England 283 & 236
India 417 & 104/2
India win by 8 wickets
It took, perhaps, a little longer than may have been expected but India duly cantered to an eight-wicket victory in Mohali and unassailable 2-0 lead in the series. That it was not until after tea that they knocked off the runs was largely down to a resilient display from Haseeb Hameed, batting at No. 8 due to his finger injury, who ended unbeaten on 59 but the target was swiftly dealt with by Parthiv Patel's 54-ball 67.
Hameed's innings put into context the wasteful batting that had pockmarked England's performance. They were chasing the game since the opening session, when they handed three wickets of the four wickets to fall for India, who only briefly let them back into the contest during that frenetic period after tea on the second day when they lost 3 for 8.
England began the fourth day 56 behind with six wickets hand and though Joe Root helped England erase the deficit during the morning session by then two further wickets had been shipped. When Root departed for 78, sharply held a slip, there were visions of a swift conclusion to the match but Hameed dug in and Chris Woakes played positively to persuade India that the new ball was needed. It was used with potent effect by Mohammed Shami who claimed two wickets in three deliveries. Hameed was eventually left stranded when James Anderson was slow coming back for a second run.
M Vijay's diminishing returns since his century in Rajkot continued when he fell for a duck, edging a short ball from Woakes to slip, but Parthiv led India's surge to the target - in the process creating a potential selection-poser should Wriddhiman Saha be fit - while Cheteshwar Pujara was content to play within himself, avoiding a regular diet of bouncers, until top-edging a sweep with 15 required.
It was noticeable how England's quicks went for a concerted short-pitched attack early in India's chase, something that had been missing with the game in the balance on the third morning, but barring Ben Stokes' herculean efforts they were out-bowled by the India pacemen.
That was no better highlighted than by Shami's use of the second new-ball. He rattled Woakes with a short ball, which hammered into his helmet and dislodged the stem guard, then following up with another pinpoint short delivery which Woakes could only fend behind to the keeper. Two balls later, Adil Rashid was also bounced out, hooking to fine leg.
Hameed, batting down the order below Jos Buttler, rarely appeared in significant discomfort from his injury - although he needed further painkillers during his stay - which prompted some questions as to why he had not been able to take his normal position opening. It also emerged that he had already undergone an x-ray, which had initially been pencilled in for after the match, with the results awaited from the UK.
It took him 19 balls to get off the mark and he needed 111 deliveries to score his first boundary, which came with a slog-sweep against R Ashwin. He had also been given a life on 6 when Parthiv could not gather a tough chance off Ashwin. When he was joined by last-man Anderson he had 23 off 127 balls, but then showed the other side to his game. He took on Shami and, when he was somewhat surprisingly removed from the attack, continued to take on both Aswhin and Ravindra Jadeja with his fifty coming up off 147 deliveries when he slog-swept for six over deep midwicket.
It had not taken long for India to make their first breakthrough when nightwatchman Gareth Batty propped forward at Jadeja's second ball of the day and was given lbw. Root and Buttler responded with intent: Buttler came down the pitch to loft Jadeja over long-off and Root scampered hard between the wickets. For a short period it was reminiscent of a one-day partnership and Virat Kohli relaxed his attacking fields a little.
However, when a batsman such as Buttler is keen to dominate - which was not without merit - the scouts in the deep become wicket-taking catchers and so it proved when Buttler miscued Jayant Yadav to deep midwicket.
Hameed was never going to opt for the Buttler route so it was left to Root to do the majority of the run-scoring while he bedded in. Shami went short at him for a brief period, to try and target the injured hand, but with the old ball the pacemen's main threat continued to be reverse swing with both Shami and Umesh Yadav finding prodigious movement on occasions.
Root's half-century, his second-slowest in Test cricket, was brought up with his third boundary and he then became engaged in a tussle with Ashwin. A cover drive and strong sweep went Root's way, but attempting another sweep he was fortunate to escape as it looped over the wicketkeeper. It was another bowling change which ended his resistance - another call that worked for Kohli in this match - when Root drove at a delivery from Jadeja which gripped enough to take the edge. Both sides' catching has been fallible in this match, but Rahane's snaffle to his left was superb.
Tuesday 29 November 2016
3rd Test AUS 1-2 SA & 2nd Test NZ 2-0 PAK
3rd Test: Australia v South Africa at Adelaide Nov 24-28, 2016 03:30 GMT
Day 1
South Africa 259/9d
Australia 14/0
Australia trail by 245 runs with 10 wickets remaining in the 1st innings
His innings was mint, his declaration sweet. He took the shine off all of Australia's fine bowling and silenced the lollygagging Australian fans. There, the terrible puns are out of the way early. Now for the substance, and on the first day - and night - at Adelaide Oval, everything Faf du Plessis did was of substance. From the moment he walked to the crease, things were against him. The pink ball was swinging, the Australians were on top, the score was 3 for 44. And du Plessis walked out to the sound of a booing crowd.
But if the spectators remembered du Plessis' previous visit to the ground, when he blockaded for 376 balls on debut to salvage an unlikely draw, they would have known he is a hard man to perturb. And with his ball-tampering conviction behind him, du Plessis had but one focus: leading his team back into this match. When he ran off late in the evening at 9 for 259, a hundred to his name and an aggressive declaration forcing Australia's openers to bat for an awkward period under lights, he had done so.
By Test standards it was an exceptionally early declaration, coming after only 76 overs of the first innings of the match. But perhaps he had noted that David Warner had been off the field being treated for a shoulder injury, and thus a declaration would mean Warner was prevented from opening the innings. In any case, although the debutant No.11 Tabraiz Shamsi had fun swinging the bat, there seemed little to be gained from batting on.
If South Africa's bowlers did not strike, they at leasted tested Australia's openers. It took 38 balls for Australia to find any runs off the bat, a single through midwicket from Usman Khawaja, sent out to open because Warner could not. Next ball, the debutant Matt Renshaw got off the mark in Tests with a boundary tucked off his hip from his 19th delivery. By stumps, Australia were 0 for 14, with Renshaw on 8 and Khawaja on 3. But on day two, they would have to get set once again.
And if day one proved anything, it was that getting set against the swinging and seaming pink ball was a challenge. In the third over of the match, Stephen Cook was lbw to Mitchell Starc for 4, only to be reprieved because it was a no-ball. But Dean Elgar, Hashim Amla and JP Duminy had no such luck as they each fell with scores of 5, all to edges behind the wicket. In fact, every wicket until the eighth fell to catches behind the wicket.
Elgar edged a swinging ball from Starc and was snapped up at third slip by Usman Khawaja, Amla nicked Hazlewood and was caught by Renshaw low to his right at first slip, and Duminy gave Matthew Wade his first Test catch in more than three years when he inside-edged behind off Hazlewood. South Africa were 3 for 44, and du Plessis was walking to the crease. His team needed something special, and du Plessis duly delivered an innings of remarkable character.
When given width outside off he drove extremely well, but he also picked off runs through midwicket when the bowlers strayed onto his pads. He struck 17 boundaries, more than half of them off Starc. He brought up his fifty from 92 deliveries, and his century from 147. By that stage he had the No.10 for company, wickets having fallen regularly throughout the innings. They just weren't falling at his end. When he declared, he had 118 off 164 balls.
Du Plessis was the anchor but needed help along the way. First it came in a 51-run stand with Cook, who used his early reprieve to reach his highest score of the tour. Cook went to the tea break on 40 but could not add to his score upon the resumption, and edged Starc to Steven Smith at second slip. It left South Africa at 4 for 95, with two wickets each to Starc and Hazlewood, who were the most dangerous of the bowlers.
Jackson Bird, playing his first Test since the tour of New Zealand in February, struggled to find his rhythm early and leaked runs, but improved after tea and was rewarded when Temba Bavuma edged him behind for 8. Quinton de Kock struck a brisk 24 before edging Hazlewood behind and it was the first time on this trip that de Kock had failed to reach fifty in any innings - Test or tour match - and it ended his run of five consecutive Test scores of fifty or more.
Hazlewood snared his fourth wicket just before dinner when Vernon Philander was given out caught behind for 4, only to ask confidently for a review as the ball had brushed his leg on the way through to Wade. However, the thinnest imaginable spike on Real-Time Snicko suggested there might have been a faint inside edge before the ball struck Philander, and third umpire Aleem Dar upheld the on-field decision.
Still Australia could not run through the tail. Kyle Abbott contributed 17 from 50 balls and put on 54 with du Plessis for the eighth wicket - the highest partnership of the innings - before he was lbw to Bird. The final wicket came when Kagiso Rabada dragged his back foot just outside his crease off Nathan Lyon and was stumped by Matthew Wade, giving Lyon his first wicket since the first innings of the Perth Test, and ending his 660-ball drought.
And yet still South Africa fought. Shamsi, on debut and with a first-class average of 8.18, struck an unbeaten 18 in a 39-run stand before his partner, du Plessis, called an end to the innings. The result was a Test match poised in a fascinating position at stumps on day one. And all because of du Plessis, who had made 118 out of 259 and then wrong-footed Australia with his declaration. If he has had a week to forget, at least this was a day to remember.
Day 2
Australia 6 for 307 lead South Africa 9 for 259 dec by 48 runs
In his first innings as a Test opener, Usman Khawaja scored Australia's first hundred of the series, and their first in day-night Test cricket. In his first innings as a Test batsman, Peter Handscomb scored an impressive half-century. In his first innings as a Test batsman, Nic Maddinson was bowled for a duck. Such was the progression for Australia on the second day in Adelaide, where South Africa used the second new ball to fight back late in the evening.
Most of this day belonged to Khawaja, who batted throughout it and by stumps had occupied the crease for 285 deliveries. But the last session was arguably South Africa's as they claimed three wickets and reached into Australia's tail, although a frustrating seventh-wicket stand between Khawaja and Mitchell Starc prevented them running through it. At stumps Starc had 16 and Khawaja was on 138, ready to take his innings into its third day.
Khawaja was hoping the tail would help him build a big enough lead to worry South Africa - already the advantage was 48. Australia scored 95 runs in the first session, 100 in the second and 98 in the third and if runs did not come exactly briskly - Kyle Abbott was especially frugal and picked up 3 for 38 from 25 overs - a batsman could rotate the strike and pick off the bad balls once settled, as Khawaja did brilliantly.
Khawaja was so patient that his first 80 deliveries brought only 18 runs. Perhaps it was a blessing in disguise for Australia that David Warner was prevented from opening on the first evening because he had spent too long off the field having treatment on his shoulder. The tricky period before stumps on day one required watchfulness, and Khawaja carried that trait into the second day as Abbott especially asked questions of the top order.
The debutant opener Matt Renshaw (10) and then Warner in the unfamiliar position of first drop both edged Abbott to third slip where Dean Elgar held both catches, the first so low to the ground it needed third-umpire confirmation and the second more at a more comfortable height. Australia were 2 for 37 and the innings could have gone either way. As it happened, Khawaja and Smith steadied perfectly by putting on 137 for the third wicket.
Smith was dropped on 46 when he edged JP Duminy and Hashim Amla at slip juggled and dropped the chance, and the partnership only ended via a communication breakdown between Smith and Khawaja. On 59, Smith pushed Tabraiz Shamsi to point and called for a single. Khawaja set off before calling no and Smith seemingly did not hear and kept running. By the time he had stopped and tried to regain his own ground, it was too late.
But if you're going to sell the captain's wicket cheaply you should at least put a high price on your own. Khawaja did that, and brought up his fifth Test century from his 197th delivery with a cut through point for four off Shamsi. He was prolific through the leg side, pulling well when the bowlers dropped short, and once he became used to Shamsi's wrist-spin he used his feet and drove exquisitely through cover.
He followed his century stand with Smith by compiling a 99-run partnership with Handscomb, and it continued Khawaja's fine series - he has featured in seven of the 10 Australian stands of 50 or more in this series. But Handscomb was equally impressive during their time together at the crease. His first ball in Test cricket was a pearler from Vernon Philander that moved away just a fraction and beat the outside edge, but Handscomb survived and thrived.
His method of batting deep inside his crease gave him time to cut effectively and he also used his feet to the spinners. He appeared unawed by the occasion and ensured the strike was rotated, in fact outscoring Khawaja by 14 runs during the stand. Handscomb struck six fours and three in succession off Philander brought up his fifty from his 70th delivery.
In the end it was Abbott who breached Handscomb's defences, seaming the new ball sharply in to bowl him for 54. As one debutant walked off another walked on, but where Handscomb had been calm and in control, Maddinson struggled to get his feet moving and finished with a 12-ball duck when Kagiso Rabada swung one in a searing yorker that rattled the stumps.
In the next over, Philander had Matthew Wade caught behind and at 6 for 283, there was a risk Australia would collapse and their lead would be minimal. But by stumps, Starc had survived for 50 deliveries and frustrated South Africa's hopes of a quick finish to the innings. And, as ever throughout the day, Khawaja was still there.
Day 3
South Africa 259/9d & 194/6 (69.0 ov)
Australia 383
South Africa lead by 70 runs with 4 wickets remaining
By the time Nathan Lyon took his first wicket of this Test, he had endured a 660-ball drought without a first-class breakthrough. He was lucky even to be playing, for only Steve O'Keefe's calf injury saved Lyon from the axe, prevented the Goat from becoming the Scapegoat. But on the third evening Lyon reminded Australia's selectors why he has become Australia's most prolific offspinning Test wicket taker, his three strikes tightening Australia's grip on the match.
Between Lyon and Mitchell Starc, who bowled with pace and aggression and picked up two wickets, and Josh Hazlewood, who removed Hashim Amla for the fifth time from five innings in this series, Australia kept South Africa on the back foot. South Africa started with a deficit of 124, which by stumps had become a lead of 70. But with only four wickets in hand, a great deal of work remained for it to become the kind of target that would worry the Australians.
If you asked the Australians this morning which South African batsman would annoy them most today, they might have said Faf du Plessis, or Quinton de Kock, or Hashim Amla, or JP Duminy. Perhaps even Dean Elgar or Temba Bavuma, who have shown form in this series. If they were listening to the TV commentary, they may even have said Kevin Pietersen. As for Stephen Cook, nothing in the past month suggested he would be even a minor irritant.
But it was Cook who did most to hold the Australians off, and by the close of play he was on 81 and Quinton de Kock was yet to score, with the total sitting at 6 for 194. Cook entered this Test with tour scores of 5, 12, 0, 0, 12, 23 and 11 - and remember that four of those scores came against sub first-class opposition in warm-up games. The only South African who had played both Tests and scored less runs than Cook this series was Kagiso Rabada.
However, in the first innings Cook found a way to grind out 40, and in the second he managed his first fifty of the trip. It was not easy, nor pretty. At times it was downright ugly, and the Adelaideans who chose to spend their Saturday night in the cold, watching Cook bat, might have wondered at the wisdom of their choice. And yet it was gripping Test cricket; Australia's attack were baying, yet being kept at bay by a batsman who had so recently been all at sea.
Cook knows a thing or two about patience - he owns the fifth-longest first-class innings of all time, an 838-minute effort that brought him 390 runs in 648 balls. Here, he worked many of his runs through the leg side when Australia's bowlers got too straight. Only two of his seven boundaries came through the off side - and both of those were edges through a gap in the cordon. All that mattered to South Africa was that he was still there.
Wickets fell around him. In the first over of the innings, Elgar edged Starc to slip and was caught for a third-ball duck. Amla, put down on 13 when wicketkeeper Matthew Wade and first slip Matt Renshaw both failed to move quickly enough to claim an edge off Starc, was eventually caught behind off Hazlewood for 45. It meant that in every innings of the series, Amla had fallen to the bowling of Hazlewood.
JP Duminy fell to an uncharacteristically poor shot when he played across the line trying to work Lyon to leg, and was bowled for 26 from 70 balls. Starc, who sent down some searing bouncers and seemed to be back at his best, had du Plessis snapped up sharply by Peter Handscomb at gully for 12.
Temba Bavuma, who had valiantly and repeatedly tried to hook Starc, eventually fell to the spin of Lyon for 21 when he top-edged a sweep and was caught by Smith, running behind the wicketkeeper from slip. And Lyon claimed his third when nightwatchman Kyle Abbott played back and was lbw for a five-ball duck, narrowly failing to do his job of keeping de Kock safely inside for the evening.
The day had begun with Australia on 6 for 307, and they added 76 to their overnight score for the loss of their final four wickets. Usman Khawaja, who had been batting since the first evening, was lbw to Vernon Philander for 145, his 308-ball innings the longest by an Australian opener in a home Test since Justin Langer made a double-century at Adelaide Oval in 2004.
But even after Khawaja departed, the Australia tail provided some frustrations for du Plessis and his men. Starc struck five fours and one six on his way to 53, which was the seventh half-century of his Test career, before he prodded a return catch back to Rabada, who finished with 3 for 84.
The debutant left-arm wrist-spinner Tabraiz Shamsi endured a long wait for his maiden Test wicket but finally achieved the feat in his 27th over when he had Lyon caught top-edging a sweep for 13. Hazlewood finished unbeaten on 11 when the final wicket fell, Bird caught at slip off Rabada for 6.
It meant Australia had been dismissed for 383, their highest Test total since the tour of New Zealand in February, and held a first-innings lead of 124. And despite the fight of Cook later in the day, Australia went to stumps with a good chance of avoiding being on the wrong end of a historic home whitewash.
Day 4
South Africa 259/9d & 250
Australia 383 & 127/3
Australia won by 7 wickets
In the end there was no whitewash - Australia were not swept in a home series for the first time since 1887. Instead, the dead-rubber bounce that Test cricket so often produces again manifested itself as Australia chased down 127 to win the third Test against South Africa at Adelaide Oval. Australia's sequence of five consecutive Test losses ended, and it ended with two debutant batsmen at the crease.
South Africa, of course, won the series. They finished with a 2-1 result that will still go down as an outstanding achievement given the developing nature of their own side. But if Australia were to take a consolation win after the mass overhaul to the side, it was perhaps fitting that two of the new boys would share the winning runs, which came when Peter Handscomb flicked through midwicket and called Matt Renshaw through for a single.
In many ways, this Adelaide Test felt like it was part of a completely different series from the Perth and Hobart matches. Of course, it was played with a pink ball as a day-night fixture, but Australia's team was also hard to recognise: five changes were made from the XI that lost in Hobart. Whatever the reasons, the public interest was sparked: the match crowd of 125,993 was the highest for any non-Ashes Test at Adelaide Oval.
Set a small target, Australia's new opening pair finally had the chance to bat together, Usman Khawaja having opened with Renshaw in the first innings because David Warner had spent too long off the field having treatment on an injured shoulder. Renshaw and Warner were a study in contrasts during their 64-run stand, as had been the case with Warner and past partners such as Ed Cowan and Chris Rogers.
Renshaw displayed more leaves than an evergreen, Warner as many as a deciduous tree in autumn. Warner rattled along at roughly a run a ball, Renshaw at a run an over. But all that mattered in this small chase was that wickets remained in hand. The 1994 SCG Test between Australia and South Africa remains an object lesson in how small chases can go awry: Australia were all out for 111 chasing 117.
There was no such joy for South Africa 22 years later. The first wicket did not fall until 19 overs into the innings, when Australia already had more than half their required runs. Warner, who had struck seven fours on his way to 47, pulled towards midwicket and called for a run that was probably not there; Renshaw sent him back, Temba Bavuma fielded in typically tidy style and threw to the keeper's end to run Warner out.
Two balls later, Khawaja played for non-existent turn from Tabraiz Shamsi and was trapped in front, though South Africa had to review Nigel Llong's on-field not-out decision to gain satisfaction. Australia had wobbled from 0 for 64 to 2 for 64, but any hopes South Africa had of a late rally were dashed by the steadying influence of Steven Smith, who struck 40 from 52 balls before he edged Kyle Abbott behind with only two runs needed.
Twice South Africa asked for reviews against Renshaw, once for a catch in the cordon and once for an lbw, but both relied on a mistake from umpire Richard Kettleborough - whose form in this series has been greater than any of the players - and both were struck down. Renshaw was free to keep batting, keep leaving, keep finding his way as a Test opener.
There were also plenty of plays and misses from Renshaw, but at least he showed the kind of mental strength that Australia require. Importantly, he was still there at the end, unbeaten on 34 from 137 balls. It was an innings that showed the high price Renshaw places on his wicket. At no stage did his lack of pace threaten Australia's victory hopes. This was a young man taking his time, and after Australia's recent batting collapses, who could complain about that?
The day had started with South Africa on 6 for 194 in their second innings, and they added 56 to their overnight total for the loss of their last four wickets. Stephen Cook moved to his second Test century before he was the last man to fall, bowled by Mitchell Starc for 104 as the South Africans were dismissed for 250.
Jackson Bird made the important first breakthrough when he had Quinton de Kock lbw for 5, the on-field not-out decision from Nigel Llong overturned on Australia's review. Vernon Philander put on 34 for the eighth wicket with Cook before Starc, using the new ball to great effect, swung a fullish delivery back in and trapped Philander lbw for 17.
Cook was running out of partners but had time to bring up his hundred from his 235th delivery, with a boundary pulled through square leg off Josh Hazlewood. It looked as if Cook was set to carry his bat through the innings, especially when Kagiso Rabada gloved behind trying to pull Hazlewood on 7, but in the next over Cook was done in by Starc's swing. Starc finished with 4 for 80, and South Africa simply had not made enough runs.
Not that they will especially care about this seven-wicket loss when in future years they reflect on their remarkable achievements on the 2016-17 tour of Australia. To win an away series with no AB de Villiers, almost no Dale Steyn, and no contributions of note from Hashim Amla - that is a feat that is worthy of the highest praise.
As for Australia? Right now, they'll take any sort of win, dead rubber or not. And the signs from Handscomb, who made a first-innings fifty, and Renshaw, are encouraging. It is up to Smith and his new-look squad to ensure the Adelaide Test is a turning point, not an aberration.
2nd Test: New Zealand v Pakistan at Hamilton Nov 24-28, 2016 22:00 GMT
Day 1
New Zealand 77/2 (21.0 ov)
Pakistan
Pakistan won the toss and elected to field
Persistent rain ruled out any chance of play in the second and third sessions after Pakistan, having chosen an all-seam attack on a green pitch, picked up two New Zealand wickets after winning the toss. New Zealand batted positively, going after anything marginally loose, and scored 77 runs in 21 overs before rain forced an early lunch, 15 minutes before schedule. With intermittent showers continuing to afflict Seddon Park, umpires called off play at 4pm.
It left the Test match suspended in an interesting though still embryonic position with Jeet Raval, carrying on from his impressive debut in Christchurch, batting on 35 and Ross Taylor, who seemed unbothered by the pterygium in his left eye, on 29 off 20 balls.
Taylor looked far more assured than he had done in either South Africa or India, lining up in a more side-on stance than normal, and, perhaps as a consequence, lifting his bat up behind him rather than out towards gully as is usually the case, allowing it to come down straighter in defence while having no adverse effect on his traditional strength, the square-cut. Of the six fours he hit, five came off this shot.
This was also because Pakistan bowled too short and too wide at him, and in general weren't as accurate as the conditions demanded. Sohail Khan and Wahab Riaz were particularly guilty of spraying the ball around, while Imran Khan, returning to the Test line-up after more than a year, looked rusty, often slanting the ball too wide of off stump to make Raval play.
It was a curious unraveling after Mohammad Amir had begun as well as he possibly could have, every ball of his first over tight on off stump, curling away from a good length or just short of it, forcing the two left-handed openers to play, and produced four edges and two plays-and-misses. Two of the edges carried to Sami Aslam at first slip. He dropped the first, at knee height while falling to his left, to reprieve Raval, and caught the second, to send back Tom Latham for a first-ball duck.
Aside from that let-off and a couple of loose drives away from his body, Raval showed impressive judgment outside off, particularly against the right-armers angling the ball across him. He profited particularly from nudges off his legs and pulls, the latter shot rather effective on a pitch where the ball came through with true bounce but not a lot of pace.
Kane Williamson looked in excellent touch in his 42-ball stay at the crease, easing two effortless drives through the off side when Amir overpitched, and defending with the softest hands in the game. When Amir dropped a difficult return catch in the fifth over of the morning, off a firmly hit straight drive, it looked as if Williamson might go on and make a substantial score, but it wasn't to be, as he fell to Sohail after a Pakistan review.
Getting the ball to nibble in from outside off stump, Sohail produced a tentative, half-forward poke, and the bowler and all the fielders behind the wicket went up instinctively when they heard a click through to the keeper. Simon Fry gave it not out on the field, and Ian Gould, the third umpire, overturned his decision; it seemed a tight call to make. HotSpot did not register an edge, and the Real-Time Snickometer seemed to show a spike an instant after the ball passed his inside edge, suggesting it may have hit his elbow. Some of the TV commentators, however, said they heard a double-noise, indicating the ball may have kissed the edge and then hit Williamson's elbow.
Day 2
New Zealand 271
Pakistan 76/5 (29.0 ov)
Pakistan trail by 195 runs with 5 wickets remaining in the 1st innings
A devastating new-ball burst from Tim Southee followed by two wickets in two balls from Neil Wagner left Pakistan gasping for breath at the end of the second day in Hamilton. New Zealand began the day badly, slipping to 119 for 5 before their lower order hauled them to 271, and ended it in a commanding position, with Pakistan five down and trailing by 195.
Seddon Park is Southee's home ground in domestic cricket, and he showed exactly how to bowl at this venue, hitting a much fuller length than any of the Pakistan seamers - including Sohail Khan, who took four wickets - had managed. He slanted one across Sami Aslam, who played for swing when there was none, and nicked to second slip. He brought Azhar Ali half-forward and made him follow the deceitful curve of his outswinger. Then he floated up a full, wide tempter that Younis Khan chased fatally, leaving Pakistan 12 for 3 in 8.5 overs.
Babar Azam, seeming to read length quicker than any of his team-mates, got right behind the line of the ball in defence, and punished anything loose, particularly anything cuttable or on his pads, while moving to an unbeaten 34. For a while it seemed as if Asad Shafiq would stay with him till stumps, as he counterattacked his way to 23, hitting four fours including three in one over from Colin de Grandhomme.
But he went after a full, wide one from Wagner, playing with an angled bat, and dragged the ball onto his stumps. Next ball, the debutant Mohammad Rizwan hooked straight to long leg, leaving Pakistan 51 for 5. Babar and Sarfraz Ahmed saw them through to stumps, putting on an unbroken 25 for the sixth wicket. A huge responsibility will rest on their shoulders at the start of day three, with one of the longer tails in world cricket to follow them.
New Zealand, on the other hand, boast a more-than-useful lower order, which rallied around the adhesive BJ Watling to rescue them after Pakistan's seamers had taken three wickets for 42 runs at the start of the day's play.
De Grandhomme began the turnaround with a 55-ball 37 that dominated a sixth-wicket stand of 51 with Watling. Never really moving his feet too much, de Grandhomme showed a pair of quick hands to play some sensational shots, including a shovel-pull off Imran Khan and a pair of back-foot punches between mid-off and extra-cover off Mohammad Amir. He moved to 37 off 54 balls before falling to the first ball after lunch, nicking Imran to the wicketkeeper.
When Sohail slanted one across Mitchell Santner to have him caught at second slip by the feline Younis, New Zealand were 203 for 7, but their resistance was by no means extinguished, as the next two wickets added 67.
For perhaps the first time in the match, Pakistan seemed to miss the legspin of Yasir Shah, with their all-seam attack looking a little one-dimensional as the green Seddon Park pitch seemed to ease out under a largely cloudless sky. Southee, backing away from his stumps against Wahab Riaz's short balls, made a mess of Azhar's field placements - which at one point included a third man so fine he could ostensibly be called a long stop - before Sohail foxed him with a back-of-the-hand slower ball that spun like a googly.
Matt Henry, trusting his eye and flat-batting three fours in 11 balls, added 31 with Watling before spooning Amir to mid-off in the second over after tea. Imran then had Neil Wagner caught at second slip to finish with three wickets, leaving Watling stranded one short of a half-century. Compact in defence as always, Watling punished any width, whether off the front or back foot, picking up five of his six fours with either the cover-drive or the cut.
With the sky blue rather than the dark grey of day one, there was less swing available to Pakistan's quicks on the second morning. Perhaps as a result of this, all of them sought to hit the deck harder, in an effort to maximise seam movement.
The day's first strike came at a vital moment for Pakistan. Ross Taylor, continuing to profit from a switch to a more side-on, upright stance, was scoring at comfortably over a run a ball, and he had just stroked Amir to the cover boundary to bring up his fifty partnership with Jeet Raval. Three balls later, at the start of the fifth over of the morning, Sohail got one to nip back into him from just short of a good length and clip his inside edge through to the wicketkeeper as he looked to force the ball into the covers.
At the other end, the left-handed Raval seemed utterly sure of his off stump when the ball was angled across him, but less so against Amir's left-arm over angle. He had survived one uncertain poke in the first over of the match, when Sami Aslam put him down at first slip off Amir. The same bowler endured the agony of a near-replay in the ninth over of the second morning, when a near-identical poke from Raval ended up with Aslam, diving to his right this time, shelling another straightforward chance at first slip. This time, Raval was batting on 40.
Replacing Sohail, Imran went for two early boundaries in his spell, Raval bringing up fifty with the first one, a drive to the left of mid-off. Then he moved around the wicket, looking to emulate Amir's angle. It only took three balls from that side of the stumps for Imran to strike, Raval jabbing away from his body, uncharacteristically, and nicking to first slip, where Aslam had given way to the debutant Mohammad Rizwan, who pouched the chance safely by his hip.
Henry Nicholls, stuck on 8 for 18 balls, including a maiden from Imran bending the ball back into him from around the wicket and severely testing his judgment of off stump, seemed to release a bit of pressure when he pulled Wahab for four. That ball, however, would eventually play a part in his dismissal. Having pushed him back with a succession of short balls, Wahab bowled one full, outside off stump, inviting the drive, and got it to straighten off the seam to find Nicholls' edge.
Day 3
New Zealand 271 & 0/0
Pakistan 216
New Zealand lead by 55 runs with 10 wickets remaining
A six-wicket haul from Tim Southee secured a 55-run lead for New Zealand and left Babar Azam stranded ten short of a maiden Test hundred on a damp third day at Seddon Park. Rain allowed only 38.1 overs of play. A brief shower forced lunch eight minutes early, and only six balls were possible in the second session. Pakistan's innings ended 5.2 overs into the third session, after which the New Zealand openers came out and faced one ball before it rained again.
Pakistan were 76 for 5 at the start of the day's play, and trailed New Zealand by 195. That they narrowed their deficit to 55 was down largely to two partnerships featuring Azam: 74 for the sixth wicket with Sarfraz Ahmed, and 67 for the seventh with Sohail Khan. New Zealand then struck back, taking the last four wickets for only 24 runs.
Azam had feasted on some wayward New Zealand bowling on the second evening, picking up a number of boundaries with the cut and the flick. The seamers were a lot more disciplined against him on the third morning, largely sticking to a fourth-stump line and seldom wavering from a good length. Azam fought discipline with discipline, showing excellent defensive technique and looking entirely unaffected when his partners outscored him. He looked to play in the V as much as possible, and two of his five fours on the day came in that region, glorious drives down the ground off Wagner.
The morning began with Sarfraz going after the bowling by pulling, cutting, and jumping out of his crease to put the fast bowlers off their length. He hit six fours in two successive overs from Southee, who was unable to find either the seam movement or the length that helped him run through Pakistan's top order on day two and offered up a number of short balls. Just as he entered the 40s and raised hopes of a similar innings to his match-turning 96 against Sri Lanka in Galle last year, he steered Neil Wagner straight to second slip, where Jeet Raval clung onto an excellent reflex catch.
Sohail, whose second-innings 40 in Christchurch earned him a promotion to No. 8, took over Sarfraz's role at the crease. Wagner, looking to test him with the short ball from both sides of the wicket, ended up leaking runs as Sohail took him on with the pull and the hook. Twice in succession, Sohail sent the ball soaring over the fielder at long leg, and once he bisected long leg and deep square leg.
The seventh-wicket pair took Pakistan into the 190s before Southee, returning for his second spell of the day, found some outswing to break the partnership, first beating and then kissing Sohail's outside edge. Then, in the next over, Colin de Grandhomme had Wahab Riaz lbw, his front pad going too far across the stumps and coming in the way of his bat's downswing.
The final session began with Pakistan 201 for 8, with Azam batting on 81. Southee bowled a leg-stump half-volley which Azam put away to the boundary, but produced a beauty in his next over, the extra bounce forcing Mohammad Amir to lob a catch to second slip off the glove.
In came Imran Khan, playing his eighth Test and yet to score a run in the format. He got off the mark off his second ball, dabbing Southee for a couple towards third man, and Azam moved to 90 with a rasping square-cut off Matt Henry in the next over. That, though, would remain his last scoring stroke, as Southee, peppering Imran with the short ball, forced the No. 11 to tickle one off his ribs and offer BJ Watling a catch down the leg side.
Southee's 6 for 80 was his first five-wicket haul at home since his debut Test in 2008.
Day 4
New Zealand 271 & 313/5d
Pakistan 216 & 1/0
Pakistan require another 368 runs with 10 wickets remaining
Ross Taylor's 16th Test hundred drove New Zealand to a declaration 20 minutes from stumps on the fourth day, setting Pakistan an improbable 369 to win the Hamilton Test. The declaration left Pakistan three overs to survive at the end of the day, and their openers got through the task unscathed.
Given that the Test match had lost roughly four sessions to rain, New Zealand had done excellently to give themselves a solid chance of winning the series 2-0. The pitch seemed to have flattened out considerably, and was offering much less seam movement than it had done on the first two days, but there were signs of inconsistent bounce as the fourth day wore on, with Taylor taking a number of blows to his gloves.
Taylor walked in at the end of a 96-run second-wicket stand between Tom Latham and Kane Williamson and built on that platform with one of his most fluent innings in recent memory. Only three of his runs came in the V, partly a reflection of the length Pakistan's seamers bowled to him, but that didn't make any difference to his run-flow as he rumbled along at a strike rate of over 75, peppering the boundaries square and behind square with flicks, glances and every variety of the cut.
Pakistan began the day bowling with skill and discipline, starting with four straight maidens and removing Jeet Raval in the eighth over of the New Zealand innings. But their resolve weakened as New Zealand piled on the runs in conditions that seemed far easier to bat in than on the first two days. New Zealand steadily accelerated through the day, scoring at 2.94 per over in the first session, 3.50 in the second, and 4.63 after tea, with Colin de Grandhomme contributing a 21-ball 32 at No. 6.
New Zealand started the day on 0 for 0, and the scoreboard didn't budge until the 27th ball of the morning. Mohammad Amir bowled a particularly testing first spell, swinging the new ball both ways, and gave Pakistan an early breakthrough with a beautifully set-up dismissal: first a wide-ish outswinger that the left-handed Jeet Raval ignored; then another outswinger, closer to off stump, forcing a play-and-miss; followed by an inswinger from a virtually identical line and length. Raval played down the wrong line, and the ball missed his inside edge and thudded into his front pad.
Pakistan's discipline wavered just a touch when Williamson walked in, but that was also down to the new batsman cutting down their margins for error. He hit three fours while moving to 16 off 19 balls: a late cut, a back-foot punch and a steer through point, none of which came off a genuinely bad ball.
Having recalibrated their length to Williamson, Pakistan conceded only six runs off the next 36 balls they bowled to him, building just enough pressure to cause him to attempt a risky single that endangered his partner. Yasir Shah, on the field as a substitute, swooped in from point and hit the stumps at the keeper's end with an underarm flick, and it took multiple replays from multiple angles for the third umpire to give Latham the benefit of doubt. It was one of those calls where Latham's bat was short of the crease when the ball struck the stumps, and past the crease with the bail off its groove in the next frame, with the cameras incapable of producing the decisive in-between frame.
As the session progressed, Pakistan may have wished Yasir's legspin was available to them, as the batsmen began to assert themselves. Latham picked up a steady stream of leg-side singles, while Williamson strode forward to play the shot of the morning, an on-the-up drive through the covers off a blameless delivery from Wahab Riaz.
Imran Khan ended the partnership in the fifth over after lunch, angling one into Williamson, forcing him to play, and nipping it away from just short of a good length to find his outside edge.
That could have been the second wicket in a short span of time, had Sami Aslam clung on to a chance offered by Latham with 2.3 overs left for lunch. Amir, inevitably, was the unlucky bowler. Latham pulled him in the air, to the left of midwicket. Aslam dived and got his left hand to the ball, but couldn't hold on. In Amir's next over, Latham rubbed it in, straight-driving, flicking, and pulling him for three fours to reach his half-century.
Williamson's dismissal brought Taylor to the crease, and he soon announced himself with a flurry of square and late-cuts, needing the bare minimum of width or shortness of length to get on top of the bounce and chop the ball away.
Latham had moved to 80 when Wahab Riaz bounced him out in the middle of a typically hostile spell. With the ball rearing towards his head and cramping him for room, Latham flung his hands up and popped a catch to the wicketkeeper off his top glove.
Wahab should have had the wicket of Henry Nicholls as well. New to the crease, Nicholls' footwork was severely tested by Wahab's pace, and he edged him past second slip's left hand before playing and missing with feet rooted to the spot. In his next over, he took on the short ball, and just about cleared the leaping long leg fielder with a hurried hook. For some reason, Sohail Khan was standing some ten yards inside the boundary rather than on the rope, where the chance would have been fairly straightforward.
Nicholls didn't last too long after tea, going after an extremely wide ball from Imran and toe-ending to the keeper, but Pakistan didn't have too long to celebrate, as de Grandhomme slashed, punched and pulled his way to six fours in 21 balls as the seamers began to lose their lengths.
With the lead passing 300 and then 350, New Zealand knew they had enough on the board, and BJ Watling's caution at the start of his innings suggested they were only waiting for Taylor to reach his hundred. He did so in the most appropriate manner, getting on top of a marginally short ball from Imran and crashing it to the backward point boundary. He gestured to the dressing room that he was ready to come off the field, but Williamson told him to carry on batting, prompting the thought that New Zealand wanted to bat till stumps and have the choice of roller in the morning. Not quite. The declaration came two balls later.
Day 5
New Zealand 271 & 313/5d
Pakistan 216 & 230
New Zealand won by 138 runs
New Zealand took nine wickets in a dramatic final session, sealing a 2-0 series whitewash as Pakistan collapsed against the second new ball to slump to a 138-run defeat. When the final session began, the draw seemed the likeliest result by far, and a New Zealand win perhaps less likely than a Pakistan win. With a minimum of 34 overs left, Pakistan needed 211, with nine wickets in hand. Those nine wickets fell in the space of 24.3 overs, the last six to the second new ball in the space of 11 overs.
On a pitch that offered little help to the bowlers apart from occasionally inconsistent bounce - which became less of a factor as the ball aged - New Zealand gave themselves a chance by playing the waiting game as Pakistan plotted a heist of their own. Pakistan had chased down two 300-plus targets in the last two years, both times against Sri Lanka - 302 in two sessions in Sharjah, and 377 in Pallekele. Here, chasing 369, Azhar Ali and Sami Aslam added 131 for the first wicket in 60 overs to set them a platform for a possibly Sharjah-esque finish.
With the required rate creeping past six an over at the start of the final session, Kane Williamson's tactics began to yield their desired results. His defensive fields had kept Pakistan in the game without letting them get too close, and now, they asked the batsmen to take risks.
Babar Azam, going after a wide, flighted ball from Mitchell Santner, dragged the ball onto his stumps, replicating Azhar's dismissal before tea. Aslam, failing to get elevation while looking to clear mid-off, fell ten short of a maiden Test hundred. Then Sarfraz Ahmed was run out, looking to steal a suicidal second run. Pakistan were suddenly four down, with the new ball three overs away.
New Zealand took it as soon as it was available, and brought their field in, with the target now well beyond Pakistan: 169 in 21 overs. Tim Southee and Matt Henry had barely swung the first new ball. They began swinging the second one appreciably. Younis Khan, tentative right through the series and out chasing a wide ball in the first innings, chased again an edged Southee wide of gully.
Then Henry struck in his first over with the new ball, angling it into Asad Shafiq and curling it away late. Looking to play the initial angle, Shafiq closed his bat face and popped a catch to point off the leading edge. Twenty balls later, Younis thrust his pad out at a Southee inswinger. Umpire S Ravi turned down the bowler's appeal, but was forced to change his decision when New Zealand reviewed and ball-tracking showed the ball carrying on to hit the top of off stump.
At the crease now were a debutant, Mohammad Rizwan, and a lower-order batsman known more for slogging than defending, Sohail Khan, with 16.3 overs remaining. They held out long enough to prompt a bowling change, Henry giving way to the gentler pace of Colin de Grandhomme, but Sohail drove without moving his feet and spooned a catch to cover.
Eleven overs remained; Pakistan would only last 13 more balls, as Neil Wagner, coming on for Southee, blasted out the last three. He took out his fellow left-arm quicks, Mohammad Amir and Wahab Riaz, in the space of three balls, both nicking him to the keeper, before ending the game with the first ball of his next over, banging the ball in and forcing the No. 11 Imran Khan to fend to short leg.
Rizwan, having fallen for a golden duck in his first Test innings, remained not out on 13 in his second. In hindsight, he may have wished he hadn't taken a single off the first ball of Wagner's spell and exposed Pakistan's tail to his pace and bounce.
Given the start their openers made, Pakistan would never have expected their tail to strap their pads on. By staying in the middle as long as they did, Azhar and Aslam seemed to have ticked off the first box in the team's checklist: that of ensuring they wouldn't lose.
With roughly four sessions of the Test match lost to rain, there was less wear and tear on the Seddon Park pitch than a typical fifth-day surface. There wasn't much swing either, forcing Southee into bowling cross-seam within the first ten minutes of the day in an effort to rough up one side of the ball.
Up-and-down bounce was the one major threat to Azhar and Aslam. Henry sneaked a shortish ball under Azhar's bat in the 12th over of Pakistan's innings, narrowly missing off stump, and then, in the 16th over, hit him on the glove with one that lifted from a good length. In the next over, Neil Wagner got a short ball to keep low as well, forcing Azhar to defend his stumps with a hurried jab with both feet off the ground.
Wagner, typically, looked to test the openers with the short ball, using the angles adroitly and often, especially while bowling from left-arm around, delivering from as close to the return crease as humanly possible. Both batsmen handled him with a degree of ease, except for one instance when Aslam took his eye off the ball as it followed him from over the wicket and hit him on the side of the helmet.
Both batsmen looked to play as straight as possible, with the threat of the shooter at the back of their minds, and this contributed to the glacial pace of run-scoring at the start of the day's play. After 20 overs, Pakistan had only scored 21.
Then, at the start of the 21st over, a bouncer from Wagner ran away for five wides and began a slight shift in the pattern of play. Azhar drove Henry for a four to the right of mid-off, and both batsmen sent square-cuts flying to the boundary in the next couple of overs. Aslam brought up the fifty stand in the 27th over, flicking Wagner to the backward square leg boundary, and soon afterwards sent a top-edged sweep off Mitchell Santner over the square-leg rope.
The openers didn't quite sustain the acceleration through the first half of the post-lunch session, scoring only 19 runs in the first 10 overs. As drinks approached, they began looking for sharp singles, and a more accurate throw from Henry Nicholls at short midwicket could have sent back Aslam in the 50th over. The drinks break provoked a distinct change in approach. Aslam pulled Wagner to the square-leg boundary, and then picked up two fours towards fine leg in one over from Henry, the first one a flick that went finer than intended, the second an inside-edged cover-drive.
In all, Pakistan scored 51 in 13 overs after the drinks break, and were 158 for 1 at tea. Aslam was batting on 75, Azam on 16 off 23 balls, and their minds must have been busy calculating run rates and figuring out which boundaries to target after the break. Neither they nor their team-mates nor their opponents could have imagined what was to follow.
Day 1
South Africa 259/9d
Australia 14/0
Australia trail by 245 runs with 10 wickets remaining in the 1st innings
His innings was mint, his declaration sweet. He took the shine off all of Australia's fine bowling and silenced the lollygagging Australian fans. There, the terrible puns are out of the way early. Now for the substance, and on the first day - and night - at Adelaide Oval, everything Faf du Plessis did was of substance. From the moment he walked to the crease, things were against him. The pink ball was swinging, the Australians were on top, the score was 3 for 44. And du Plessis walked out to the sound of a booing crowd.
But if the spectators remembered du Plessis' previous visit to the ground, when he blockaded for 376 balls on debut to salvage an unlikely draw, they would have known he is a hard man to perturb. And with his ball-tampering conviction behind him, du Plessis had but one focus: leading his team back into this match. When he ran off late in the evening at 9 for 259, a hundred to his name and an aggressive declaration forcing Australia's openers to bat for an awkward period under lights, he had done so.
By Test standards it was an exceptionally early declaration, coming after only 76 overs of the first innings of the match. But perhaps he had noted that David Warner had been off the field being treated for a shoulder injury, and thus a declaration would mean Warner was prevented from opening the innings. In any case, although the debutant No.11 Tabraiz Shamsi had fun swinging the bat, there seemed little to be gained from batting on.
If South Africa's bowlers did not strike, they at leasted tested Australia's openers. It took 38 balls for Australia to find any runs off the bat, a single through midwicket from Usman Khawaja, sent out to open because Warner could not. Next ball, the debutant Matt Renshaw got off the mark in Tests with a boundary tucked off his hip from his 19th delivery. By stumps, Australia were 0 for 14, with Renshaw on 8 and Khawaja on 3. But on day two, they would have to get set once again.
And if day one proved anything, it was that getting set against the swinging and seaming pink ball was a challenge. In the third over of the match, Stephen Cook was lbw to Mitchell Starc for 4, only to be reprieved because it was a no-ball. But Dean Elgar, Hashim Amla and JP Duminy had no such luck as they each fell with scores of 5, all to edges behind the wicket. In fact, every wicket until the eighth fell to catches behind the wicket.
Elgar edged a swinging ball from Starc and was snapped up at third slip by Usman Khawaja, Amla nicked Hazlewood and was caught by Renshaw low to his right at first slip, and Duminy gave Matthew Wade his first Test catch in more than three years when he inside-edged behind off Hazlewood. South Africa were 3 for 44, and du Plessis was walking to the crease. His team needed something special, and du Plessis duly delivered an innings of remarkable character.
When given width outside off he drove extremely well, but he also picked off runs through midwicket when the bowlers strayed onto his pads. He struck 17 boundaries, more than half of them off Starc. He brought up his fifty from 92 deliveries, and his century from 147. By that stage he had the No.10 for company, wickets having fallen regularly throughout the innings. They just weren't falling at his end. When he declared, he had 118 off 164 balls.
Du Plessis was the anchor but needed help along the way. First it came in a 51-run stand with Cook, who used his early reprieve to reach his highest score of the tour. Cook went to the tea break on 40 but could not add to his score upon the resumption, and edged Starc to Steven Smith at second slip. It left South Africa at 4 for 95, with two wickets each to Starc and Hazlewood, who were the most dangerous of the bowlers.
Jackson Bird, playing his first Test since the tour of New Zealand in February, struggled to find his rhythm early and leaked runs, but improved after tea and was rewarded when Temba Bavuma edged him behind for 8. Quinton de Kock struck a brisk 24 before edging Hazlewood behind and it was the first time on this trip that de Kock had failed to reach fifty in any innings - Test or tour match - and it ended his run of five consecutive Test scores of fifty or more.
Hazlewood snared his fourth wicket just before dinner when Vernon Philander was given out caught behind for 4, only to ask confidently for a review as the ball had brushed his leg on the way through to Wade. However, the thinnest imaginable spike on Real-Time Snicko suggested there might have been a faint inside edge before the ball struck Philander, and third umpire Aleem Dar upheld the on-field decision.
Still Australia could not run through the tail. Kyle Abbott contributed 17 from 50 balls and put on 54 with du Plessis for the eighth wicket - the highest partnership of the innings - before he was lbw to Bird. The final wicket came when Kagiso Rabada dragged his back foot just outside his crease off Nathan Lyon and was stumped by Matthew Wade, giving Lyon his first wicket since the first innings of the Perth Test, and ending his 660-ball drought.
And yet still South Africa fought. Shamsi, on debut and with a first-class average of 8.18, struck an unbeaten 18 in a 39-run stand before his partner, du Plessis, called an end to the innings. The result was a Test match poised in a fascinating position at stumps on day one. And all because of du Plessis, who had made 118 out of 259 and then wrong-footed Australia with his declaration. If he has had a week to forget, at least this was a day to remember.
Day 2
Australia 6 for 307 lead South Africa 9 for 259 dec by 48 runs
In his first innings as a Test opener, Usman Khawaja scored Australia's first hundred of the series, and their first in day-night Test cricket. In his first innings as a Test batsman, Peter Handscomb scored an impressive half-century. In his first innings as a Test batsman, Nic Maddinson was bowled for a duck. Such was the progression for Australia on the second day in Adelaide, where South Africa used the second new ball to fight back late in the evening.
Most of this day belonged to Khawaja, who batted throughout it and by stumps had occupied the crease for 285 deliveries. But the last session was arguably South Africa's as they claimed three wickets and reached into Australia's tail, although a frustrating seventh-wicket stand between Khawaja and Mitchell Starc prevented them running through it. At stumps Starc had 16 and Khawaja was on 138, ready to take his innings into its third day.
Khawaja was hoping the tail would help him build a big enough lead to worry South Africa - already the advantage was 48. Australia scored 95 runs in the first session, 100 in the second and 98 in the third and if runs did not come exactly briskly - Kyle Abbott was especially frugal and picked up 3 for 38 from 25 overs - a batsman could rotate the strike and pick off the bad balls once settled, as Khawaja did brilliantly.
Khawaja was so patient that his first 80 deliveries brought only 18 runs. Perhaps it was a blessing in disguise for Australia that David Warner was prevented from opening on the first evening because he had spent too long off the field having treatment on his shoulder. The tricky period before stumps on day one required watchfulness, and Khawaja carried that trait into the second day as Abbott especially asked questions of the top order.
The debutant opener Matt Renshaw (10) and then Warner in the unfamiliar position of first drop both edged Abbott to third slip where Dean Elgar held both catches, the first so low to the ground it needed third-umpire confirmation and the second more at a more comfortable height. Australia were 2 for 37 and the innings could have gone either way. As it happened, Khawaja and Smith steadied perfectly by putting on 137 for the third wicket.
Smith was dropped on 46 when he edged JP Duminy and Hashim Amla at slip juggled and dropped the chance, and the partnership only ended via a communication breakdown between Smith and Khawaja. On 59, Smith pushed Tabraiz Shamsi to point and called for a single. Khawaja set off before calling no and Smith seemingly did not hear and kept running. By the time he had stopped and tried to regain his own ground, it was too late.
But if you're going to sell the captain's wicket cheaply you should at least put a high price on your own. Khawaja did that, and brought up his fifth Test century from his 197th delivery with a cut through point for four off Shamsi. He was prolific through the leg side, pulling well when the bowlers dropped short, and once he became used to Shamsi's wrist-spin he used his feet and drove exquisitely through cover.
He followed his century stand with Smith by compiling a 99-run partnership with Handscomb, and it continued Khawaja's fine series - he has featured in seven of the 10 Australian stands of 50 or more in this series. But Handscomb was equally impressive during their time together at the crease. His first ball in Test cricket was a pearler from Vernon Philander that moved away just a fraction and beat the outside edge, but Handscomb survived and thrived.
His method of batting deep inside his crease gave him time to cut effectively and he also used his feet to the spinners. He appeared unawed by the occasion and ensured the strike was rotated, in fact outscoring Khawaja by 14 runs during the stand. Handscomb struck six fours and three in succession off Philander brought up his fifty from his 70th delivery.
In the end it was Abbott who breached Handscomb's defences, seaming the new ball sharply in to bowl him for 54. As one debutant walked off another walked on, but where Handscomb had been calm and in control, Maddinson struggled to get his feet moving and finished with a 12-ball duck when Kagiso Rabada swung one in a searing yorker that rattled the stumps.
In the next over, Philander had Matthew Wade caught behind and at 6 for 283, there was a risk Australia would collapse and their lead would be minimal. But by stumps, Starc had survived for 50 deliveries and frustrated South Africa's hopes of a quick finish to the innings. And, as ever throughout the day, Khawaja was still there.
Day 3
South Africa 259/9d & 194/6 (69.0 ov)
Australia 383
South Africa lead by 70 runs with 4 wickets remaining
By the time Nathan Lyon took his first wicket of this Test, he had endured a 660-ball drought without a first-class breakthrough. He was lucky even to be playing, for only Steve O'Keefe's calf injury saved Lyon from the axe, prevented the Goat from becoming the Scapegoat. But on the third evening Lyon reminded Australia's selectors why he has become Australia's most prolific offspinning Test wicket taker, his three strikes tightening Australia's grip on the match.
Between Lyon and Mitchell Starc, who bowled with pace and aggression and picked up two wickets, and Josh Hazlewood, who removed Hashim Amla for the fifth time from five innings in this series, Australia kept South Africa on the back foot. South Africa started with a deficit of 124, which by stumps had become a lead of 70. But with only four wickets in hand, a great deal of work remained for it to become the kind of target that would worry the Australians.
If you asked the Australians this morning which South African batsman would annoy them most today, they might have said Faf du Plessis, or Quinton de Kock, or Hashim Amla, or JP Duminy. Perhaps even Dean Elgar or Temba Bavuma, who have shown form in this series. If they were listening to the TV commentary, they may even have said Kevin Pietersen. As for Stephen Cook, nothing in the past month suggested he would be even a minor irritant.
But it was Cook who did most to hold the Australians off, and by the close of play he was on 81 and Quinton de Kock was yet to score, with the total sitting at 6 for 194. Cook entered this Test with tour scores of 5, 12, 0, 0, 12, 23 and 11 - and remember that four of those scores came against sub first-class opposition in warm-up games. The only South African who had played both Tests and scored less runs than Cook this series was Kagiso Rabada.
However, in the first innings Cook found a way to grind out 40, and in the second he managed his first fifty of the trip. It was not easy, nor pretty. At times it was downright ugly, and the Adelaideans who chose to spend their Saturday night in the cold, watching Cook bat, might have wondered at the wisdom of their choice. And yet it was gripping Test cricket; Australia's attack were baying, yet being kept at bay by a batsman who had so recently been all at sea.
Cook knows a thing or two about patience - he owns the fifth-longest first-class innings of all time, an 838-minute effort that brought him 390 runs in 648 balls. Here, he worked many of his runs through the leg side when Australia's bowlers got too straight. Only two of his seven boundaries came through the off side - and both of those were edges through a gap in the cordon. All that mattered to South Africa was that he was still there.
Wickets fell around him. In the first over of the innings, Elgar edged Starc to slip and was caught for a third-ball duck. Amla, put down on 13 when wicketkeeper Matthew Wade and first slip Matt Renshaw both failed to move quickly enough to claim an edge off Starc, was eventually caught behind off Hazlewood for 45. It meant that in every innings of the series, Amla had fallen to the bowling of Hazlewood.
JP Duminy fell to an uncharacteristically poor shot when he played across the line trying to work Lyon to leg, and was bowled for 26 from 70 balls. Starc, who sent down some searing bouncers and seemed to be back at his best, had du Plessis snapped up sharply by Peter Handscomb at gully for 12.
Temba Bavuma, who had valiantly and repeatedly tried to hook Starc, eventually fell to the spin of Lyon for 21 when he top-edged a sweep and was caught by Smith, running behind the wicketkeeper from slip. And Lyon claimed his third when nightwatchman Kyle Abbott played back and was lbw for a five-ball duck, narrowly failing to do his job of keeping de Kock safely inside for the evening.
The day had begun with Australia on 6 for 307, and they added 76 to their overnight score for the loss of their final four wickets. Usman Khawaja, who had been batting since the first evening, was lbw to Vernon Philander for 145, his 308-ball innings the longest by an Australian opener in a home Test since Justin Langer made a double-century at Adelaide Oval in 2004.
But even after Khawaja departed, the Australia tail provided some frustrations for du Plessis and his men. Starc struck five fours and one six on his way to 53, which was the seventh half-century of his Test career, before he prodded a return catch back to Rabada, who finished with 3 for 84.
The debutant left-arm wrist-spinner Tabraiz Shamsi endured a long wait for his maiden Test wicket but finally achieved the feat in his 27th over when he had Lyon caught top-edging a sweep for 13. Hazlewood finished unbeaten on 11 when the final wicket fell, Bird caught at slip off Rabada for 6.
It meant Australia had been dismissed for 383, their highest Test total since the tour of New Zealand in February, and held a first-innings lead of 124. And despite the fight of Cook later in the day, Australia went to stumps with a good chance of avoiding being on the wrong end of a historic home whitewash.
Day 4
South Africa 259/9d & 250
Australia 383 & 127/3
Australia won by 7 wickets
In the end there was no whitewash - Australia were not swept in a home series for the first time since 1887. Instead, the dead-rubber bounce that Test cricket so often produces again manifested itself as Australia chased down 127 to win the third Test against South Africa at Adelaide Oval. Australia's sequence of five consecutive Test losses ended, and it ended with two debutant batsmen at the crease.
South Africa, of course, won the series. They finished with a 2-1 result that will still go down as an outstanding achievement given the developing nature of their own side. But if Australia were to take a consolation win after the mass overhaul to the side, it was perhaps fitting that two of the new boys would share the winning runs, which came when Peter Handscomb flicked through midwicket and called Matt Renshaw through for a single.
In many ways, this Adelaide Test felt like it was part of a completely different series from the Perth and Hobart matches. Of course, it was played with a pink ball as a day-night fixture, but Australia's team was also hard to recognise: five changes were made from the XI that lost in Hobart. Whatever the reasons, the public interest was sparked: the match crowd of 125,993 was the highest for any non-Ashes Test at Adelaide Oval.
Set a small target, Australia's new opening pair finally had the chance to bat together, Usman Khawaja having opened with Renshaw in the first innings because David Warner had spent too long off the field having treatment on an injured shoulder. Renshaw and Warner were a study in contrasts during their 64-run stand, as had been the case with Warner and past partners such as Ed Cowan and Chris Rogers.
Renshaw displayed more leaves than an evergreen, Warner as many as a deciduous tree in autumn. Warner rattled along at roughly a run a ball, Renshaw at a run an over. But all that mattered in this small chase was that wickets remained in hand. The 1994 SCG Test between Australia and South Africa remains an object lesson in how small chases can go awry: Australia were all out for 111 chasing 117.
There was no such joy for South Africa 22 years later. The first wicket did not fall until 19 overs into the innings, when Australia already had more than half their required runs. Warner, who had struck seven fours on his way to 47, pulled towards midwicket and called for a run that was probably not there; Renshaw sent him back, Temba Bavuma fielded in typically tidy style and threw to the keeper's end to run Warner out.
Two balls later, Khawaja played for non-existent turn from Tabraiz Shamsi and was trapped in front, though South Africa had to review Nigel Llong's on-field not-out decision to gain satisfaction. Australia had wobbled from 0 for 64 to 2 for 64, but any hopes South Africa had of a late rally were dashed by the steadying influence of Steven Smith, who struck 40 from 52 balls before he edged Kyle Abbott behind with only two runs needed.
Twice South Africa asked for reviews against Renshaw, once for a catch in the cordon and once for an lbw, but both relied on a mistake from umpire Richard Kettleborough - whose form in this series has been greater than any of the players - and both were struck down. Renshaw was free to keep batting, keep leaving, keep finding his way as a Test opener.
There were also plenty of plays and misses from Renshaw, but at least he showed the kind of mental strength that Australia require. Importantly, he was still there at the end, unbeaten on 34 from 137 balls. It was an innings that showed the high price Renshaw places on his wicket. At no stage did his lack of pace threaten Australia's victory hopes. This was a young man taking his time, and after Australia's recent batting collapses, who could complain about that?
The day had started with South Africa on 6 for 194 in their second innings, and they added 56 to their overnight total for the loss of their last four wickets. Stephen Cook moved to his second Test century before he was the last man to fall, bowled by Mitchell Starc for 104 as the South Africans were dismissed for 250.
Jackson Bird made the important first breakthrough when he had Quinton de Kock lbw for 5, the on-field not-out decision from Nigel Llong overturned on Australia's review. Vernon Philander put on 34 for the eighth wicket with Cook before Starc, using the new ball to great effect, swung a fullish delivery back in and trapped Philander lbw for 17.
Cook was running out of partners but had time to bring up his hundred from his 235th delivery, with a boundary pulled through square leg off Josh Hazlewood. It looked as if Cook was set to carry his bat through the innings, especially when Kagiso Rabada gloved behind trying to pull Hazlewood on 7, but in the next over Cook was done in by Starc's swing. Starc finished with 4 for 80, and South Africa simply had not made enough runs.
Not that they will especially care about this seven-wicket loss when in future years they reflect on their remarkable achievements on the 2016-17 tour of Australia. To win an away series with no AB de Villiers, almost no Dale Steyn, and no contributions of note from Hashim Amla - that is a feat that is worthy of the highest praise.
As for Australia? Right now, they'll take any sort of win, dead rubber or not. And the signs from Handscomb, who made a first-innings fifty, and Renshaw, are encouraging. It is up to Smith and his new-look squad to ensure the Adelaide Test is a turning point, not an aberration.
2nd Test: New Zealand v Pakistan at Hamilton Nov 24-28, 2016 22:00 GMT
Day 1
New Zealand 77/2 (21.0 ov)
Pakistan
Pakistan won the toss and elected to field
Persistent rain ruled out any chance of play in the second and third sessions after Pakistan, having chosen an all-seam attack on a green pitch, picked up two New Zealand wickets after winning the toss. New Zealand batted positively, going after anything marginally loose, and scored 77 runs in 21 overs before rain forced an early lunch, 15 minutes before schedule. With intermittent showers continuing to afflict Seddon Park, umpires called off play at 4pm.
It left the Test match suspended in an interesting though still embryonic position with Jeet Raval, carrying on from his impressive debut in Christchurch, batting on 35 and Ross Taylor, who seemed unbothered by the pterygium in his left eye, on 29 off 20 balls.
Taylor looked far more assured than he had done in either South Africa or India, lining up in a more side-on stance than normal, and, perhaps as a consequence, lifting his bat up behind him rather than out towards gully as is usually the case, allowing it to come down straighter in defence while having no adverse effect on his traditional strength, the square-cut. Of the six fours he hit, five came off this shot.
This was also because Pakistan bowled too short and too wide at him, and in general weren't as accurate as the conditions demanded. Sohail Khan and Wahab Riaz were particularly guilty of spraying the ball around, while Imran Khan, returning to the Test line-up after more than a year, looked rusty, often slanting the ball too wide of off stump to make Raval play.
It was a curious unraveling after Mohammad Amir had begun as well as he possibly could have, every ball of his first over tight on off stump, curling away from a good length or just short of it, forcing the two left-handed openers to play, and produced four edges and two plays-and-misses. Two of the edges carried to Sami Aslam at first slip. He dropped the first, at knee height while falling to his left, to reprieve Raval, and caught the second, to send back Tom Latham for a first-ball duck.
Aside from that let-off and a couple of loose drives away from his body, Raval showed impressive judgment outside off, particularly against the right-armers angling the ball across him. He profited particularly from nudges off his legs and pulls, the latter shot rather effective on a pitch where the ball came through with true bounce but not a lot of pace.
Kane Williamson looked in excellent touch in his 42-ball stay at the crease, easing two effortless drives through the off side when Amir overpitched, and defending with the softest hands in the game. When Amir dropped a difficult return catch in the fifth over of the morning, off a firmly hit straight drive, it looked as if Williamson might go on and make a substantial score, but it wasn't to be, as he fell to Sohail after a Pakistan review.
Getting the ball to nibble in from outside off stump, Sohail produced a tentative, half-forward poke, and the bowler and all the fielders behind the wicket went up instinctively when they heard a click through to the keeper. Simon Fry gave it not out on the field, and Ian Gould, the third umpire, overturned his decision; it seemed a tight call to make. HotSpot did not register an edge, and the Real-Time Snickometer seemed to show a spike an instant after the ball passed his inside edge, suggesting it may have hit his elbow. Some of the TV commentators, however, said they heard a double-noise, indicating the ball may have kissed the edge and then hit Williamson's elbow.
Day 2
New Zealand 271
Pakistan 76/5 (29.0 ov)
Pakistan trail by 195 runs with 5 wickets remaining in the 1st innings
A devastating new-ball burst from Tim Southee followed by two wickets in two balls from Neil Wagner left Pakistan gasping for breath at the end of the second day in Hamilton. New Zealand began the day badly, slipping to 119 for 5 before their lower order hauled them to 271, and ended it in a commanding position, with Pakistan five down and trailing by 195.
Seddon Park is Southee's home ground in domestic cricket, and he showed exactly how to bowl at this venue, hitting a much fuller length than any of the Pakistan seamers - including Sohail Khan, who took four wickets - had managed. He slanted one across Sami Aslam, who played for swing when there was none, and nicked to second slip. He brought Azhar Ali half-forward and made him follow the deceitful curve of his outswinger. Then he floated up a full, wide tempter that Younis Khan chased fatally, leaving Pakistan 12 for 3 in 8.5 overs.
Babar Azam, seeming to read length quicker than any of his team-mates, got right behind the line of the ball in defence, and punished anything loose, particularly anything cuttable or on his pads, while moving to an unbeaten 34. For a while it seemed as if Asad Shafiq would stay with him till stumps, as he counterattacked his way to 23, hitting four fours including three in one over from Colin de Grandhomme.
But he went after a full, wide one from Wagner, playing with an angled bat, and dragged the ball onto his stumps. Next ball, the debutant Mohammad Rizwan hooked straight to long leg, leaving Pakistan 51 for 5. Babar and Sarfraz Ahmed saw them through to stumps, putting on an unbroken 25 for the sixth wicket. A huge responsibility will rest on their shoulders at the start of day three, with one of the longer tails in world cricket to follow them.
New Zealand, on the other hand, boast a more-than-useful lower order, which rallied around the adhesive BJ Watling to rescue them after Pakistan's seamers had taken three wickets for 42 runs at the start of the day's play.
De Grandhomme began the turnaround with a 55-ball 37 that dominated a sixth-wicket stand of 51 with Watling. Never really moving his feet too much, de Grandhomme showed a pair of quick hands to play some sensational shots, including a shovel-pull off Imran Khan and a pair of back-foot punches between mid-off and extra-cover off Mohammad Amir. He moved to 37 off 54 balls before falling to the first ball after lunch, nicking Imran to the wicketkeeper.
When Sohail slanted one across Mitchell Santner to have him caught at second slip by the feline Younis, New Zealand were 203 for 7, but their resistance was by no means extinguished, as the next two wickets added 67.
For perhaps the first time in the match, Pakistan seemed to miss the legspin of Yasir Shah, with their all-seam attack looking a little one-dimensional as the green Seddon Park pitch seemed to ease out under a largely cloudless sky. Southee, backing away from his stumps against Wahab Riaz's short balls, made a mess of Azhar's field placements - which at one point included a third man so fine he could ostensibly be called a long stop - before Sohail foxed him with a back-of-the-hand slower ball that spun like a googly.
Matt Henry, trusting his eye and flat-batting three fours in 11 balls, added 31 with Watling before spooning Amir to mid-off in the second over after tea. Imran then had Neil Wagner caught at second slip to finish with three wickets, leaving Watling stranded one short of a half-century. Compact in defence as always, Watling punished any width, whether off the front or back foot, picking up five of his six fours with either the cover-drive or the cut.
With the sky blue rather than the dark grey of day one, there was less swing available to Pakistan's quicks on the second morning. Perhaps as a result of this, all of them sought to hit the deck harder, in an effort to maximise seam movement.
The day's first strike came at a vital moment for Pakistan. Ross Taylor, continuing to profit from a switch to a more side-on, upright stance, was scoring at comfortably over a run a ball, and he had just stroked Amir to the cover boundary to bring up his fifty partnership with Jeet Raval. Three balls later, at the start of the fifth over of the morning, Sohail got one to nip back into him from just short of a good length and clip his inside edge through to the wicketkeeper as he looked to force the ball into the covers.
At the other end, the left-handed Raval seemed utterly sure of his off stump when the ball was angled across him, but less so against Amir's left-arm over angle. He had survived one uncertain poke in the first over of the match, when Sami Aslam put him down at first slip off Amir. The same bowler endured the agony of a near-replay in the ninth over of the second morning, when a near-identical poke from Raval ended up with Aslam, diving to his right this time, shelling another straightforward chance at first slip. This time, Raval was batting on 40.
Replacing Sohail, Imran went for two early boundaries in his spell, Raval bringing up fifty with the first one, a drive to the left of mid-off. Then he moved around the wicket, looking to emulate Amir's angle. It only took three balls from that side of the stumps for Imran to strike, Raval jabbing away from his body, uncharacteristically, and nicking to first slip, where Aslam had given way to the debutant Mohammad Rizwan, who pouched the chance safely by his hip.
Henry Nicholls, stuck on 8 for 18 balls, including a maiden from Imran bending the ball back into him from around the wicket and severely testing his judgment of off stump, seemed to release a bit of pressure when he pulled Wahab for four. That ball, however, would eventually play a part in his dismissal. Having pushed him back with a succession of short balls, Wahab bowled one full, outside off stump, inviting the drive, and got it to straighten off the seam to find Nicholls' edge.
Day 3
New Zealand 271 & 0/0
Pakistan 216
New Zealand lead by 55 runs with 10 wickets remaining
A six-wicket haul from Tim Southee secured a 55-run lead for New Zealand and left Babar Azam stranded ten short of a maiden Test hundred on a damp third day at Seddon Park. Rain allowed only 38.1 overs of play. A brief shower forced lunch eight minutes early, and only six balls were possible in the second session. Pakistan's innings ended 5.2 overs into the third session, after which the New Zealand openers came out and faced one ball before it rained again.
Pakistan were 76 for 5 at the start of the day's play, and trailed New Zealand by 195. That they narrowed their deficit to 55 was down largely to two partnerships featuring Azam: 74 for the sixth wicket with Sarfraz Ahmed, and 67 for the seventh with Sohail Khan. New Zealand then struck back, taking the last four wickets for only 24 runs.
Azam had feasted on some wayward New Zealand bowling on the second evening, picking up a number of boundaries with the cut and the flick. The seamers were a lot more disciplined against him on the third morning, largely sticking to a fourth-stump line and seldom wavering from a good length. Azam fought discipline with discipline, showing excellent defensive technique and looking entirely unaffected when his partners outscored him. He looked to play in the V as much as possible, and two of his five fours on the day came in that region, glorious drives down the ground off Wagner.
The morning began with Sarfraz going after the bowling by pulling, cutting, and jumping out of his crease to put the fast bowlers off their length. He hit six fours in two successive overs from Southee, who was unable to find either the seam movement or the length that helped him run through Pakistan's top order on day two and offered up a number of short balls. Just as he entered the 40s and raised hopes of a similar innings to his match-turning 96 against Sri Lanka in Galle last year, he steered Neil Wagner straight to second slip, where Jeet Raval clung onto an excellent reflex catch.
Sohail, whose second-innings 40 in Christchurch earned him a promotion to No. 8, took over Sarfraz's role at the crease. Wagner, looking to test him with the short ball from both sides of the wicket, ended up leaking runs as Sohail took him on with the pull and the hook. Twice in succession, Sohail sent the ball soaring over the fielder at long leg, and once he bisected long leg and deep square leg.
The seventh-wicket pair took Pakistan into the 190s before Southee, returning for his second spell of the day, found some outswing to break the partnership, first beating and then kissing Sohail's outside edge. Then, in the next over, Colin de Grandhomme had Wahab Riaz lbw, his front pad going too far across the stumps and coming in the way of his bat's downswing.
The final session began with Pakistan 201 for 8, with Azam batting on 81. Southee bowled a leg-stump half-volley which Azam put away to the boundary, but produced a beauty in his next over, the extra bounce forcing Mohammad Amir to lob a catch to second slip off the glove.
In came Imran Khan, playing his eighth Test and yet to score a run in the format. He got off the mark off his second ball, dabbing Southee for a couple towards third man, and Azam moved to 90 with a rasping square-cut off Matt Henry in the next over. That, though, would remain his last scoring stroke, as Southee, peppering Imran with the short ball, forced the No. 11 to tickle one off his ribs and offer BJ Watling a catch down the leg side.
Southee's 6 for 80 was his first five-wicket haul at home since his debut Test in 2008.
Day 4
New Zealand 271 & 313/5d
Pakistan 216 & 1/0
Pakistan require another 368 runs with 10 wickets remaining
Ross Taylor's 16th Test hundred drove New Zealand to a declaration 20 minutes from stumps on the fourth day, setting Pakistan an improbable 369 to win the Hamilton Test. The declaration left Pakistan three overs to survive at the end of the day, and their openers got through the task unscathed.
Given that the Test match had lost roughly four sessions to rain, New Zealand had done excellently to give themselves a solid chance of winning the series 2-0. The pitch seemed to have flattened out considerably, and was offering much less seam movement than it had done on the first two days, but there were signs of inconsistent bounce as the fourth day wore on, with Taylor taking a number of blows to his gloves.
Taylor walked in at the end of a 96-run second-wicket stand between Tom Latham and Kane Williamson and built on that platform with one of his most fluent innings in recent memory. Only three of his runs came in the V, partly a reflection of the length Pakistan's seamers bowled to him, but that didn't make any difference to his run-flow as he rumbled along at a strike rate of over 75, peppering the boundaries square and behind square with flicks, glances and every variety of the cut.
Pakistan began the day bowling with skill and discipline, starting with four straight maidens and removing Jeet Raval in the eighth over of the New Zealand innings. But their resolve weakened as New Zealand piled on the runs in conditions that seemed far easier to bat in than on the first two days. New Zealand steadily accelerated through the day, scoring at 2.94 per over in the first session, 3.50 in the second, and 4.63 after tea, with Colin de Grandhomme contributing a 21-ball 32 at No. 6.
New Zealand started the day on 0 for 0, and the scoreboard didn't budge until the 27th ball of the morning. Mohammad Amir bowled a particularly testing first spell, swinging the new ball both ways, and gave Pakistan an early breakthrough with a beautifully set-up dismissal: first a wide-ish outswinger that the left-handed Jeet Raval ignored; then another outswinger, closer to off stump, forcing a play-and-miss; followed by an inswinger from a virtually identical line and length. Raval played down the wrong line, and the ball missed his inside edge and thudded into his front pad.
Pakistan's discipline wavered just a touch when Williamson walked in, but that was also down to the new batsman cutting down their margins for error. He hit three fours while moving to 16 off 19 balls: a late cut, a back-foot punch and a steer through point, none of which came off a genuinely bad ball.
Having recalibrated their length to Williamson, Pakistan conceded only six runs off the next 36 balls they bowled to him, building just enough pressure to cause him to attempt a risky single that endangered his partner. Yasir Shah, on the field as a substitute, swooped in from point and hit the stumps at the keeper's end with an underarm flick, and it took multiple replays from multiple angles for the third umpire to give Latham the benefit of doubt. It was one of those calls where Latham's bat was short of the crease when the ball struck the stumps, and past the crease with the bail off its groove in the next frame, with the cameras incapable of producing the decisive in-between frame.
As the session progressed, Pakistan may have wished Yasir's legspin was available to them, as the batsmen began to assert themselves. Latham picked up a steady stream of leg-side singles, while Williamson strode forward to play the shot of the morning, an on-the-up drive through the covers off a blameless delivery from Wahab Riaz.
Imran Khan ended the partnership in the fifth over after lunch, angling one into Williamson, forcing him to play, and nipping it away from just short of a good length to find his outside edge.
That could have been the second wicket in a short span of time, had Sami Aslam clung on to a chance offered by Latham with 2.3 overs left for lunch. Amir, inevitably, was the unlucky bowler. Latham pulled him in the air, to the left of midwicket. Aslam dived and got his left hand to the ball, but couldn't hold on. In Amir's next over, Latham rubbed it in, straight-driving, flicking, and pulling him for three fours to reach his half-century.
Williamson's dismissal brought Taylor to the crease, and he soon announced himself with a flurry of square and late-cuts, needing the bare minimum of width or shortness of length to get on top of the bounce and chop the ball away.
Latham had moved to 80 when Wahab Riaz bounced him out in the middle of a typically hostile spell. With the ball rearing towards his head and cramping him for room, Latham flung his hands up and popped a catch to the wicketkeeper off his top glove.
Wahab should have had the wicket of Henry Nicholls as well. New to the crease, Nicholls' footwork was severely tested by Wahab's pace, and he edged him past second slip's left hand before playing and missing with feet rooted to the spot. In his next over, he took on the short ball, and just about cleared the leaping long leg fielder with a hurried hook. For some reason, Sohail Khan was standing some ten yards inside the boundary rather than on the rope, where the chance would have been fairly straightforward.
Nicholls didn't last too long after tea, going after an extremely wide ball from Imran and toe-ending to the keeper, but Pakistan didn't have too long to celebrate, as de Grandhomme slashed, punched and pulled his way to six fours in 21 balls as the seamers began to lose their lengths.
With the lead passing 300 and then 350, New Zealand knew they had enough on the board, and BJ Watling's caution at the start of his innings suggested they were only waiting for Taylor to reach his hundred. He did so in the most appropriate manner, getting on top of a marginally short ball from Imran and crashing it to the backward point boundary. He gestured to the dressing room that he was ready to come off the field, but Williamson told him to carry on batting, prompting the thought that New Zealand wanted to bat till stumps and have the choice of roller in the morning. Not quite. The declaration came two balls later.
Day 5
New Zealand 271 & 313/5d
Pakistan 216 & 230
New Zealand won by 138 runs
New Zealand took nine wickets in a dramatic final session, sealing a 2-0 series whitewash as Pakistan collapsed against the second new ball to slump to a 138-run defeat. When the final session began, the draw seemed the likeliest result by far, and a New Zealand win perhaps less likely than a Pakistan win. With a minimum of 34 overs left, Pakistan needed 211, with nine wickets in hand. Those nine wickets fell in the space of 24.3 overs, the last six to the second new ball in the space of 11 overs.
On a pitch that offered little help to the bowlers apart from occasionally inconsistent bounce - which became less of a factor as the ball aged - New Zealand gave themselves a chance by playing the waiting game as Pakistan plotted a heist of their own. Pakistan had chased down two 300-plus targets in the last two years, both times against Sri Lanka - 302 in two sessions in Sharjah, and 377 in Pallekele. Here, chasing 369, Azhar Ali and Sami Aslam added 131 for the first wicket in 60 overs to set them a platform for a possibly Sharjah-esque finish.
With the required rate creeping past six an over at the start of the final session, Kane Williamson's tactics began to yield their desired results. His defensive fields had kept Pakistan in the game without letting them get too close, and now, they asked the batsmen to take risks.
Babar Azam, going after a wide, flighted ball from Mitchell Santner, dragged the ball onto his stumps, replicating Azhar's dismissal before tea. Aslam, failing to get elevation while looking to clear mid-off, fell ten short of a maiden Test hundred. Then Sarfraz Ahmed was run out, looking to steal a suicidal second run. Pakistan were suddenly four down, with the new ball three overs away.
New Zealand took it as soon as it was available, and brought their field in, with the target now well beyond Pakistan: 169 in 21 overs. Tim Southee and Matt Henry had barely swung the first new ball. They began swinging the second one appreciably. Younis Khan, tentative right through the series and out chasing a wide ball in the first innings, chased again an edged Southee wide of gully.
Then Henry struck in his first over with the new ball, angling it into Asad Shafiq and curling it away late. Looking to play the initial angle, Shafiq closed his bat face and popped a catch to point off the leading edge. Twenty balls later, Younis thrust his pad out at a Southee inswinger. Umpire S Ravi turned down the bowler's appeal, but was forced to change his decision when New Zealand reviewed and ball-tracking showed the ball carrying on to hit the top of off stump.
At the crease now were a debutant, Mohammad Rizwan, and a lower-order batsman known more for slogging than defending, Sohail Khan, with 16.3 overs remaining. They held out long enough to prompt a bowling change, Henry giving way to the gentler pace of Colin de Grandhomme, but Sohail drove without moving his feet and spooned a catch to cover.
Eleven overs remained; Pakistan would only last 13 more balls, as Neil Wagner, coming on for Southee, blasted out the last three. He took out his fellow left-arm quicks, Mohammad Amir and Wahab Riaz, in the space of three balls, both nicking him to the keeper, before ending the game with the first ball of his next over, banging the ball in and forcing the No. 11 Imran Khan to fend to short leg.
Rizwan, having fallen for a golden duck in his first Test innings, remained not out on 13 in his second. In hindsight, he may have wished he hadn't taken a single off the first ball of Wagner's spell and exposed Pakistan's tail to his pace and bounce.
Given the start their openers made, Pakistan would never have expected their tail to strap their pads on. By staying in the middle as long as they did, Azhar and Aslam seemed to have ticked off the first box in the team's checklist: that of ensuring they wouldn't lose.
With roughly four sessions of the Test match lost to rain, there was less wear and tear on the Seddon Park pitch than a typical fifth-day surface. There wasn't much swing either, forcing Southee into bowling cross-seam within the first ten minutes of the day in an effort to rough up one side of the ball.
Up-and-down bounce was the one major threat to Azhar and Aslam. Henry sneaked a shortish ball under Azhar's bat in the 12th over of Pakistan's innings, narrowly missing off stump, and then, in the 16th over, hit him on the glove with one that lifted from a good length. In the next over, Neil Wagner got a short ball to keep low as well, forcing Azhar to defend his stumps with a hurried jab with both feet off the ground.
Wagner, typically, looked to test the openers with the short ball, using the angles adroitly and often, especially while bowling from left-arm around, delivering from as close to the return crease as humanly possible. Both batsmen handled him with a degree of ease, except for one instance when Aslam took his eye off the ball as it followed him from over the wicket and hit him on the side of the helmet.
Both batsmen looked to play as straight as possible, with the threat of the shooter at the back of their minds, and this contributed to the glacial pace of run-scoring at the start of the day's play. After 20 overs, Pakistan had only scored 21.
Then, at the start of the 21st over, a bouncer from Wagner ran away for five wides and began a slight shift in the pattern of play. Azhar drove Henry for a four to the right of mid-off, and both batsmen sent square-cuts flying to the boundary in the next couple of overs. Aslam brought up the fifty stand in the 27th over, flicking Wagner to the backward square leg boundary, and soon afterwards sent a top-edged sweep off Mitchell Santner over the square-leg rope.
The openers didn't quite sustain the acceleration through the first half of the post-lunch session, scoring only 19 runs in the first 10 overs. As drinks approached, they began looking for sharp singles, and a more accurate throw from Henry Nicholls at short midwicket could have sent back Aslam in the 50th over. The drinks break provoked a distinct change in approach. Aslam pulled Wagner to the square-leg boundary, and then picked up two fours towards fine leg in one over from Henry, the first one a flick that went finer than intended, the second an inside-edged cover-drive.
In all, Pakistan scored 51 in 13 overs after the drinks break, and were 158 for 1 at tea. Aslam was batting on 75, Azam on 16 off 23 balls, and their minds must have been busy calculating run rates and figuring out which boundaries to target after the break. Neither they nor their team-mates nor their opponents could have imagined what was to follow.
Monday 28 November 2016
3rd Test Day 3 IND 1-0 ENG
England 283 & 78/4
India 417
England trail by 56 runs with 6 wickets remaining
India gave a lesson in how to take a grip on a Test match that was in the balance. Firstly their lower order built a commanding lead of 134, anchored around Ravindra Jadeja's career-best 90 and Jayant Yadav's maiden Test fifty, then R Ashwin's three wickets left England floundering on 78 for 4, still 56 behind.
The runs from the bottom half of India's order has been a feature of their recent Test success and here they enjoyed one of their more stellar days. In total the last four wickets added 213 to turn a precarious 204 for 6 into a three-figure advantage and it was the first time their Nos 7, 8 and 9 had scored half-centuries in the same innings.
From a position at the start of the day where England would have hoped for something near parity - a manageable deficit around 50 at worst - by the close it felt as though India had made the definite moves of the series. Joe Root, who had been promoted to open in place of the injured Haseeb Hameed, remained unbeaten on 36 but Ashwin's dismissal of Ben Stokes in the final over capped a perfect day for India.
Alastair Cook's stay was tortuous. In the space of four deliveries he survived two close DRS calls. The first was an India review for an appeal given not out against Jadeja which was, eventually after some problems forming the HawkEye graphics, shown to be missing leg. The second was after he had been given lbw to Ashwin only for the review to show the ball pitched outside leg. However, the reprieve was brief as Ashwin worked him over by sliding a straighter delivery between bat and pad.
Moeen Ali batted at No. 3, the only spot in the top nine he had yet to occupy in Tests, and added to the list of England's inglorious dismissals in the match when he chipped Ashwin to mid-on. It was a lovely piece of deception from the bowler, who defeated Moeen in the flight, but regardless it was a limp chip.
Just as Root and Jonny Bairstow were eyeing the close, the latter fell to a catch that, as a fellow wicketkeeper, he would acknowledge for its skill as Parthiv Patel stayed low to take a ball that skidding through low to graze the outside edge. Virat Kohli then pulled one of his Midas touches when he recalled Ashwin in the dying moments of the session and, with his first delivery, he spun one past Stokes' edge which took the back pad. It was initially given not out by Chris Gaffaney but, with the seconds ticking down, Kohli reviewed and was justified.
India were 12 behind when play resumed and England made an insipid start to the day. Chris Woakes' opening delivery was a leg-stump half volley which Ashwin clipped to the boundary and Moeen was oddly given two exploratory overs ahead of either James Anderson or Stokes.
Until Jadeja picked out long-on when he tried to up the tempo after tea it had been an innings largely out of character to how he is perceived as a batsman. In terms of balls faced it was the seventh-longest innings of his first-class career and one of his most significant in Tests. Even when he departed the end did not come swiftly for England as Jayant, who played with barely an alarm, ticked over to a 134-ball fifty.
Jadeja only had two previous fifties in Test cricket: his swashbuckling effort at Lord's in 2014, which helped build a match-winning lead, and a brisk innings against New Zealand earlier this season, which hastened a declaration. This was certainly not a tail-end jolly. On the second evening, after India had suffered a wobble of 4 for 56, Jadeja allowed Ashwin to take the lead and moved to 8 off 34 balls. He then sensed a moment to attack shortly before the new ball, but, on the third day, except for a skip down the pitch against Moeen, he did not attempt anything expansive until taking four boundaries off a Woakes over shortly before his dismissal.
Jadeja's half-century came off 104 balls and was accompanied by the familiar swordsman celebration but it was the only bat throwing on display. The disappointment of him missing a century meant we did not see what the follow-up would be. Stokes tried to prey on his patience by sending the ball wide outside off, as he had done to Kohli, but Jadeja ignored those balls. He benefited from a bonus four runs when he took a sharp single to mid-on and Jake Ball's throw was not backed up.
Ashwin had continued to time the ball elegantly until he was lured into a wider delivery by Stokes, in his first over of the day, and spooned a catch to Jos Buttler at backward point to end a stand of 97 with Jadeja. However, Jayant, in so many ways a younger model of Ashwin, from his role in the team to punching deliveries through the off side, collected two sweetly-timed boundaries off Anderson to set him on his way, but there was no hurry from India.
England's frustrations - and specifically Stokes' - almost reached boiling point as they worked to break the ninth-wicket stand. Umesh Yadav was dropped on 9 by Cook, to his right at a lone slip, then in the same over Jayant nicked past Bairstow's right glove, leading to an angered roar from Stokes. But before the over was done, Jayant heaved low to midwicket.
Stokes and Adil Rashid shared the nine wickets taken by the bowlers with Stokes winning the race to a five-wicket haul, his third in Tests, when he removed Umesh. The catch for Bairstow meant he set a new record for wicket-keeping dismissals in a year. It was as good as the day got for England.
India 417
England trail by 56 runs with 6 wickets remaining
India gave a lesson in how to take a grip on a Test match that was in the balance. Firstly their lower order built a commanding lead of 134, anchored around Ravindra Jadeja's career-best 90 and Jayant Yadav's maiden Test fifty, then R Ashwin's three wickets left England floundering on 78 for 4, still 56 behind.
The runs from the bottom half of India's order has been a feature of their recent Test success and here they enjoyed one of their more stellar days. In total the last four wickets added 213 to turn a precarious 204 for 6 into a three-figure advantage and it was the first time their Nos 7, 8 and 9 had scored half-centuries in the same innings.
From a position at the start of the day where England would have hoped for something near parity - a manageable deficit around 50 at worst - by the close it felt as though India had made the definite moves of the series. Joe Root, who had been promoted to open in place of the injured Haseeb Hameed, remained unbeaten on 36 but Ashwin's dismissal of Ben Stokes in the final over capped a perfect day for India.
Alastair Cook's stay was tortuous. In the space of four deliveries he survived two close DRS calls. The first was an India review for an appeal given not out against Jadeja which was, eventually after some problems forming the HawkEye graphics, shown to be missing leg. The second was after he had been given lbw to Ashwin only for the review to show the ball pitched outside leg. However, the reprieve was brief as Ashwin worked him over by sliding a straighter delivery between bat and pad.
Moeen Ali batted at No. 3, the only spot in the top nine he had yet to occupy in Tests, and added to the list of England's inglorious dismissals in the match when he chipped Ashwin to mid-on. It was a lovely piece of deception from the bowler, who defeated Moeen in the flight, but regardless it was a limp chip.
Just as Root and Jonny Bairstow were eyeing the close, the latter fell to a catch that, as a fellow wicketkeeper, he would acknowledge for its skill as Parthiv Patel stayed low to take a ball that skidding through low to graze the outside edge. Virat Kohli then pulled one of his Midas touches when he recalled Ashwin in the dying moments of the session and, with his first delivery, he spun one past Stokes' edge which took the back pad. It was initially given not out by Chris Gaffaney but, with the seconds ticking down, Kohli reviewed and was justified.
India were 12 behind when play resumed and England made an insipid start to the day. Chris Woakes' opening delivery was a leg-stump half volley which Ashwin clipped to the boundary and Moeen was oddly given two exploratory overs ahead of either James Anderson or Stokes.
Until Jadeja picked out long-on when he tried to up the tempo after tea it had been an innings largely out of character to how he is perceived as a batsman. In terms of balls faced it was the seventh-longest innings of his first-class career and one of his most significant in Tests. Even when he departed the end did not come swiftly for England as Jayant, who played with barely an alarm, ticked over to a 134-ball fifty.
Jadeja only had two previous fifties in Test cricket: his swashbuckling effort at Lord's in 2014, which helped build a match-winning lead, and a brisk innings against New Zealand earlier this season, which hastened a declaration. This was certainly not a tail-end jolly. On the second evening, after India had suffered a wobble of 4 for 56, Jadeja allowed Ashwin to take the lead and moved to 8 off 34 balls. He then sensed a moment to attack shortly before the new ball, but, on the third day, except for a skip down the pitch against Moeen, he did not attempt anything expansive until taking four boundaries off a Woakes over shortly before his dismissal.
Jadeja's half-century came off 104 balls and was accompanied by the familiar swordsman celebration but it was the only bat throwing on display. The disappointment of him missing a century meant we did not see what the follow-up would be. Stokes tried to prey on his patience by sending the ball wide outside off, as he had done to Kohli, but Jadeja ignored those balls. He benefited from a bonus four runs when he took a sharp single to mid-on and Jake Ball's throw was not backed up.
Ashwin had continued to time the ball elegantly until he was lured into a wider delivery by Stokes, in his first over of the day, and spooned a catch to Jos Buttler at backward point to end a stand of 97 with Jadeja. However, Jayant, in so many ways a younger model of Ashwin, from his role in the team to punching deliveries through the off side, collected two sweetly-timed boundaries off Anderson to set him on his way, but there was no hurry from India.
England's frustrations - and specifically Stokes' - almost reached boiling point as they worked to break the ninth-wicket stand. Umesh Yadav was dropped on 9 by Cook, to his right at a lone slip, then in the same over Jayant nicked past Bairstow's right glove, leading to an angered roar from Stokes. But before the over was done, Jayant heaved low to midwicket.
Stokes and Adil Rashid shared the nine wickets taken by the bowlers with Stokes winning the race to a five-wicket haul, his third in Tests, when he removed Umesh. The catch for Bairstow meant he set a new record for wicket-keeping dismissals in a year. It was as good as the day got for England.
Sunday 27 November 2016
Tri Series Final
Zimbabwe 160 (36.3 ov)
Sri Lanka 166/4 (37.3 ov)
Sri Lanka won by 6 wickets (with 75 balls remaining)
Sri Lanka followed a clinical display in the field with steady middle-order batting to chase down 161 with 75 balls to spare and complete a convincing six-wicket victory over Zimbabwe in the tri-series final. Kusal Mendis starred with the bat, hitting ten fours in his sparkling 57, to lead Sri Lanka's robust recovery after they had slipped to 42 for 3.
Mendis was supported by Upul Tharanga in a 75-run fourth-wicket partnership that put the visitors firmly on course for the win. While Tharanga was decidedly scratchy early on, and survived a couple of chances, he took over the mantle after Mendis departed. He wrapped up proceedings by clubbing a four and a six to finish on 57 not out and, more importantly, put the finishing touches on Sri Lanka's successful campaign in his first series as captain.
Zimbabwe's slump to 160 after opting to bat on a decent Bulawayo track was largely a product of their own failings. Poor shot selection left them chasing the game from an early stage. But the dubious choices began even before a ball was bowled, with the omission of their regular openers in the series, Chamu Chibhabha and Brian Chari.
That forced Hamilton Masakadza and Peter Moor to fill the opening slots. Moor, in particular, looked uncomfortable with the promotion, and it was not long before he scooped an innocuous straight delivery from Suranga Lakmal to gift an easy catch to midwicket. Masakadza followed him back soon thereafter when he was trapped in front by a Nuwan Kulasekara in-dipper.
Rain interrupted play with Zimbabwe on 20 for 2 in 5.1 overs, but their real troubles began almost an hour after the resumption. A promising third-wicket partnership of 53 between debutant Tarisai Musakanda and Craig Ervine ended when Ervine closed his bat face early to give the simplest of return catches to legspinner Jeffrey Vandersay. Musakanda was busy and energetic during his 36 off 37, but he perished to the same bowler, reaching for a ball that was leaving him to nick to first slip. Then Sikandar Raza missed an attempted sweep by a big margin and Zimbabwe were 89 for 5.
They were not yet done shooting themselves in the foot, though. Malcolm Waller and Sean Williams both threw away decent starts with ugly, cross-batted slogs that went high in the air. The tail did not offer much resistance and Zimbabwe were bowled out in 36.3 overs on a pitch that had not offered anything out of the ordinary to the bowlers.
That said, Sri Lanka turned out a professional performance with the ball and in the field. Kulasekara and Lakmal bowled with discipline with the new ball to tie down the batsmen from the outset. Vandersay, brought in to replace Nuwan Pradeep, then extracted decent turn and exposed the home team's weakness against spin. Along with left-arm spinner Sachith Pathirana, he pegged Zimbabwe back in the middle overs. The two spinners took 5 for 76 in 17 overs between them, helped by a screamer of a catch by Mendis at short cover to get rid of Graeme Cremer. Asela Gunaratne then cleaned up the tail, finishing with 3 for 10.
When the sides came back out to begin the second innings before the lunch interval, Brian Vitori effected a wobble with three early wickets. He pinned Dhananjaya de Silva lbw for a golden duck and snuck one between Niroshan Dickwella's bat and pad to splay his stumps. Then, Kusal Perera slogged him only as far as Waller at mid-on, leaving Sri Lanka on 42 for 3.
But Mendis and Tharanga steadied the chase after the break, despite the latter's early struggles. Tharanga found it difficult to rotate the strike against spin and was reprieved on 18 when Masakadza spilled a tough chance at short midwicket. He survived through it all, though, while Mendis unfurled a number of glorious cover drives at the other end. By the time Mendis holed out to Williams at deep square leg, Sri Lanka were on course for a thumping win, and it was Tharanga who took them past the finish line in style.
Sri Lanka 166/4 (37.3 ov)
Sri Lanka won by 6 wickets (with 75 balls remaining)
Sri Lanka followed a clinical display in the field with steady middle-order batting to chase down 161 with 75 balls to spare and complete a convincing six-wicket victory over Zimbabwe in the tri-series final. Kusal Mendis starred with the bat, hitting ten fours in his sparkling 57, to lead Sri Lanka's robust recovery after they had slipped to 42 for 3.
Mendis was supported by Upul Tharanga in a 75-run fourth-wicket partnership that put the visitors firmly on course for the win. While Tharanga was decidedly scratchy early on, and survived a couple of chances, he took over the mantle after Mendis departed. He wrapped up proceedings by clubbing a four and a six to finish on 57 not out and, more importantly, put the finishing touches on Sri Lanka's successful campaign in his first series as captain.
Zimbabwe's slump to 160 after opting to bat on a decent Bulawayo track was largely a product of their own failings. Poor shot selection left them chasing the game from an early stage. But the dubious choices began even before a ball was bowled, with the omission of their regular openers in the series, Chamu Chibhabha and Brian Chari.
That forced Hamilton Masakadza and Peter Moor to fill the opening slots. Moor, in particular, looked uncomfortable with the promotion, and it was not long before he scooped an innocuous straight delivery from Suranga Lakmal to gift an easy catch to midwicket. Masakadza followed him back soon thereafter when he was trapped in front by a Nuwan Kulasekara in-dipper.
Rain interrupted play with Zimbabwe on 20 for 2 in 5.1 overs, but their real troubles began almost an hour after the resumption. A promising third-wicket partnership of 53 between debutant Tarisai Musakanda and Craig Ervine ended when Ervine closed his bat face early to give the simplest of return catches to legspinner Jeffrey Vandersay. Musakanda was busy and energetic during his 36 off 37, but he perished to the same bowler, reaching for a ball that was leaving him to nick to first slip. Then Sikandar Raza missed an attempted sweep by a big margin and Zimbabwe were 89 for 5.
They were not yet done shooting themselves in the foot, though. Malcolm Waller and Sean Williams both threw away decent starts with ugly, cross-batted slogs that went high in the air. The tail did not offer much resistance and Zimbabwe were bowled out in 36.3 overs on a pitch that had not offered anything out of the ordinary to the bowlers.
That said, Sri Lanka turned out a professional performance with the ball and in the field. Kulasekara and Lakmal bowled with discipline with the new ball to tie down the batsmen from the outset. Vandersay, brought in to replace Nuwan Pradeep, then extracted decent turn and exposed the home team's weakness against spin. Along with left-arm spinner Sachith Pathirana, he pegged Zimbabwe back in the middle overs. The two spinners took 5 for 76 in 17 overs between them, helped by a screamer of a catch by Mendis at short cover to get rid of Graeme Cremer. Asela Gunaratne then cleaned up the tail, finishing with 3 for 10.
When the sides came back out to begin the second innings before the lunch interval, Brian Vitori effected a wobble with three early wickets. He pinned Dhananjaya de Silva lbw for a golden duck and snuck one between Niroshan Dickwella's bat and pad to splay his stumps. Then, Kusal Perera slogged him only as far as Waller at mid-on, leaving Sri Lanka on 42 for 3.
But Mendis and Tharanga steadied the chase after the break, despite the latter's early struggles. Tharanga found it difficult to rotate the strike against spin and was reprieved on 18 when Masakadza spilled a tough chance at short midwicket. He survived through it all, though, while Mendis unfurled a number of glorious cover drives at the other end. By the time Mendis holed out to Williams at deep square leg, Sri Lanka were on course for a thumping win, and it was Tharanga who took them past the finish line in style.
3rd Test Day 2 IND 1-0 ENG
England 283
India 271/6
India trail by 12 runs with 4 wickets remaining in the 1st innings
Fightback followed fightback during an absorbing final session on the second day in Mohali. India closed within touching distance of a lead after England had revived their prospects on the back of two inspired pieces of fielding which highlighted a stirring post-tea response. India lost 3 for 8 in a frenetic passage and their position worsened when Virat Kohli fell for 62, but R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja prevented an all-out collapse to take India to within 12 of England's total by the close.
India had established a position of strength when Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara added 75 for the third wicket, seemingly putting England's 283 into context. But, two balls into the final session, Pujara pulled a long hop from Rashid towards deep midwicket where Chris Woakes did remarkably well to make the ground then dive low for the catch. Even better, though, was to follow when Jos Buttler pulled off a stunning stop and shy - from his knees - at backward point to send back debutant Karun Nair.
Between those two moments of individual brilliance Ajinkya Rahane had failed to pick a googly from Rashid and Kohli edged Ben Stokes, which led to Stokes intimating silence in his celebration following his ICC fine for his verbals towards Kohli when he was dismissed on the second day. India were 204 for 6 and England had visions of batting before the close with a useful lead, but they were thwarted by Ashwin and Jadeja who picked their moment before the second new ball to take on the spinners.
Ashwin, who was not moving comfortably between the wickets, went to his third fifty of the series with his seventh boundary and Jadeja went from 8 off 34 to 31 off 59 as the pair reached stumps with an unbroken stand of 67. England will cling to the fact that they are bowling last on the surface, but it has held together well so far, while India will fancy the vulnerability of England's batting even if the lead is smaller than they would have wanted.
England were bowled out within four overs of the resumption this morning and, initially, signs were ominous as the new ball did not swing for James Anderson and Chris Woakes. When M Vijay was dropped at midwicket - Buttler unable to cling on to a flick off Moeen Ali - England needed a pick-me-up and, as so often, it came from Stokes. With his fourth ball he draw Vijay into a flat-footed poke outside off and although the umpire Chris Gaffaney did not raise his finger Vijay walked knowing the replay would confirm the edge.
It had been a curious, half-hearted, stay for Vijay who was also involved in an intriguing moment when he defended a delivery back to Anderson, who spotted the batsman had held his pose outside the crease. Anderson shied at the stumps and hit Vijay's pads, leading to a query for obstructing the field, but it was rightly ruled that Vijay had not moved from his position to block the throw.
England thought they had removed Parthiv Patel, caught down the leg side when he had 12, but the DRS showed the ball had only flicked his shirt. In his first Test for eight years, and thrust to the top of the order after KL Rahul's injury, it was an impressive performance from Parthiv to quickly adjust to the challenge.
His dismissal was a very modern lbw. Using his feet to Adil Rashid he was beaten by the turn but, having come down the pitch, the umpire understandably said not out. Jonny Bairstow, though, was convinced of the value of the review and he was vindicated when the ball was shown to be hitting leg stump.
And so the Kohli-Pujara double-act was back together. They soaked up the pressure of England's quicks and the ever-improving Rashid, who bowled consecutive maidens for the first time in his Test career, and began to profit towards the end of the second session when Gareth Batty's brief, and delayed, entry to the attack proved expensive.
There had also been a missed chance - albeit a difficult one - to break the stand when Pujara, on 35, glanced Stokes down the leg side but Bairstow could not hold on, low to his left, with one hand. Pujara went to his fifty from 100 balls to continue a golden run which has included two centuries in this series and, as he and Kohli strode in together at tea, a pivotal final session for England's series prospects loomed.
Sure enough, a momentary misjudgment transformed their prospects. In Vizag, Pujara had reached his century with a six over midwicket - to bring comparisons with Virender Sehwag - but on this occasion he will have wished he had left it to Viru. To be fair, though, the ball was there to whack, but he did not connect cleanly. Woakes' sprint and dive provided the boost England needed.
It also took Rashid's bowling average below 40 for the first time in his career. It was notable how much faith Alastair Cook put in his legspinner: Batty did not bowl until the 47th over and Moeen bowled only nine overs all day. Partly that will have been because of the right-handers being at the crease, but it was not long ago that even that fact would not have elicited trust from Cook. That faith was rewarded again when Rahane, whose series has not got going, was befuddled by Rashid's googly.
It takes a lot to knock Kohli's equilibrium at the crease, but a combination of the two quick wickets then Buttler's reflexes at point led him to sell Nair a dummy came closer than most scenarios. Yet it still needed a brilliant piece of opportunism to throw down the stumps. To Kohli's credit he refocused and reached a 111-ball fifty as he and Ashwin responded with a counter-attacking stand of 48 in 10 overs.
By now, Cook had returned to Stokes and he hung the ball just far enough outside off to tempt Kohli who had profited from the glide to third man. In attempting such a shot, he played away from his body to give England the wicket they craved. As his team-mates hooped and hollered, Stokes silenced himself while Kohli made a swift about-turn.
India were in danger of conceding a deficit that was more than just an irritant, but not for the first time the depth of their batting - much like England's - came to the fore. Ashwin timed the ball beautifully despite having to battle discomfort from what appeared to be a leg problem. Like Stokes for England, a shudder is surely felt whenever Ashwin appears in pain. He and Jadeja have kept India on an even keel at worst: it is unlikely to be their last telling contribution of this match.
India 271/6
India trail by 12 runs with 4 wickets remaining in the 1st innings
Fightback followed fightback during an absorbing final session on the second day in Mohali. India closed within touching distance of a lead after England had revived their prospects on the back of two inspired pieces of fielding which highlighted a stirring post-tea response. India lost 3 for 8 in a frenetic passage and their position worsened when Virat Kohli fell for 62, but R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja prevented an all-out collapse to take India to within 12 of England's total by the close.
India had established a position of strength when Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara added 75 for the third wicket, seemingly putting England's 283 into context. But, two balls into the final session, Pujara pulled a long hop from Rashid towards deep midwicket where Chris Woakes did remarkably well to make the ground then dive low for the catch. Even better, though, was to follow when Jos Buttler pulled off a stunning stop and shy - from his knees - at backward point to send back debutant Karun Nair.
Between those two moments of individual brilliance Ajinkya Rahane had failed to pick a googly from Rashid and Kohli edged Ben Stokes, which led to Stokes intimating silence in his celebration following his ICC fine for his verbals towards Kohli when he was dismissed on the second day. India were 204 for 6 and England had visions of batting before the close with a useful lead, but they were thwarted by Ashwin and Jadeja who picked their moment before the second new ball to take on the spinners.
Ashwin, who was not moving comfortably between the wickets, went to his third fifty of the series with his seventh boundary and Jadeja went from 8 off 34 to 31 off 59 as the pair reached stumps with an unbroken stand of 67. England will cling to the fact that they are bowling last on the surface, but it has held together well so far, while India will fancy the vulnerability of England's batting even if the lead is smaller than they would have wanted.
England were bowled out within four overs of the resumption this morning and, initially, signs were ominous as the new ball did not swing for James Anderson and Chris Woakes. When M Vijay was dropped at midwicket - Buttler unable to cling on to a flick off Moeen Ali - England needed a pick-me-up and, as so often, it came from Stokes. With his fourth ball he draw Vijay into a flat-footed poke outside off and although the umpire Chris Gaffaney did not raise his finger Vijay walked knowing the replay would confirm the edge.
It had been a curious, half-hearted, stay for Vijay who was also involved in an intriguing moment when he defended a delivery back to Anderson, who spotted the batsman had held his pose outside the crease. Anderson shied at the stumps and hit Vijay's pads, leading to a query for obstructing the field, but it was rightly ruled that Vijay had not moved from his position to block the throw.
England thought they had removed Parthiv Patel, caught down the leg side when he had 12, but the DRS showed the ball had only flicked his shirt. In his first Test for eight years, and thrust to the top of the order after KL Rahul's injury, it was an impressive performance from Parthiv to quickly adjust to the challenge.
His dismissal was a very modern lbw. Using his feet to Adil Rashid he was beaten by the turn but, having come down the pitch, the umpire understandably said not out. Jonny Bairstow, though, was convinced of the value of the review and he was vindicated when the ball was shown to be hitting leg stump.
And so the Kohli-Pujara double-act was back together. They soaked up the pressure of England's quicks and the ever-improving Rashid, who bowled consecutive maidens for the first time in his Test career, and began to profit towards the end of the second session when Gareth Batty's brief, and delayed, entry to the attack proved expensive.
There had also been a missed chance - albeit a difficult one - to break the stand when Pujara, on 35, glanced Stokes down the leg side but Bairstow could not hold on, low to his left, with one hand. Pujara went to his fifty from 100 balls to continue a golden run which has included two centuries in this series and, as he and Kohli strode in together at tea, a pivotal final session for England's series prospects loomed.
Sure enough, a momentary misjudgment transformed their prospects. In Vizag, Pujara had reached his century with a six over midwicket - to bring comparisons with Virender Sehwag - but on this occasion he will have wished he had left it to Viru. To be fair, though, the ball was there to whack, but he did not connect cleanly. Woakes' sprint and dive provided the boost England needed.
It also took Rashid's bowling average below 40 for the first time in his career. It was notable how much faith Alastair Cook put in his legspinner: Batty did not bowl until the 47th over and Moeen bowled only nine overs all day. Partly that will have been because of the right-handers being at the crease, but it was not long ago that even that fact would not have elicited trust from Cook. That faith was rewarded again when Rahane, whose series has not got going, was befuddled by Rashid's googly.
It takes a lot to knock Kohli's equilibrium at the crease, but a combination of the two quick wickets then Buttler's reflexes at point led him to sell Nair a dummy came closer than most scenarios. Yet it still needed a brilliant piece of opportunism to throw down the stumps. To Kohli's credit he refocused and reached a 111-ball fifty as he and Ashwin responded with a counter-attacking stand of 48 in 10 overs.
By now, Cook had returned to Stokes and he hung the ball just far enough outside off to tempt Kohli who had profited from the glide to third man. In attempting such a shot, he played away from his body to give England the wicket they craved. As his team-mates hooped and hollered, Stokes silenced himself while Kohli made a swift about-turn.
India were in danger of conceding a deficit that was more than just an irritant, but not for the first time the depth of their batting - much like England's - came to the fore. Ashwin timed the ball beautifully despite having to battle discomfort from what appeared to be a leg problem. Like Stokes for England, a shudder is surely felt whenever Ashwin appears in pain. He and Jadeja have kept India on an even keel at worst: it is unlikely to be their last telling contribution of this match.
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