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Day three saw a great performance by Nathan Lyon and it could be more than just the turning point of the match but the turning point of his career.
He was unfairly dropped in England and since coming back into the side he has bowled extremely well.
Lyon now has 101 Test wickets in his career at an average of 32.23. Pretty impressive figures but the criticism of Lyon was that he hasn’t been able to bowl Australia to victory in the 2nd innings of a Test match.
Well he’s just proving that he’s not just a tie-down an end spinner, but one that can actually win his country a Test match.
But can the Aussies chase down the remaining runs required for victory?
Batting second has been a real struggle for Australia in recent years, in fact they have lost their last five matches out of seven when chasing a total.
Just two years ago we managed to lose in Hobart against New Zealand when chasing a similar total to the one on this Test.
Australia has also been poor at batting on slow pitches and this MCG drop in wicket is particular slow. No batsman has looked settled and boundaries have been hard to come by.
A lot of pitches Australia had to face in the last Ashes series in England were similar to this one and of course our batters struggled.
This Test is a great opportunity for our batsman to show that they can chase down a 4th innings target and better yet on a pitch where scoring is difficult.
Some other talking points from the match so far:
Chris Rogers has started well and this innings could be the one that cements his spot for South Africa.
George Bailey can’t afford to fail. If he is required to bat in the second innings he will need to figure a way to score runs through the off-side.
In the first innings England bowled outside the off stump to Bailey and Steve Smith and both batman weren’t able to score runs.
Letting Dave Warner play in the Big Bash before this Test was a poor decision and one that could cost Australia the match. Clearly he is still in Twenty20 mode and I hope Cricket Australia won’t make the same mistake again.
Another this that has been annoying me with our batting is Shane Watson and Michael Clarke – more specifically where they take guard.
Clarke gets bowled an unusually high percentage of the time.
Surely all he has to do is move his guard to middle stump or even middle and off stump. And considering he is great at playing shots off his pad I can’t figure out why he hasn’t already done this.
As for Watson I would do the reverse if I were him as he hardly ever gets bowled but get’s out LBW at an alarming rate.
Granted he hasn’t been out LBW this series but he has mucked around with his technique to combat the LBWs which could have contributed to some of his dismissals this series.
And again it just seems so simple as all he had to do was move his guard towards leg side and the problem would be solved.
On a positive note Mitchell Johnson is having one of the best ever test match series by a fast bowler.
If he isn’t taking wickets he’s running people out or taking amazing catches. All that is lacking from him this series is a hundred with the bat and then it would truly be a series performance for the ages.
The way Johnson is going I wouldn’t be surprised if he comes to the crease in the second innings with Australia in trouble and hits the winning runs to make it 4-0 to Australia.
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