53rd over: Australia 191-2 (Warner 70, Handscomb 53)
Mominul Haque, into the side for his batting, having a jam roll with his left-arm orthos. Not wrong to have a crack at something. Four out in the deep, only three fielders on the off-side. No slip, no silly point. Three of the easier singles either of these two will grab to begin the over. Could have been more if the foot was down, but right now they needn’t change a thing.
Daniel Cherny 📰 (@DanielCherny)
With Handscomb’s hat all the rage, this Test has been nothing but a Lyon, the pitch and the wardrobe. #BANvAUS
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52nd over: Australia 188-2 (Warner 69, Handscomb 51)
A glide down through the cordon earns him a half-century. Excellent hand from him here coming in when he did as the captain departed. 74 balls he’s faced, providing wonderful support to the vice-captain. Indeed, he’s been the more forceful of the two. Only his second half-century since the New Year’s Test in Sydney, where he clocked a ton. Three singles.
51st over: Australia 185-2 (Warner 68, Handscomb 49)
Handscomb loves to lap. It’s more a sweep in the conventional sense, maybe, but nearly his downfall. A glove that balloons, but over the ‘keeper and to the rope. Back to his safe place next ball, clipping Taijul through midwicket. Keeps the strike, one short of a half-century.
A tweet relevant to our chat from Aussie media manager Kate Hutchison, who is “reliably told” Darren Lehmann wore a Greg Chappell against New Zealand in a Test. Glad to know we aren’t the only watchers-on fascinated by the Handscomb development – they are in the changerooms, too.
Sam Perry (@sjjperry)
Just let out an involuntary ‘ooh!’ in a London office upon reading that Handscomb’s batting in a wide brim. Turned 32 a few weeks ago.
50th over: Australia 178-2 (Warner 68, Handscomb 42)
Mustafizur begins the final hour, coming in from the southern end. He picked up Renshaw earlier today. I don’t mind this. It’s one-day batting, and he’s a quality one-day bowler with all the cutters and change ups. Also gives me a chance to breathe on the OBO, so I support this move. Well done, skip. The result? It doesn’t matter. Handscomb given the most generous half-tracker and doesn’t miss out, nailing a cut shot. More runs off his pads when the left-armer over-corrects.
Did I just hear a swear word on the TV commentary, by the way? Anyone else pick that up? 67 runs in 16 overs since Tea, that broadcast also tells me. Very good progress.
49th over: Australia 173-2 (Warner 68, Handscomb 37)
Guess what: five more singles to drinks. Too easy for them, as this stand moves to 75. Time for more cordial. And more umbrellas. For umpires this time, too. Nice touch.
Raymond Reardon tapping into some material my man Sam Perry was pushing around earlier. Matt Wade, if you haven’t heard through the stump mic, has started calling Ashton Agar ‘Larry’. So it is Garry and Larry. What a time to be alive. “Picture of “Larry” Agar’s batting cap (aka Larry Torch playing Colonel Argarn of F Troop fame ) that Agar would wear in preference to the Greg Chappell floppy.” This requires a couple of leaps of logic, but I’ll pay it.
48th over: Australia 168-2 (Warner 66, Handscomb 34)
Mehedi is who Mushfiqur turns to again, Shakib tiring. The result is the same: five balls scored from in the over. Doesn’t help that four men are out. White ball batting as we near the end of the day’s fifth hour. All the sweepers getting a work out.
47th over: Australia 163-2 (Warner 64, Handscomb 31)
Boundaries in consecutive balls. Taijul can’t drop short to Warner like that, he’ll punish you rest assured. Take your pick where, he selects cover. Easy singles to both make it six from the over. Cruise control. Total control.
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Any excuse to get this back in the OBO. What a song. What a live performance.
46th over: Australia 157-2 (Warner 59, Handscomb 30)
They are really motoring now. Shakib leaks runs throughout the over. But to end the set Handscomb advances and lofts, high and handsome over mid on. That’s beautiful batting from the new number four. Looks ripe for it. Into the 30s with a bullet.
45th over: Australia 149-2 (Warner 58, Handscomb 23)
That scare out of the way, let’s get back to the important matter of his magnificent hat. Possible that Smith wore a Greg Chappell in Pune? One reply to that effect. I don’t recall. I feel like it is the sort of thing I would have written 1500 words about. Oh, confirmed: I’ve seen a pic on twitter. Smith did chuck one on a Pune.
Brydon Coverdale (@brydoncoverdale)
Moves like this make him clear captaincy material.
44th over: Australia 148-2 (Warner 58, Handscomb 22)
Well, nearly via a run out when Handscomb – now bating in the floppy Greg Chappell hat – takes on mid-off and it is a direct hit! But he’s home. Phew. And can I get a ruling on the last time an Australian batted in one of those beauties in a Test Match? It has to be a very long time. Hit me. I’ll try twitter, too.
Adam Collins (@collinsadam)
Previous time an Australian batted in a Greg Chappell? Has to be a very long while. Handscomb doing a lot right, not least this. #BANvAUS
42nd over: Australia 143-2 (Warner 55, Handscomb 20)
Shakib operating around the wicket to Warner. All fairly uneventful apart from where the bowler tries to push the ball back onto the non-striker stumps, but ends up essentially conceding an overthrow. A sign they really are pressing for another breakthrough. What they would give for Warner’s wicket.
41st over: Australia 142-2 (Warner 54, Handscomb 20)
A rare occurance in this Test: byes. And four of them. Mushfiqur has it go through his legs are Warner misses. It’s kept a bit low. More doing that through the day. Useful runs, Australia’s last ten overs netting an even 40 runs.
Richard (@theskiver)
@collinsadam Can’t be too often that Warner has taken 38 overs to score 50
40th over: Australia 135-2 (Warner 52, Handscomb 19)
Very good looking batting from Pete Handscomb, driving a couple through the covers then advancing for a couple more over midwicket. In control with both. More than looking the part at number four, the first time he’s batted there in Tests.
39th over: Australia 131-2 (Warner 52, Handscomb 15)
Eventful Taijul over again! To begin, another Handscomb lap over the shoulder, this timed better than the one in the previous over, down to the rope for his first boundary. Going nicely. To end it, Warner dropped at short leg. New man to the side that won at Dhaka, Mominul, has put one down. Lovely bowling to win the inside edge, but he’s slow to react from low in the stance and not able to get up in time. Typically shot legs have the opposite problem. Bad miss.
38th over: Australia 125-2 (Warner 51, Handscomb 10)
There’s Warner’s 50. Far from rapid, 98 balls to get there. Doesn’t make it any less valuable. No major commotion, plans to be there a for a long time. We read about his fitness regime since coming home from the Champions Trophy, preparing like a boxer to duke it out in the heat. It isn’t that hot today, but will be under that helmet. Handscomb playing his part too, lapping three with a tidy sweep. To double figures for him. Warner’s 29th innings in Asia and the first time he’s passed 50 in back to back innings, Murgers tells me on the telly. He really is an outstanding television commentator. Got a sense of how he directs traffic when doing a guest spot on the call with them yesterday. It’s not by chance that he ends up with the good oil so often.
37th over: Australia 120-2 (Warner 49, Handscomb 7)
Giant spin! Taijul has one come back more than any have in this match. It keeps low too. Warner was ready to get back and cut, but instead had to scamper down with his bat. Did it well. Cape the over with a single coming down the track, pushing to long-on. More of that aggressive batting, pressure straight back onto the fielding team. One short of a half-century.
36th over: Australia 117-2 (Warner 47, Handscomb 6)
Shakib to have a second burst. Warner gets another driving down the ground. Has done plenty of that today. Handscomb gets a fat inside edge when it is his turn, but nowhere near the hand of short leg.
35th over: Australia 116-2 (Warner 42, Handscomb 6)
The ideal start, scoring from four balls, breaking the field up. Three of those down the ground. “Would it be wrong of me to suggest this partnership is the one that will decide Australia’s fate in the match?” asks Phil Withall. Well, plenty of others have. A band of pundits suggested Australia only have four batsmen in this Test. Not sure they have watched much of Glenn Maxwell or Bec* Cartwright but that’s fine.
* See yesterday’s OBO. We landed on a nickname for young Hilton. It’s gotta be Bec. Tell ur m8s.
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34th over: Australia 111-2 (Warner 42, Handscomb 5)
It’s Nasir Hossain with his little part-time offies to tempt out another wicket before the break for the hosts. But that won’t be the case, Warner at ease high on his toes with a couple. He’s punching in a similar direction to the last ball of the session for one more. He’s into the the 40s as they depart for tea.
96 runs in the session, with only the wicket of Smith falling about 15 minutes before the final break. The tourists looked in cruise control for much of the session, the captain looking a lock for a 21st Test ton. Enter Taijul. Overlooked throughout the session, he did Smith in first ball, through the gate from around the wicket. Nothing particularly special about the delivery, but the gap between bat and pad was found expertly by the left-arm orthodox.
Warner took a little longer to find his groove, but build into his innings steadily. That’s what Handscomb is doing as well, yet to play a false stroke since coming to the crease. A big job ahead of these two when we return in about a quarter of an hour. Some correspondence below to leave you with. Back shortly.
“Never assess a first innings total until seeing the second side bat, say the pundits. Well I reckon we’ve already seen enough of this Aussie reply to know that Bangladesh were at least 100 short.” The view of Dave Langlois on the email. “I expect Australia to power past their score and then we’ll see how they bat in the second innings under scoreboard pressure. Difficult to see anything else than an Aussie win from here.”
Bold! I think they’re short too – 353 the average first innings score here. But don’t underestimate the pressure on the visitors.
“Great to see this match being given such a quality OBO, by the way,” he adds. Ever so kind. Always a lot of fun. Thanks for writing in.
33rd over: Australia 107-2 (Warner 39, Handscomb 4)
Last one from this end of the session. Warner tucks one into the onside. Handscomb probably who they fancy bowling at anyway. But he is on the balls of his feet punching beautifully through cover point. Deserved a boundary, prevented by some committed chasing by two fielders, who kept it to three.
32nd over: Australia 103-2 (Warner 38, Handscomb 1)
Mehedi has bowled virtually unchanged this session. Goes again. Warner gets him down the ground for one, leaving half an over for Handscomb to negotiate. He finds his first run, from the 14th ball, on the charge and pushing hard to mid-off. Takes the one on offer. Warner keeps the strike with another.
31st over: Australia 100-2 (Warner 36, Handscomb 0)
My guy Taijul to twist again. First Warner has seen of him, immediately pulls a short ball square, to the sweeper though. That brings up the 100. Handscomb sees out the over with a variety of defensive strokes; some forward, others back. Twelve balls without scoring, but with eight minutes until the break that’ll be the only number on his mind.
30th over: Australia 99-2 (Warner 35, Handscomb 0)
Mehedi to Warner. “Yes boys, YES BOYS!” the roar from behind the wicket through the mics. It’s Mushfiqur, who won’t need to be told how crucial it is that Warner is put under maximum pressure here. Mehedi throws it up, then pushes one through. The opener up to it. Full again, he drives square for one. Handscomb uses his feet to come down to begin. Finishes deep in the crease, hitting the middle of the bat. Not a bad start for him, albeit yet to score.
Sampath Bandarupalli (@SampathStats)
Australia’s Test No.3 since Ricky Ponting’s retirement:
Steven Smith – 1728 in 28 inns @ 69.12 Others – 2699 in 77 inns @ 35.99#BANvAUS
29th over: Australia 98-2 (Warner 34, Handscomb 0)
And now we’re into it. Game changes immediately. As noted before, 39 tons for Smith/Warner axis, six between the rest of the XI. Handscomb has a couple of those, but not since Sydney in January. Unusually for the Victorian he is forward here rather than back to begin; usually his happy place deep in the crease.
“One wicket away from a collapse,” emails Martin Turnbull. “Just wait and see.” That we will. Wicket maiden.
Taijul on (!!) and bowls Smith first ball! The Australian captain beaten through the gate. Gap between bat and pad, and through it goes. There is the vital breakthrough. The change has done it. Bangladesh are back in business.
More Mehedi. His 13th. Come on, Mushfiqur. Must throw it around. Three taken. Singles. Nothing doing.
“Given that Smith always has to score a 50 before he gets to each 100, it must be quite an emotional roller coaster for Geoff Lemon,” points out Peter Salmon. I can confirm this. When Younis got to 50 in Sydney, he was on tenterhooks, riding home every ball until he reached three figures. “But good that Smith has a reason to press on with his innings, rather than just getting out.” Right on.
Adam Collins (@collinsadam)
What has Taijul done since last week? Give him a trundle, skip. Was brilliant in the second dig at Dhaka. #BANvAUS
Shakib giving the standing sweep treatment again from Smith! Twice in a couple of overs when he lands too full with that outside leg approach. He’s motoring now. Bangladesh nearing real trouble, these two kicking with the wind with 25 minutes to tea.
Another over where four balls are scored off, singles as they see fit. The first of those brings up Steve Smith’s half-century. The 21st of his career, to go with 20 tons. I know my OBO colleague and platonic life partner (his phrase) Geoff Lemon will be angered by that at, if he’s following the blog from Burning Man in America. He has a real thing for guys who have more tons than 50s. In modern times, think Younis Khan and Michael Clarke, who both retired with one more in the centuries column than they had halfs. So he’ll be urging Smith to set it right by moving on to triple figures by stumps tonight. Not that the Aussie captain will require any further motivation for that.
Warner again down to the non-strikers’ end with a single first ball, steering Shakib off the back foot for one. Smith defending, until the last ball, where he plays a stand up sweep shot down to the boundary! That’s one way to negate any turn from outside the leg stump. No real rough to aim at, but that’s where the leg-armer is trying to open up the Australian captain. But he hasn’t stopped him here.
Warner into the 30s pushing past short leg to begin the new Mehedi set. Smith drawn forward to the rest of the over. He’s been better in his last couple. Still wouldn’t mind seeing Taijul from this end, though.
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