectors. It's not even an issue now.

In the first stanza of Shield games he managed 57 runs @ 11. That isn't good enough in anyone's eyes. Least it be in those who make the decisions. Since then not much has changed.

With that as a backdrop, it was remarkable the depth of backing from places on high that he received. The reason that was strange – a young man who has had plenty to deal with has lit up the early games.

Will Pucovski has had his challenges so far in his short career. So prodigious a talent with a range of shots for good measure, he has been earmarked for this time several times.

Concussions caused one set of setbacks for the 22yo initially. Much to the chagrin of all – mostly him – it reared its ugly head again at Drummoyne. The scenic backdrop was the only pretty sight on a lazy Tuesday afternoon.

The other was when he decided it best to take some time away from the game he loves due to mental health related illness.

Making it worse was that he had been selected for a previous squad but whether left out due to these important matters or left out and then these matters made life difficult again, he is yet to debut.

He deserves great credit for opening up about it and the sporting community gaining an understanding of just how hard that would be for him and his family. The figurative and collective arms were thrown around him.

However, from a cricketing baseline (maybe crease line a better term), he's gone bang – bang with two huge knocks. He's not just knocked on the selectors' door but bashed it in with an axe.

Many a time they have said we want runs before consideration is given to change. What better way than to remind them not once but twice. Pitch occupation and concentration is a critical nature of the long form. Scope of scoring is another.

Pucovski can play both forward or back, slam through cover point off that back foot and pull/hook too. They are such great traits to play in conditions down under. However that concussive episode has struck him down to the extent his home MCG test is not assured. So who opens? It seems Harris is likely – or is he?

You know that the next two spots are safe but could they be pushed up. Labuschagne and Smith can dine out on the last few years for as long as they wish.

Strangely since Smith's famous double ton at Old Trafford to secure the Ashes, he's played the six tests with a highest score of 85. His concussion replacing mate has during that very period made four lots of triple figures – big ones at that too. They both average above 62. Could Marnus head out first instead?

Middle order spots are also potentially in flux. Possession is 9/10th of the law so an idiom oft says. Matthew Wade and Travis Head will be hoping Trevor Hohns adheres to similar legalities.

But they too are under pressure from another young gun in Cameron Green. The tall 21yo from Subiaco bowls his sharpish fast mediums and bats with fluency and power.

He can make first class hundreds as we saw in the lead up. There was poise, command, composure and stroke play – front and back. And most of all it came with T Paine at the wicket. Best to impress the man with the (C) next to his name right under his nose.

When he's right to go, he can bowl some hostile spells. It's those stress fractures which likely curtail much bowling at the elite level for now but hopefully not into the future. Every team can do with a Freddie Flintoff style game changer at Number 6. But he too now hit the concussion hurdle – but from a weird source – at the bowling crease.

Tim Paine naturally holds his spot but the rock behind the sticks will be 36 just before the test starts. A succession plan is needed.

Assuming no more dramas (yeah right) – maybe a one off team of Labuschagne, Harris, Smith, Head, Wade & Green. It really is spin the chocolate wheel at present and offers India opportunities.

The bowling is fairly typical (unless trouble strikes there too). You can metronomically just add Starc, Hazlewood and Cummins as the quicks unless injury intervenes. But with Pattinson a ready made replacement there are few concerns about. He's ready to rumble.

Nathan Lyon has seemingly been around since biblical times but unless he begins to falter, we should be hearing 'Bowling Garry' for a little while yet. The good news is Mitchell Swepson has been turning cobras for Queensland that would make a certain blonde leg-spinner get rather excited.

Already he's bowled 201 overs in the Shield this season with 23 wickets @ 21 – exactly the message to help put the pressure on with. Will the spinners have the examination tools against noted players of spin in India?

They will face an Indian team with most of them coming effectively straight from the slap and tickle of the IPL. Only a few white ball fun and games were recently interspersed.

How quickly will all adjust to the differing styles of the red (and pink) ball? That said several of the locals also have been carving ramps shots and bowling slower bouncers!

That facet of regular relations within and without those teams is seen as a factor in showing better rapport on and off the field. Many were teammates for nearly two months. Hard to be helping giving throw downs one week and then trying to take their heads off the next.

The big quandary - India has one test with their champion though. Virat Kohli will play the opening salvo then head home for the birth of his child. A totally correct decision no doubt but the impact of which will alter the course of the series one thinks.

Kohli averages 53 with 27 hundreds in aggregate and against Australia he has 7 hundreds with an average of 48. Not that much different but slightly less. However, intriguingly when he's away from home he's at 55.

He loves the challenge, the confrontation and the contretemps – ok sometimes they are larger than that. The bounce also gives him more freedom.

Kohli's absence post-Adelaide will be a negative but India still have their hands on the Border-Gavaskar Trophy from two seasons ago and won't want to hand it over easily.

Cheteshwar Pujara is back again and the wall he built went up quicker than others elsewhere in the world. He faced 1258 balls in that series or nearly 210 overs himself. That is about two days and one session batting alone. God it was boring on occasions but oh so valuable.

The other great part of their success was the bowling. Jasprit Bumrah took 21 wickets (and he's back), Mohammed Shami had 16 (and he's back) but no Ishant Sharma.

If they bowl well they are always a chance. Sides that keep the pressure on in Australia can get away with more with the bat. You do have to bat well of course. But it can be made up with constant and hard-nosed bowling. Too much fruit platter bowling takes the game away quickly.

With the growing likelihood of larger than expected crowds from as little as last month, this series will be some spectacle compared to what has been seen around the world in most sporting ventures.

Had Boxing Day been sparse it would have looked like a ghost-town and a sad realisation as big as no Grand Final at the MCG nor a roar from the gates as they jumped in the First Tuesday in November.

But now they could play a role in how the series is contested. Then again many Tests have less than 10,000 by Day 4 anyway when they get that far.

Also there was saliva penalty runs in England over the Winter so that will be a continual watch in the post-COVID time frame.

Adelaide will be the great watch. Can Kohli deliver India a going away present before he gets his own great little bundled delivery of his own back at home?

The Day Night aspect is another intrigue. India recalcitrance has at least been subverted. Test cricket needs every bit of momentum and furthering of the game. Bring on more of them. Keep the game moving.

You can expect plenty of ebbs and flows in these games of cricket where form is fluky. Cursory stays at the crease could be a norm. There might be some fast games here.

India's best chances could well come both in Adelaide with the moving ball in darkening conditions and with the spinning ball in Sydney.

The timing of when to bat and how to bat are going to be absorbing. When it comes down to it, there are a few absolute stars on both teams than can change the course of a day, test and series.

Smith and Kohli the freaks, Labuschagne and Pujura the rocks, Cummins and Bumrah with the pill – all capable of dominating in their own way.

But a player to watch is Ajinkya Rahane who has been captain in the first class lead ups. He made a class hundred first up and will be the flourish in the middle order. Australia may end up targeting him as the big danger once Kohli goes. He's very good and in form.

The man to watch with the ball is Josh Hazlewood. He's taken 195 wickets @ 26 but in day/night games has 26 wickets @ 22. He clearly likes hitting the length, using the conditions and making the batsman play.

Enjoy the sanity and serenity some Test Cricket brings us with the sounds of Summer back. Never leave us this long again!