World Test Championship Final 2023 (7th June - 11th June)

First topic message reminder :

The second edition of the World Test Championship concludes with the final between Australia and India, starting on Wednesday at 10:30 BST (that's half an hour earlier than tests in England usually start, so be aware!).

Australia narrowly missed out on reaching the first final, but for this cycle they comfortably topped the table with 11 wins in their 19 tests. This included a 4-0 hammering of England at home and also a narrow win in Pakistan, although they did lose to India in India by a margin of 2-1. India edged out South Africa to 2nd place to reach their second consecutive final, and they'll be hoping to go one better than 2021 where they were defeated by New Zealand in the final.

The two squads are as follows:

Australia: Pat Cummins (captain), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Josh Inglis, Todd Murphy, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, David Warner.

Reserves: Mitch Marsh, Matt Renshaw

India: Rohit Sharma (captain), Ravichandran Ashwin, KS Bharat, Shubman Gill, Ravindra Jadeja, Virat Kohli, Ishan Kishan, Cheteshwar Pujara, Axar Patel, Ajinkya Rahane, Mohammad Shami, Mohammad Siraj, Shardul Thakur, Jaydev Unadakt, Umesh Yadav.

Reserves: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Mukesh Kumar, Suryakumar Yadav

Must be noted that Josh Hazlewood, who has hardly played any tests over the past few years, has been officially ruled out of the final, as he continues to battle troubling injuries. Boland will be the likely beneficiary.

Unlike the 2021 final, the weather forecast is for continuous sunshine and temperatures going into the high 20s. There is a reserve day in place, but it's not probable that this will be required.

I favour Australia to win this one. Their batting and seam bowling seems much the stronger, plus Australia are likely to find conditions more to their advantage than India.

What a horrible way to get out. Survived numerous better deliveries, but gets out to that. Solid take from the keeper.

Gives India a little look at Smith before lunch. And Smith duly steps to the off-side and nudges to the leg-side for a single. First of about one million this summer.

Shardul! Gets Warner, caught down the legside of a nothing delivery. India badly needed that. Good catch from KS Bharat.

Poor captaincy from Rohit. The moment Smith's in, he should have gone back to his better bowlers, Siraj or Shami. Instead the lackluster Umesh is continuing. Rohit, rather unlike himself, captaining like a machine. Seems the number of overs per spell for bowlers were pre-decided!

That late wicket of Warner makes it just about even. But India really need to pull themselves up, Umesh has really been poor, and Rohit didn't work his options well.
And pathetic overrate. The 2nd hour was even worse.

I still wouldn't have bowled first, but based on everything it wasn't the worst decision. Ball did plenty, beat the bat loads, on another day perhaps Australia would be 4 or 5 down at lunch. But only two down, and if it settles down in the afternoon, and Smith and Labuschagne assert themselves, it could be a long second session for India.

Just 23 overs in those two hours. A new low?

It might look an even session but I think Aus have done better
The pitch appears to be difficult......largely because balls are jumping off a length...not enuf to be called dangerous
BUT much more than normally you'd expect on D1 and making batting tough.
Will this uneven jump off a length settle down or deterioate?

Aus are lucky or we might say done well not to nick any more than they have
Pitch required bowling stump to stump that line that both Yadav and Shardul have settled into...pitch also calls for having a Fwd Short leg...and Aus could well be bundled for less than 250

IMO having seen one session 275 would be par

Shami has been the one out of four who bowled least optimal length and Rohit's captaincy while not terrible has been formulaic 6 overs X 4 distribution of bowling ......although over rate so slow that even 24 overs were not possible

That late wicket of Warner makes it an even session in my view. I'm sure India would have liked one more ; and with Smith and Labuschagne together now the hour after lunch will be vital ; but they've got rid of a dangerous player when he'd appeared to be away , so will probably take 73/2.

Over rate not the best. Oh and not a bad take there by the keeper that you Indian chaps don't seem too keen on

Duty281 wrote:What a horrible way to get out. Survived numerous better deliveries, but gets out to that. Solid take from the keeper.

Gives India a little look at Smith before lunch. And Smith duly steps to the off-side and nudges to the leg-side for a single. First of about one million this summer.

If India weren't going to dismiss Smith in the few minutes before the break, they needed to keep him on 0 which even for a modern great would have made his lunch less palatable.

That over rate really was exceptionally poor even by recent standards .

I was away from the TV for a bit in the middle of the session : did I miss a pitch invasion by Just Stop Oil or something that held up play ?

That was very poor by Labuschagne. Like a tailender's dismissal. But India in a good spot now.

It isn't always the killer ball that gets the wicket...bowl enough testing stuff and you often get rewarded by a batsman error.

Australia not exactly cruising yet. Smith often starts a bit stodgily and later goes up the gears...but Head as usual wants to get on with it. Get one of these and the bowlers will indeed feel they're on top. But if these two settle they might enjoy a fruitful afternoon in the sunshine...they complement each other quite well in styles.

I think this might be a 'see both sides bat' sort of pitch. Australia have 3 tall and quick bowlers who are likely to extract any uneven bounce whilst Boland isn't a slouch either.

Head is getting into Bazball mode though. I honestly think it will be his best bet to make runs in these conditions.

Really like Travis Head as a player. His test average is beginning to reflect his ability. Australia have one hell of a 3-4-5.

Indeed , Head has really come on in recent times (not so much in Asia !) and looms as a bit of a threat to England after this game. If Moeen does play it will be interesting to see how the two of them square off : if he doesn't get him out he might get monstered as Head is just the fellow to launch a full on assault...

He looks likely to give India a bit of curry today if they don't get him soon. Smith still doesn't look as comfortable as usual but he's still there ... game swinging back to the batting side.

Halfway through the appointed hours for the day and we've seen just 36 overs !

Bit of overtime coming up tonight , eh ?

Australia in front now courtesy of a really good counterpunching knock from Head and a watchful rather than fluent effort so far from Smudge.

Jadeja is bowling really well considering it's D1. Getting that drift which is so vital when it isn't ragging but there is a bit of turn. As usual with Jadeja he's extremely economical. That will no doubt further fuel the Ashwin debate though.

Shardul has looked threatening to be fair but has also lacked control.

Shami has been his usual self, he's a terrific bowler.

I've been really impressed with Siraj's pace though. He always looks most threatening when he's at top lick and he has been today.

Yadav has been slightly of his best though which is a shame. He was a very underrated part of India's seam bowling stables at his peak but will turn 36 in a few months of course.

Overall this has been a cracking day of Test cricket so far.

Head taking this away for Australia very nicely...has had some issues with Jadeja but he's kept the scoreboard rattling along 60 off 75 balls.

170/3 after just 51 overs to tea. Not quite Bazball but decent . Smith rather restrained still but the partnership looking very ominous for India. Last session might be tough for the fielding side...who will be working late owing to this awful over rate.

Strong session for Australia, despite the early loss of Labuschagne. Smith well below his best, but like all great players he's sticking in there. Head has provided the pace for Australia and destroyed anything on his pads or wide of off. Conditions certainly better for batting this afternoon, and India's fielding, initially sharp, is starting to look a little laboured.

Both of them, Head especially, have looked a little uncomfortable v the short ball, so I wonder if that increases the chances of Wood, or even Tongue, playing at Edgbaston.

170/3 is a good platform. Still got Green and Carey to come after these two. Might be looking at 400+ if India can't grab an early evening wicket.

Nine overs off the pace with Jadeja hurrying it up, so might get around 85 overs in total with the extra half-hour to come.

To my own question whether the ball jumping off a length will settle or deteriorate......it's settled based on evidence of game in 2nd session.

India has not done anything terribly wrong......I would say only the X-factor the extra push and energy that we were used to seeing in Kohli's time which made things happen.....has been missing.
Everyone's doing the 9 to 5 office work per job description....and they have allowed Head to get away...not pulling out something different to unsettle him...like a barrage of bouncers with 2 our 3 men out

Duty281 wrote:Strong session for Australia, despite the early loss of Labuschagne. Smith well below his best, but like all great players he's sticking in there. Head has provided the pace for Australia and destroyed anything on his pads or wide of off. Conditions certainly better for batting this afternoon, and India's fielding, initially sharp, is starting to look a little laboured.

Both of them, Head especially, have looked a little uncomfortable v the short ball, so I wonder if that increases the chances of Wood, or even Tongue, playing at Edgbaston.

170/3 is a good platform. Still got Green and Carey to come after these two. Might be looking at 400+ if India can't grab an early evening wicket.

Nine overs off the pace with Jadeja hurrying it up, so might get around 85 overs in total with the extra half-hour to come.

Yes, a strong session for Australia and 170/3 is a good platform. Just a shame for them and all the paying spectators that they have been unable to build more on that platform due, to some comsiderable extent, the poor over rate as per your closing sentence.

alfie wrote:Head taking this away for Australia very nicely...has had some issues with Jadeja but he's kept the scoreboard rattling along 60 off 75 balls.

170/3 after just 51 overs to tea.  Not quite Bazball but decent . Smith rather restrained still but the partnership looking very ominous for India. Last session might be tough for the fielding side...who will be working late owing to this awful over rate.

Not sure Bazball would be the way to go here. Especially during that tricky first hour. Can't imagine that really working better if it were Crawley, Duckett and co. facing up to Siraj, Shami and co. under those earlier conditions we saw. The pitch did look pretty green at the start (its drying out now though) but maybe I need to adjust my TV picture setting back to "normal" from "dynamic" - which tends to saturate the colour a bit.

When Head gets going he can be very special indeed. This is starting to resemble the sort of match winning knock we've seen from players such as Rohit where one batter just seems to be playing a different game to the others. Outstanding stuff.

Very worrying times for India with the runs flowing at the start of this session. Smith even getting a couple of boundaries now.

51/0 in 9 overs this evening, still 20 overs from the new ball. Think they need Jadeja to hold an end.

50 for Smith. Not at his best or, as Carlos said earlier, most fluent but that is what's made it so good. 

And now a century for Head. Glorious attacking batting to strengthen Australia's position. 

Superb century from Travis Head.

Averaging 57 with a strike rate of near 82 in tests since the start of 2021, and that's including his struggles in Asia.

He was more interested in chatting to an attractive blonde on the boundary than fielding properly for Worcestershire when I saw him at New Road a few years ago though. Therefore I simply will not warm to him no matter how many run a ball 100s he makes!

guildfordbat wrote:50 for Smith. Not at his best or, as Carlos said earlier, most fluent but that is what's made it so good. 

Yep, sign of a great player that he's making such a valuable contribution whilst nowhere near his best. Smith's record is now so spectacular that I think it's fair to discuss him as an all time great. He'll reach 100 Tests over the Ashes, has 30 tons and averages basically 60 still. It's really incredible.

Whilst his career started in the very good batting era we saw from around 2000-2015 it has also spanned the more recent period with many tougher pitches and the improved Kookaburra with a reinforced seam where seam bowling especially has thrived.

One thing that always strikes me about Smith is how soft his hands must be when playing defensive shots. It feels like a lot of the outside edges he does get drop short of the slips. Maybe I just notice them more as he's such a vital wicket to take though.

It's an ominous innings from an England fans perspective!

JDizzle wrote:He was more interested in chatting to an attractive blonde on the boundary than fielding properly for Worcestershire when I saw him at New Road a few years ago though. Therefore I simply will not warm to him no matter how many run a ball 100s he makes!

As opposed to Dom Bess who glared at me on the Guildford ground boundary a few years ago when I rather loudly referred to a then Somerset colleague of his making ''a Hollywood save''.

I've never warmed to him since. Mind you, I'm sure he wouldn't think any better of me.

India gambled on the toss. They got the ball doing plenty in the morning, but only two wickets for their efforts (and Warner's was a strangle down the leg side). The early dismissal of Labuschagne put India in front, however Smith simply refused to get out (agree about his soft hands meaning plenty of edges fall short) and Head counter-attacked in sublime fashion. Didn't take long for India's morale and energy to desert them as that happened and the ball got softer. Australia exhibited how to bat in tests.

327/3 at stumps, as Smith ends with a boundary. Never mind 400, Australia will want 550+ from this position. Head has been astonishing with some of the shots he's played. Can't give him anything on the pads or wide because he'll simply flay it to the fence. Short balls may be a weakness and that's why I wouldn't be surprised to see Tongue start at Edgbaston.

Could catch the game only in parts after that first session. Turnes out my apprehensions proved to be right. Conservative selections, reactionary call at the toss. Not trusting your batting unit to do the job, and India find themselves in a mess. Think the game is almost lost on this first day itself.
Terrific knock from Head. He came in at a tricky situation and counterpunched brilliantly. Smith, while not looking at his best, hung in there, and made it count at the end.
As the Oval pitch tends to get better to bat as we go on, Australia should be looking at 550 from here on, particularly as Green and Carey are yet to come, and Starc and Cummins are great options to have at 8 and 9.

Shami and Siraj bowled alright. Jadeja was terrific in that first spell, but lacking support from the other end, Head was able to take him down a bit later on. Shardul in between a lot of ordinary stuff, had a few moments. Umesh was pedestrian and the weakling of the attack, rather unsurprisingly.
Pretty poor captaincy from Rohit. Seemed to be captaining from a textbook. Bowling changes were formulaic and entirely predictable and lacked any sense of imagination. He used to be far more astute...
Will be surprised if India fight back in the field tomorrow. All down to the batting unit now, but after 2 days of struggle on the field, will they have any fight left whenever their turn comes?

The 3rd session made a couple of things very clear

1) That Bowling first was not a good decision nor was leaving Ashwin out . And India is up & against it now

2) That Ind is here in the final not because its one of the top-2 test side....but only on the credits of the Shastri/Kohli era when we they were really a top-2 side.

The decline has been fast since Shastri left which was a BIG blow and with the ouster of Kohli Ind were condemned to total mediocrity.
Dravid is fit to be a consultant and not a leader / pusher/ motivator with fire in belly who can kick as.sses to get young and old boys to perform at their peak like Shastri could.

And Rohit is a 9am to 5pm script/ formula running Office Manager in the guise of a captain......not able to impart the X-factor & Out of Box needed from time to time.

The chinks were there to see in home tests and in limited overs world cup...but now in an overseas tests big chasm stares.
With old guys in the top half of batting past expiry date and the second half effectively a tail in these conditions.......there appears really not much hope for a pull-back from this situation, especially when the miracle man Rishab who could crack a 170 from No. 7 and turn the game & his clone Ishan are both missing.

Accidentally already put comments on the other thread. Silly me

Just to say Smith and Head obviously did what they both do best and have put Australia in a strong position. India have a lot to do with both ball and bat - and might be regretting the absence of Ashwin in both areas...

Australia will be hoping this first day is a portent for the rest of their tour . Well played today

alfie wrote:Accidentally already put comments on the other thread. Silly me    

Just to say Smith and Head obviously did what they both do best and have put Australia in a strong position. India have a lot to do with both ball and bat - and might be regretting the absence of Ashwin in both areas...

Australia will be hoping this first day is a portent for the rest of their tour . Well played today

Hi Alfie - you mentioned on the other thread about the possibility of India looking to bat long and hoping for a draw. Just to flag that they would need to bat bl**dy long as a sixth day is allowed for a positive result.

guildfordbat wrote:

alfie wrote:Accidentally already put comments on the other thread. Silly me    

Just to say Smith and Head obviously did what they both do best and have put Australia in a strong position. India have a lot to do with both ball and bat - and might be regretting the absence of Ashwin in both areas...

Australia will be hoping this first day is a portent for the rest of their tour . Well played today

Hi Alfie - you mentioned on the other thread about the possibility of India looking to bat long and hoping for a draw. Just to flag that they would need to bat bl**dy long as a sixth day is allowed for a positive result.

I don't think that is quite correct , guildford. My understanding is that the sixth day is only a reserve day to make up for time potentially lost to the weather. They won't be able to use it to extend the match beyond the scheduled 450 overs.

Would still need to bat pretty long though anyway ! Though despite the pessimism of our Indian friends on here I wouldn't rule out some big innings from the old boys , particularly if the pitch is bland and getting blander.

Well that was a savage day for India yesterday. It is going to be extremely tough for them to get back into this game and I feel their only hope (after D1) is to force a draw and share the prize. The batting conditions will get better so aside from a complete collapse, this should be very achievable.

It was so clear that their heads went down early and they simply had no energy in the field, that is a real on field leadership issue that needs to be addressed if India are going to be competitive in this game and going forward.

As an England fan, this does not bode well for the Ashes as the last thing they need is an Aussie team coming into form. Travis Head looks extremely at home in these conditions, that was a sensational knock yesterday.

Hi Alfie - you are quite right about the sixth day. My goof, my apologies.

Duty is our resident weather expert but it does seem there could be some rain on Saturday and Sunday amongst the heat. If so, the reserve day might just get some play (although that's different from my earlier post).

As for today, glorious weather already. Proper batting day. Not good for our Indian friends, I suspect.

It is a bit of a nonsense about the reserve day because, imagining there's no rain interruptions, envisage the end of day five being reached with India needing 20 to win and 2 wickets left, and that reserve day just sitting there unused. It would be quite a farce. Although I think India are some distance away from victory at the moment! Also disappointing that a draw means the trophy is shared. There's no tiebreaker based on first innings score, or countback to who finished higher in the league table.

There is a chance of some thundery showers on Saturday or Sunday, as the temperature goes into the high 20s.

Not sure India are going to have the batting nous and skill to survive this, but before all that they need some early wickets this morning to try and restrict Australia to below 450. Smith on the cusp of his 31st test century, which will take him past Hayden and Chanderpaul, and into outright 12th on the list of most test centuries scored. Smith already has the best batting average of anyone to score 30+ test centuries.

''England is a place where you really can't trust the weather. It can change anytime. We were not too much focused on the toss. Yes, it came our way but then if you are playing Test cricket you have to be up to bowl or bat first and we were just up for any challenge.'' 

- KS Bharat on Sky this morning diplomatically trying to not say the challenge of bowling first was on his skipper.

Only thing missing from Smith's first two balls today from Siraj was a pink ribbon! Complete presents to bring up a thoughly deserved century. 

Is Smith feeling the pressure? Well, it didn't matter if he were, because India serve him up two leg-stump half-volleys in his first two balls and Smith canters to his 31st test century. Well done to him. But that was horrific bowling. Way to set the tone for the day.

Wow, 91% of deliveries from the Indian seamers in this test not hitting the stumps. Quite a stat.

Looking at conversion rates between the big four:

Smith 68 scores of 50+, 31 centuries, conversion rate 45.5%
Root 87 scores of 50+, 29 centuries, conversion rate 33.3%
Williamson 61 scores of 50+, 28 centuries, conversion rate 45.9%
Kohli 56 scores of 50+, 28 centuries, conversion rate 50%

Clear to see where Root's deficiency lies, but this is an area where he has improved on in recent years.

guildfordbat wrote:Only thing missing from Smith's first two balls today from Siraj was a pink ribbon! Complete presents to bring up a thoughly deserved century. 

Yes indeed ! Just what his team did not need to start the day... In the past I've often been quite impressed by Siraj ; but his inconsistency in this match has really hurt his team. Mind you , his mates have been no better.

As for Smith ...what can you say ? Just a remarkable run machine... Another top knock , if not his most fluent. Set his team well on the way to a win

Some joy for Siraj but Head had already done the damage.

Guess our mild sledging must have inspired Siraj

But as you say , eirebilly , horse has long bolted.

Should give Head a lot of confidence for battles ahead this tour. Should also ensure he gets a fair bit of short stuff early in his innings...which ought to lead to some lively exchanges.

He can relax in dressing room now after a job brilliantly done

Now Green gone, India looking positive in the field now.

eirebilly_01 wrote:Now Green gone, India looking positive in the field now.

Five down ! Collapse is on

Lets hope alfie

Duty281 wrote:It is a bit of a nonsense about the reserve day because, imagining there's no rain interruptions, envisage the end of day five being reached with India needing 20 to win and 2 wickets left, and that reserve day just sitting there unused. It would be quite a farce. Although I think India are some distance away from victory at the moment! Also disappointing that a draw means the trophy is shared. There's no tiebreaker based on first innings score, or countback to who finished higher in the league table.

.

what's not clear is if they will use the 6th day to finish the balance of 450 overs, if there were no rain interruption.
Even if there are rain interruption will they play only the lost time on D6 or lost number of overs?

KP_fan wrote:

Duty281 wrote:It is a bit of a nonsense about the reserve day because, imagining there's no rain interruptions, envisage the end of day five being reached with India needing 20 to win and 2 wickets left, and that reserve day just sitting there unused. It would be quite a farce. Although I think India are some distance away from victory at the moment! Also disappointing that a draw means the trophy is shared. There's no tiebreaker based on first innings score, or countback to who finished higher in the league table.

.

what's not clear is if they will use the 6th day to finish the balance of 450 overs, if there were no rain interruption.
Even if there are rain interruption will they play only the lost time on D6 or lost number of overs?

Good question. I think it is only for time lost to weather ; but I stand to be corrected on that.