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Saturday, November 30, 2019

grilled at Adelaide ~ David Warner magic !!


IPL is a grand festival .. .. . and hours before the match, huge crowds gather at TTK Road in Alwarpet – just to catch a glimpse of MS Dhoni and other team members getting into team bus from the hotel – thousands would cheer and wave at them – if MSD or a Suresh Raina were to see and wave back – raptures would erupt … earlier days, Indian team used to stay in Connemera Hotel and later at Taj Coromandel .. it is not possible for commoners to get into hotel lobby or get near Cricketers as there would be heavy security ring.

Miles away, Pakistan are roasted at the 2nd Test at Adelaide in a pitch where one thought bowlers would hold the upper hand.  Adelaide  is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide is a coastal city situated on the eastern shores of Gulf St Vincent.  Port Adelaide is a suburb of Adelaide lying about 14 kilometres northwest of the City of Adelaide. It lies within the City of Port Adelaide Enfield and is the main port for the city of Adelaide.  The city was founded in 1836 and was planned as the capital for British province in Australia; named  after Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen.  Princess Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen (Adelaide Amelia Louise Theresa Caroline; 1792 –  1849) was the queen consort of the United Kingdom and of Hanover as spouse of William IV of the United Kingdom.

In the 24th over of Australia's innings, David Warner tucked a ball towards long leg and rushed off for a second. The throw from Shaheen Afridi was wayward and went for four overthrows. Warner was awarded six runs, much like Ben Stokes was in the World Cup final, and brought up his half-century.  Upon review of footage in the World Cup final, it was clear that the throw had left the fielder's hand before the batsmen had crossed each while taking the second run. In such cases, according to the MCC laws, only five runs should be awarded to the batting team. In the end, England tied the final with New Zealand, and then also the Super Over and won the World Cup on a boundary countback.

~ some may still debate, but that 1 run in inconsequential at Adelaide where Aussie massacred and piled 589/3 and declared .. .. David Warner remained  unbeaten on 335 off 418 balls with 39 hits to the boundary and one over it. The other opener JA Burns was out for four and then came a big partnership of 361  with Marcus Labuschagne who scored 162.  Steve Smith was engaged in another partnership for 121 and then 99* with Mathew Wade.

One has to scoff those reports that stated that  Warner has been sorted out, Pakis have a game plan and could dismiss him easily. Warner's issues this summer in the Ashes are well-documented. Past experience revealed that  Stuart Broad from around the wicket, fuller and right at Warner's stumps and 95 runs from 10 innings (61 of them in just one) the result. Broad dismissed Warner seven times in the Ashes that way. All of Warner's 10 dismissals were by right-arm pace bowlers coming around the wicket to him. England's right-arm fast bowlers bowled 149 out of the 184 deliveries Warner faced against them from around the wicket, or nearly five balls every over!

A pink ball, a floodlit evening, an evenly grassed Adelaide Oval pitch. These are conditions in which, most of the time, bowlers have prospered. Josh Hazlewood described Adelaide as his favourite pitch to bowl on in Australia. Before now David Warner had never reached 50 in a day-night Test; before now, Marnus Labuschagne had never made a first-class century against the pink ball.  So there was an enormous amount to admire about the way Warner and Labuschagne took their second opportunity in as many innings to completely dominate Pakistan. 

Warner's century,  was his 17th in Australia, taking him level with Michael Clarke and trailing only Sir Donald Bradman (18), Matthew Hayden (21) and Ricky Ponting (23).   At Brisbane,  David Warner, who hit his first Test century since his year-long ban, wore shoes with names of his three daughters embroidered on them during the ongoing Test against Pakistan in Brisbane. David Warner and his wife Candice Warner were already parents to two girls- Ivy Mae (5 years) and Indi Rae (3 years) - and were blessed with their third daughter, Isla Rose (5 months) during the World Cup 2019.

Meantime, Steve Smith has become  the quickest cricketer to 7000 runs in Test match history. It's taken him only 70 matches, which is nine quicker than the next best - West Indies legend Sir Garfield Sobers. Smith averages 64.22 and has 26 tons to his name with a best of 239. He's 23 not out today. After serving a one year ban, Steve Smith made a roaring comeback to Test cricket as he scored a whopping 774 runs at an average of 110.57 in the Ashes series this year.

.. .. .. and what did he do after 1st Test at Gabba – he punished himself ! Smith punished himself by running all the way back from the Gabba stadium to the team hotel as he missed the team bus. "I always punish myself when I get no runs, just like I reward myself when I score runs with a chocolate bar at the end of the night if I get a hundred," Smith said on Tuesday. "So yeah, if I get no runs I always like to have a run or go to the gym or do something just to give myself a bit of a punishment," he added.. Reacting to his dismissal for the 7th time  by the leg-spinner, Smith, who could just manage four runs in the first Test against Pakistan, said: "Yasir's send-off has given him extra motivation to be more careful in the 2nd Test, which will be a Pink ball affair in Adelaide.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar
30th Nov 2019.

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