Day 3 at the MCG - or "I Didn't See That Coming ...

Have had a couple of requests for a report , so :

Melbourne in the immediate aftermath of Christmas can appear strangely under-populated in parts. Not usually so in the vicinity of the MCG , but the first of three Inconvenient Truths is that the late dismissal of SRT , while it may have provided some drama for the second day spectators , completely sucked the normal start of play atmosphere out of day three ... along with apparently convincing a lot of Melbourne based Indian fans that they may as well go back to work instead. At the same time , the likely prospect of Dravid and Laxman batting Australia out of the game seemed to have caused a lot of home fans to go to the beach instead , so it was an eerily empty ground that greeted me at 10 am with the second I T ...which is that 15 degrees off the wicket on ground floor level isn't ever going to provide as good a view as is afforded TV or Internet Stream viewers on their sofas (albeit without the distraction of having to listen to Tony Greig or Ravi Shastri) ... so - if you will forgive me - this is going to be more of a personal diary than a detailed account of the action.

The 3rd Truth is that while the MCG is a splendid stadium , it has the capacity to swallow a normally respectable Test Match crowd of 20-30,000 and still leave a lot of empty space. I understand 40,000 ended up attending today but there was nothing like that at the start , so when the second ball of the morning removed Rahul Dravid's bails the resultant "roar" sounded more like a cross between a gasp and a cough - it seemed somewhat disrespectful for such a notable event , though that would not have bothered Ben Hilfenhaus, who might have glanced at the local papers and seen his recall to the colours being gently questioned ...
Still it was odd that the "buzz" that normally accompanies the dismissal of an opposing batsman and the arrival of another with a fine record against the hosts seemed altogether absent ...indeed the early play was generally low key all round as Ishant Sharma survived comfortably enough and Laxman refused to either play a stroke or look for a single. Crowd gradually thickened as a chap near me started a series of rhythmic chants in time with Peter Siddle's run up with a rather annoying double blast on a tin whistle...and the removal of Laxman produced a bit more reaction from the mob. But despite the regular fall of wickets I never felt the tension/frenzy I've been accustomed to at this ground in the past - perhaps I was in a quiet part of the ground (or perhaps I'm getting deafer than I think).
Whatever : the Indians continued to subside with hardly a shot in reply , and I found myself wondering if we'd all been magically transported to a damp morning at Headingley , or a "green mamba" pitch at the Wanderers ... or perhaps an old time bouncy Sabina Park track with Marshall Holding and Garner in action ... but no; it was still a fairly ordinary third day MCG wicket on a bright and cloudless morning and the aforementioned Hilfenhaus was bowling a nice line around off stump ... and seven wickets had gone for 68 (half of them down to the excellent Ashwin who rather showed his supposed betters what was possible with a little display of gumption...God knows what Tendulkar thought about it all.

One had to congratulate the Australian bowlers - they largely pitched up and bowled around off stump - old fashioned boring tactics but they work ... the only exception being to Ishant Sharma who seemed to attract a lot more balls aimed at his head than his stumps, which may have contributed to his outlasting Laxman Kohli and Dhoni. Perhaps he had annoyed the Aussies somehow when bowling yesterday...Or perhaps it was a Cunning Plan to keep him in and ensure that there was not much scoring at one end. They needn't have bothered , as there wasn't much at the other end either

I retreated from the loud marketing display that has replaced lunchtime and was pleased to find (having not got it together to prepare sandwiches) that the MCG catering department now provides options to the inevitable pie and chips that extend to trays of Sushi (!) as well as perfectly drinkable if overpriced wine so was well primed for the resumption. Again surprised that there wasn't more excitement on display at the prospect of Warner taking on the bowlers ...in fact beach balls and the Mexican wave were out indecently early in the innings.
Perhaps the fact that Dhoni had set only two slips and Zaheer was opening in the low to mid 120s may have contributed to a rather casual air around the ground? Perhaps it got to Warner too as he departed with a shot more reminiscent of an Australian woodchop champion than an Australian opening bat ...and then Cowan rather tarnished his reputation as a "good leaver" when he left the wrong one , and left the umpire little choice but to raise the finger...
As a rather shaky Marsh dragged on and Clarke (slightly less culpably) succumbed in similar manner I wondered again what is happening to the Art of Batting in Test cricket , and the Australian fans around me started to watch and worry in a serious manner for perhaps the first time in the day. Eighty metres or so to the right the hitherto rather quiet Swami Army was making itself heard - and it really felt like a Test Match.

Never mind the pressure : the two old men of Australian cricket showed us all that it is perfectly possible to score runs on this pitch - indeed they didn't really look in much trouble , although Ponting played and missed a few times. Somehow though I didn't think he would go on to the century some nearby spectators were predicting as the partnership reached 100 , and sure enough he eventually sliced Zaheer to gully ...the little wave of the bat he gave as he reached the exit gate might be a hint that he doesn't in his heart expect to be back here next year : if so it wasn't a bad way to farewell a ground on which his Test run tally is now second only to Bradman's.

Of course after that it was all downhill for Australia , and had Hussey not been grassed at slip I imagine India might already be batting ... as it is heaven knows what tomorrow will bring... I was certainly not going to try and predict anything as I strolled out with the faintly surreal memory of watching 15 wickets going down for 247 on a day when most "good" judges were expecting India to secure a comfortable lead...

En route to the station it seemed somehow appropriate to come across the slightly unusual sight of a young blonde female busker playing "When the Saints go Marching In" ... on the bagpipes...

It had been that kind of a day

Excellent work, alfie!.
A decent test match wicket, 2 teams that are not on the top of their game. Made for a good game of cricket, although the batting quality from both sides, other than SRT, Ponting and Hussey , and Dravid too, left a lot to be desired.
An interesting 4th day is pretty much on the card, although I see Australia with a bit of an edge. A session of Virender Sehwag can change all that quickly though!.

Nice work alfie...

It's often like that a few days after all the hype of Boxing Day and as you say - the loss of Sachin's wicket would have had an impact on the crowd figure today... which is a pity. I suppose after the morning session a few more punters would have made their way to the G but watching on TV (with all the mikes set up around the ground) the crowd always seems more vocal. That whistling guy... so annoying isn't it?

I'll probably have to write a report after Day 1 of the SCG Test so I'll be sure to keep my eyes and ears primed for the match itself as well as all the little nuances in and around the ground. Loved your description of the bagpipes player on the way home.

All I know is the little red & green DRS lights near the top of the Noble Stand will probably have a light coating of dust on them... and that the old carpet in the Members Area will have that slightly musty smell of cleaning product, beer, roast beef & gravy.

And when I walk down the stairs by the portrait of the Don he'll still have that sort of intense smirk on his face which says: "Go on Sonny...have a crack if you want. (Although I don't like your chances very much!)"

Excellent report or, rather, diary, thanks.

Not sure that I would be too keen to try a tray of Sushi at the cricket but good, I suppose, that all tastes are being catered for.

Anyhow, a brilliant way to spend a day just after Christmas. That's what's it all about, Alfie!

Thanks Alfie. Definitely adds to the cricket boards to have international match reports from our own correspondent.

nice one, Alfie. Glad you enjoyed yourself. An intriguing Test match, this one, as is the other being played at this time between South Africa and Sri Lanka (hoping for a Sri Lanka win to further cement our number 1 slot)!