After three days of the first Test, India were 5/369 in reply to Australia’s 7/517 and for people who had never seen Test cricket at Adelaide before, the match appeared to be meandering towards a tedious draw.
Here are the ratings based on the final two non-meandering days of the Test.
Steve Smith
Grade: A
Nathan Lyon took five wickets in the Indian first innings to give Australia a 73 run lead before lunch on Day 4, and the Australians went to work setting a target.
With Chris Rogers falling cheaply, it was a big opportunity for Shane Watson to establish himself as Australia’s third innings target-setting specialist.
Alas, he couldn’t quite do so, lumbering instead to 33 (86). With Michael Clarke insufficiently injured to score a century, it was left to David Warner and Steve Smith to set a decent total.
Many theologians now posit that Smith-Warner partnerships constitute formal proof of the existence of a deity, and even those of a more atheistic mindset have to acknowledge that the pair are incredibly entertaining to watch.
Warner went on to bring up whatever the opposite of a chanceless century is (a chanceful century?). More importantly, he was on the spot to step in and protect Smith when chat between the two teams got a touch heated. Yet more evidence that Warner plays the bouncer extremely well.
After Warner went Full Maxwell (apart from the number of runs, obviously) and reverse-swept himself out, Mitch Marsh came in and clubbed 40 off 26 balls to help guide Australia to 5/290 at the end of Day 4.
But it was Smith who really caught the eye, as he continued on to 52*. This tally meant he’d scored 214 runs in the Test without being dismissed. Which raises the question, if Clarke is unfit for the Brisbane Test, will Smith be named captain?
Also, from what exploding planet was Smith rocketed as a baby and how exactly does the yellow sun of Earth power him?
Overnight declarations
Grade: B+
Oscar Wilde, a massive fan of batting opposition teams out of the game, once said, “To declare one innings overnight may be regarded as a misfortune; to declare both looks like carelessness”.
Clarke, paying no heed to the taunts of the witty 19th century playwright, took the opportunity to expand his now famous repertoire of Double Declaration Tests™ into bold new fields with a Double Overnight Declaration Test™, setting India 364 to win in the 98 overs of the final day.
I like overnight declarations. Mostly because I like anything that suggests that Test cricket is taking place 24 hours a day.
DRS
Grade: C
One of the other great things about Test cricket is the way in which the presence/absence of DRS in a series almost guarantees to have fans clamouring for its absence/presence.
It has become almost clichéd now to revel in the irony of an Indian batsman being dismissed by a bad decision that would easily be overruled by the DRS they insist on not using.
That clichéd status doesn’t mean it’s ever not funny, however. So we all had a bit of a chortle when Shikhar Dhawan was caught behind off his shoulder. Less so, when an incredibly plumb LBW appeal from Nathan Lyon was turned down just a few overs later. DRS opponents would argue that this was just evidence that bad decisions even themselves out over time. You know, much like tossing coins to make decisions would do.
I dunno. Maybe the best way to ease India into accepting DRS would be to just give them permission to overrule two decisions per innings. It would be a start, anyway.
Virat Kohli
Grade: A-
Despite his unwillingness to indulge in overnight declarations, I am a huge Virat Kohli fan. After all, you can’t spell ‘Kohli’ without ‘Oh!’ (although you do have to turn the exclamation mark upside down to make the ‘i’). I love the way he bats. I love his aggression in the field. I love the fact that he cannot smile.
With two astonishing centuries in this Test, I now want Kohli to go on and dominate this series to such an extent that the trophy is renamed to the Border-Kohli Trophy.
Or, if Clarke is deemed worthy, the Border-Kohli-Pup Trophy. Because, come on. What’s more adorable than border collie puppies?
Nathan Lyon
Grade: A
Nathan Lyon was the man who bowled Australia to victory, taking 7/152 (or 7/205 if you measure by the number of appeals). Such was the extent of Lyon’s appealing that there was genuine concern about whether he would have sufficient voice left to lead the team song.
Why is appealing part of cricket? Why can’t the umpires just make a decision on whether or not a batsman is out without some sweaty bowler screaming incoherently at them?
Do soccer players have to bellow at the referee before being awarded a goal? Does Usain Bolt need to shriek ‘Howzat?’ before his 100m time is ratified? If golfers fail to holler at one another, do their hole-in-ones not count?
No, seriously. Do those things happen? I don’t watch any other sports.
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The Aussie needed every centimetre of his height and reach to reel that one in!
