India needs just two wickets to win the Boxing Day Test and go 2-1 up in the series when play resumes on day five.
Chasing an impossible 399 for victory after the tourists declared early on day four, Australia slumped to 8/258 at stumps as its bowlers dug in to ensure the Test went into the final day.
Pat Cummins showed his top order teammates how it’s done by becoming the only Aussie to score a half century in the match while Nathan Lyon demonstrated plenty of grit to survive alongside the fast bowler.
There are showers forecast in Melbourne today and the hosts will be hoping it pours down all day to help them hold on on for a miracle draw. The covers have been on and off throughout the morning.
The rain’s been tumbling down again to give Aussie fans reason to be optimistic as the players were prevented from taking the field.
Good news after waiting game
Lunch was brought forward from 12.30pm to 12.15pm and play is expected to start just before 1pm as the weather fines up.
The covers are off and the sun has come out, crippling Aussie hopes of a miracle draw.
Rain makes India nervous
India will be sweating as the rain tumbles down in Melbourne, threatening to thwart its chances of taking a 2-1 lead in the series.
Virat Kohli will be especially nervous after opting against enforcing the follow-on on day three after bowling Australia out for just 151 in the first innings. The tourists soaked up more time in the match by batting for a further 37.3 overs in their second dig instead of taking another crack at the fragile Aussie batting order right away — and it’s time that could come back to haunt it if the rain continues to fall.
‘Crazy’ crime in Aussie stich-up
Aaron Finch has been set up to fail.Source:AP
Former Australian Test star Ed Cowan has lashed Australia’s selectors for picking Aaron Finch as an opening batsman, claiming he was set up to fail.
Finch’s Test career is in jeopardy after another low score on Saturday. He played a loose shot outside off stump and was caught at second slip for three, giving him scores of 0, 11, 50, 25, 8 and 3 for the series.
Despite batting in the middle order for Victoria in first class cricket, Finch was promoted to face the new ball as selectors backed him to succeed as an opener in the whites because he’s forged a successful career at the top of the order in one-day and T20 cricket.
Finch was slammed for his ugly dismissal but Cowan said the selectors — including chairman Trevor Hohns — need to accept responsibility for his failures too.
“Basically, (Finch has been) set up to fail,” Cowan said on ABC Grandstand. “An accomplished middle order player who opens the batting in one-day cricket and all of a sudden pops up at the top of the order.
“It’s a crazy selection. Do we ever hear from Trevor Hohns saying I got that wrong? No.”
Ed Cowan has reason to be grumpy with Australian selectors. But scathing on ABC Radio about Trevor Hohns as the invisible man who rarely has to justify selections and selection mistakes. Makes a fair point
— Jon Ralph (@RalphyHeraldSun) December 29, 2018
The last two Shield seasons, Aaron Finch has only batted at No.4, 5 or 6. He’s made two hundreds – one at No.5 and one at No.6. Why was he ever asked to be a Test opener? Because he opens well in ODIs and T20s? They’re completely different games. #AUSvIND
— Brydon Coverdale (@brydoncoverdale) December 29, 2018
Historic low looms for Aussies
Unless Pat Cummins miraculously reaches three figures today, Australia will be on the verge of a historic low that exposes the shambolic state of the country’s batting stocks.
Assuming Cummins (or Nathan Lyon or Josh Hazlewood, for that matter) doesn’t score a hundred, it will be the first time since the summer of 1991-92 the Aussies have gone into the New Year’s Test without at least one player having posted a ton in the home summer.
And if that worrying streak continues at the SCG next month, it will be the first time in 136 years no Australian has scored a century in a four-Test series played at home, according to cricket.com.au.
Australia has averaged 26.30 runs per wicket with the bat in Tests in 2018. That’s the 4th worst in the last 100 years.
1956 – 21.58 runs per wicket
1978 – 25.35 rpw
1970 – 26.21 rpw
2018 – 26.30 rpw#AUSvIND— Brett Graham (@brett_graham) December 29, 2018
Despite the recent batting flops, spinner Nathan Lyon stood by his teammates, saying it’s unfair to suggest the top and middle order players are letting down the team.
“I don’t feel that’s a really fair comment, to be honest,” Lyon said. “I see how much hard work the guys are doing in the nets, and at training.
“I know they’re working hard, they’re not going out there to try to fail, they’re working their backsides off and they’ve got all my support.
“You’ve got to remember we’re coming up against a world-class bowling attack.
“It’s one of the best Indian bowling attacks that I’ve ever seen.
“I know all our batters are disappointed, of course they’re disappointed, but I know how hard they’re working and that, around the corner, there’s a lot of success for them.”
Mitch Marsh ‘flat’ after latest failure
Mitchell Marsh didn’t make an impact with the bat.Source:AAP
Shaun Marsh admits younger brother Mitch is feeling flat after twin failures with the bat in the third Test while also expressing disappointment at those fans who booed the much-maligned all-rounder at the MCG.
Sections of the crowd, unhappy with Mitch Marsh for taking Victorian Peter Handscomb’s place in Australia’s XI, booed the West Australian on day one of the Boxing Day Test.
Marsh brushed off the noise to do a fine job with the ball, keeping things tight as he offering Australia’s pacemen much-needed relief while delivering 26 overs in India’s first innings.
But the vice-captain was unable to produce the same form with the bat and was dismissed for nine and 10 by spinner Ravindra Jadeja.
Marsh’s dismissal on Saturday, an attempt at aggression gone awry, prompted stinging criticism from Simon Katich and no shortage of calls for selectors to swing the axe ahead of the SCG series decider.
“He’s pretty flat at the moment,” Shaun Marsh told the ABC after day four. “Obviously I feel for him. He’d be disappointed after today.
“But he’s obviously bowled really well in the first innings. He did a good job backing up our quicks.”
Shaun Marsh made the point that every member of the top six, including himself, is disappointed with their poor performance at the MCG.
Mitch Marsh is one of the most well-liked players in Australia’s dressing room but, along with Aaron Finch, looms as the player most likely to be dropped in coming days if selectors opt for change.
“I’m absolutely lost for words watching that,” Katich said of Mitch Marsh’s dismissal.
“He’s just squandered it again. He’ll probably be joining (Aaron) Finch on the sidelines in Sydney.”
Katich, commentating on SEN, noted he would be “steaming” if he were national coach Justin Langer.
“It’s a good thing I’m up here and not down there, I’d be tearing strips off him (Mitch Marsh),” Katich said.
Asked about the boos on day one, Shaun Marsh replied he was “pretty disappointed”.
“But you can’t control that,” Marsh said.
“Mitch to his credit carried on and I thought he did a really good job after that happened.” Handscomb, Travis Head and bowling coach David Saker have also criticised those supporters who booed Mitch Marsh.
AAP
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