Its Only Cricket

3rd Test: Australia wins Sydney Test (scorecard), South Africa won Test Series 2-1.. T20 & ODI series follows.
Current Cricket Series : South Africa vs Australia, West Indies vs New Zealand. Coming Up : India in NZ 2009.

Day 2 : Pendulum hangs in balance


Laxman-Sydney-100.jpg 303 runs scored & 6 wickets fell = 85 overs = a typical day of modern day test cricket were both bowlers and batsmen had their share of say..

Brett Lee, expectedly, first displayed batting talent (59 runs) and then some fast bowling cum acting skills. He picked up one important wicket of Wasim Jaffer off a special yorker but its his animated celebrations of a wicket that amazes me! Lee never looks at umpire to appeal "how's that".. he simply runs to the keeper & starts posing for photographers!

Over night batsman, Andrew Symonds, used Steve Waugh trick and gave ample opportunities to Mitchell Johnson who hit lusty 5 fours to take Australia past 450. Indians played 3 over before lunch interval without scoring a run.

Post lunch session to 1 hour before the end of Day 2 - it was VVS Laxman show! Those wristy flicks & beautifully timed off drives once again graced Sydney cricket ground, where Laxman had previously scored 162 & 178. his 3rd match at the ground gave him his 3rd century, which might turn out the most significant one in due course..

Rahul Dravid, at the other end, was slow which meant Aussie captain could keep run-rate under control. that said, Dravid's innings took off all the shine off the Kookaburra ball and set the foundation for the Ganguly's and Tendulkars for tomorrow.

Fact & Hope : Day 3 of this India vs Australia 2nd test match starts with a ball 62 overs old. New ball would be available only after 18 more overs, meaning Indians can get their eye in & score even freely after Ponting opts for new cherry! 2 quick wickets at the end has brought Australia back into this match, which now hangs in the balance!

End of Day 2, 2nd test.
Aus : 463 all out,
Symonds 162*, Ponting 55,
Hussey 41, Hogg 79, Lee 59,
Rudra 4/124 & Kumble 4/106.
Ind : 216 for 3, 62 overs.
Jaffer 3, Dravid 53 (160b),
Laxman 109(142), Ganguly 21*,
Tendulkar 9*. RR = 3.48/over.

2 notes from Day 2
** 4 years ago, on same day, Laxman had also scored a century at the same SCG ground. That day, he made a partnership of 353 with Sachin Tendulkar, who had scored 241*..
** Mitchell Johnson has some no-ball problem. He got Rahul Dravid's wicket off the no ball, off same kind of delivery that he did at MCG.. both were no-balls and Dravid continued his innings!





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