Another change of ends for Lyon. And straight past Mominul’s edge! He’s had more turn from here, and turned this square. And pretty much does it again. Lyon overtook another champion of the game, Bishan Bedi, with his fourth wicket (his 267th). Can still draw level with Herath on 23 if he cleans up the whole tail. Mominul ensures that won’t happen this over, crunching a cut to the boundary. An edge follows! Maxwell deflects off his back at gully from a push off the back foot spitting off the blade, but it doesn’t go to hand. He is bowling that well, Lyon. This could all happen very quickly.
Cummins comes down at such a pace that it makes otherwise astute batsmen do things they would never consider otherwise. He needn’t have played at that, Mushfiqur. It was nothing more than a prod. Mehedi the new man has to face the music here. And he’s jumping around too, fat inside edge second up.
“Agarn (close enough) a character in F-troop played by Larry Storch,” reveals Nicholas Jewlachow on our earlier topic.. I think, on reflection, I had seen that. But as if Matt Wade is an F-troop fan? David O’Hanlon also dropped me a line to confirm this. Most appreciated. I’m still going to probe Wade on this.
WICKET! Mushfiqur c Wade b Cummins 31 (Bangladesh 129-7)
There he is! Pat Cummins back, and into the book again within three ball! Too quick for Mushfiqur, who is prodding and tickling behind, Wade completing the straightforward catch. What a performer this young fast bowler is. Just when they needed it, they have got the Bangladesh captain. Pat Cummins, you star.
Larry Agar. Last one before drinks. He’s operating with a straight line from over the wicket. That’s enough to entice Mominul into an intense reverse sweep last ball. He doesn’t make contract, but it doesn’t matter as the ball has cleared Wade’s gloves, running away for four byes. Hmmmm. Drinks it is. Hour to Bangladesh? I think so. But for the session to be going their way these two need to be there when they next break.
Lyon into his 24th now. He’ll has to tire soon. He’s only been taken off to change ends, doing that a few times now. Make your mind up, Gaz. This is uneventful, until the Australians go up for a legside caught behind. Fairly ambitious sort of appeal, more like they had to go through the motions. No consideration of review.
Graham Crouch is probably bang on in his take on the eventual Australian chase: “Anything more than Smith and Warner can make is nasty.” As it stands, they need 54.
Garry bowling with Larry. That’s what Agar is being called by Matt Wade for reasons we are yet to ask him about. Unless you clever lot have the answer? All ears. It is Larry, then. Cut my Monimul then driven by Mushfiqur. Singles to both. They’re into a groove here. Looking to score. Even if it means exposing themselves to come risk, as Mominul does when reaching wide to cut but playing and missing.
“Is it possible that there will be a repeat of the infamous Mumbai Test?” asks Amod Paranjape. “What does the pitch tell you mate?”
Well, it isn’t as bad as Mumbai in 2004, over in about two and a third days with Michael Clarke bagging a six-fa. Sure, there is spin. But nothing outrageous.
First ball of the new Lyon set pulled for one by Mushfiqur. Shorter again later in the over, cut by Mominul for one more. Men around the bat excited when he floats the last one up, but no bat pad chance forthcoming. The lead is now 50.
“This is peak GOAT right here, isn’t it?” says Pete Salmon on the email, about the Aussie no. 1. “Has any cricketer ever been more suited to having the dreams of Guardian readers lived vicariously? He essentially get batsmen out by offering convincing arguments as to why they should go. Basically, unless he makes an announcement urging a yes vote in the marriage referendum, this may be as good as life gets for all of us. Let us all take a moment to live in the moment, as I’m sure Tony Robbins must have said.” I can’t add to that. Perfectly put.
So it’s Agar for another crack at it – this time the northern end. All over the place, this. Maybe on purpose, in the name of throwing the ball around? He’s pitching up to Mushfiqur then Mominul, who both take singles. Then pulling back to get a bit more bounce. The skipper keeps the strike with one behind point.
Oh right, it was a change of ends for Lyon. So Agar, for the second time, replaced after playing that role. Not sure he’ll fancy that. Anyway, it’s Nathan-Nathan to now go from the southern end. And he’s keeping Mominul honest. A timely maiden. Might have to invest in building that pressure up again for a bit.
SOK has been swung around to the end that Lyon has preferred, replacing the man with four wickets. Lyon needs to take a breather at some stage, so this stands to reason. But first up, the left-armer misses with a half-volley, put away with easy by Mominul. Per my tweet a couple of overs ago, this bloke is no conventional number eight. Three further singles. Monimul has 16 of the 19 these two have added.
What constitutes the Nasty Little Chase here, do you think? Email. Tweet. Find me on MSN Messenger. AOL. ICQ. Want my number?
Ashton Agar! How you been? Just standing out there in the field watching the other two ragging it around? Have a little jam roll. Not a bad one either, a maiden lodged to Mushfiqur who has to rush to get his bat down to quicker, straighter deliveries on a couple of occasions. Promising early signs for him.
Dropped? Little edge from the bottom of the bat to another that doesn’t get up, cutting at the time. Misses the glove. Not fair to call it a half-chance, really. Hard to see how he could have taken it. Mominul into it though, a man who normally bats in the top three. He finishes the over with a classy late cut. Looked in complete control dinking wide of Wade and slip. Lead 37. (I won’t mention it every over, don’t worry).
Adam Collins (@collinsadam)
Three of Mominul’s four Test tons have been made at Chittagong. #BANvAUS
“Ooh yes, Sok!” Matt Wade likes what he is seeing. He’s never been louder than in this Test. Singles through the legside to both early in the over, keeping Mushfiqur in defence for the rest. Keeps giving it a chance to spin.
Lyon slips outside leg stump to left-handed Mominul from around the wicket, not a lot of turn from there so he grabs a couple to get off the mark. First Aussie keeper in 62 years to effect three stumpings in a Test, according to uber-statto Mazher Arshad on TV. Not sure if that was followed by a caveat? Still, pretty good going in response to the most intense scrutiny. Another couple of singles taken, Mushfiqur retaining the strike with a push down the ground. 100 up along the way.
Chris Drew (@mesnilman)
@collinsadam “They’re building into something here.” Nicely done Adam -Grrrrr!
Oohing and aahing away is O’Keefe from the southern end again. A much improved performance from the left-armer in this innings, barely missing his mark. Noticably mixing up his pace too, in this over pushing Mushfiqur back with a couple skidding on, before looping up to draw the skipper forward. His response is a solid one. The lead is 25.
I said below it nearly didn’t carry to Wade on the full. On watching a replay, it definitely did bounce twice before arriving in his gloves. Making it all the better take. Not often you are collecting from a spinner off the second bounce. His third stumping for the match. Nicely done. Lyon immediately turning square to Mominul, the last of the recognised batsmen at no. 8. This is why they went with the extra batsmen. He’s desperately needed for a meaningful contribution. Right now. Looking solid here.
20 wickets in the series for Lyon! Sabbir comes down the track and misses, sneaks low and turns, more or less under the bat. The 54-run stand between the two is over. Wade had to keep his cool in order to complete the take, it only just getting to him on the full. He did exactly that before just about smashing all the stumps out of the ground. He likes it a lot! As does Lyon, 11 for the match. Three away from equalling Herath for the most in a two-Test series, four on the shelf.
O’Keefe to bowl his 15th. The third spinner getting the bulk of the work, Agar only seeing given the one set so far. Mushfiquir gets one behind point with a steer, but not completely in control. Sabbir down the track gets one as well. Again, good accumulation
Huge bounce and spin, into Mushfiqur’s thigh pad I think, but the Australians are keen on the catch. Taken by Warner around at leg slip. But they’re not keen enough to send it upstairs. The captain drives Lyon straight for a single, keeping the strike. They’re building into something here.
That’s right, I forgot when OBOing to factor in that Steve O’Keefe bowls his overs in about 75 seconds. Mushfiqur into the 20s with a flicked single. Going nice, in the circumstances. Sabbit less adventurous this time around, defending the rest.
Crowd involved in the eastern stand. Fair to say we were scrambling around in the press box after the fifth wicket fell, worried it could be over by lunch. But not the case at all. Mushfiqur had words with Umpire Gould before lunch. Unsure what it was about, but gives a sense that he’s still very much in this scrap. Until the very end. Singles to both again, Sabbir pushing, the captain tucking. Then the former goes at the reverse! Misses. He’s tried it on time and again since arriving. Four byes! A lot going on here. Wade can’t get a glove to a ball that shoots very low. Best he could have done is maybe kick it away. But four added. Bangladesh’s lead is into the 20s. Come on, sing it with me: from little things, big things grow.
SOK from the southern end. Mushfiqur adds one to begin. Sabbir has the right idea, trying to smack O’Keefe off a length. Doesn’t get any of it. So, they are going to try and keep the pressure on with runs. Looks their best bet, to be fair.
Is this the final session of the match? It could be. Or are we about to enter a period of nasty-little-chase specualtion? Not a bad effort from Sabbir and Mustafiqur to put an end to a nearly-lethal 4-for-11 collapse while still well in the red. Now, they’re 11 to the good from a local perspective. This should be good.
Players are a few minutes away from joining us here at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium. I found a mural of the great man on the wall of the posh entry this morning. Learned that he was a senior union acvitist and later health minister in one of the early Bangladesh administrations.
History lesson over. Let’s have a tune and get into it.
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1990s. Time for the Guru. (He goes by the name of Garry).
A fantastic session of cricket where the game moved very quickly, and in the main towards Australia. The wicket is well and truly awake now as Bangladesh find themselves 11 runs ahead, but five wickets down after destroyer-in-chief Nathan Lyon picked up three wickets to go with his first innings 7-fa.
He bowled in tandem with Steve O’Keefe for the majority of the session and cut a swathe through the Tigers’ top order, at one stage leaving them reeling at five wickets down and thirty-odd in arrears. O’Keefe picked up one of his own as we pondered whether Bangladesh might make it to the fourth innings, such was the sense of drama around every delivery.
But Test cricket is great, and so it turned to Rahim and Sabbir Rahman to launch a mini-fightback with a partnership of 40 that has taken the hosts into the lead. They batted purposefully with an array of sweeps both traditional and reverse that had the effect of deepening the field and allowing a few singles to accrue. Without doubt they rode their luck, but you need to in these sorts of conditions.
Even so, they are effectively 11-5 heading into the fourth innings and it will take a little more luck and purpose for them to dig themselves out and give Australia something nervy to chase. If and when that lead hits 80-90 and beyond, antipodeans from everywhere will become very, very nervous. The whole thing augers very well for the next session, so I urge you to stick around as our man Adam Collins brings you the descriptions from this pulsating day’s cricket.
Last one before lunch, but it doesn’t stop Sabbir Rahman trying to reverse sweep the GOAT unsuccessfully from the first delivery. It’s just the way he plays, presumably. It’s worked, too. He follows it with another reverse sweep which elicits a half-shout for LBW. Not out, says Gould. The tension mounts. Lyon decides to come around the wicket. Sabbir Rahman defends. And on the last ball Rahman chips one just short of Maxwell! Screams of anguish everywhere as it bounces ahead of the Victorian. The batsman survives. Both survive – they’ve kept Bangladesh in the match. That’s lunch! A few thoughts to follow.
O’Keefe is up for an LBW early on here after Rahim shuffled back in his crease and looked very square-on, but the ball found his inside edge and instead he collects a run for it. Llong gets this one right and Australia don’t review. There’s one more from the last ball through square leg. Sabbir Rahman and Rahim are nearly there. To lunch, that is.
Three off Lyon’s over. They’re riding their luck these two, but fortune favours their bravery. A reverse sweep from Sabbir Rahman bounces over Smith and he gets two for it. The next almost carries to short leg after he lunges forward. It finds the turf before Handscomb can grab it. Feels like the match is swinging slightly again here as we head to lunch. Pulsating stuff.
Reverse-sweep town. Photograph: Munir Uz Zaman/AFP/Getty Images
Just the one from this over as O’Keefe flattens his trajectory and keeps Sabbir Rahman contained, largely on the front foot. It’s a quick one and we look towards lunch, which is 8 or so minutes away. In effect Bangladesh are 6-5, but to my mind they’re only a significant partnership away from making Australia very nervous. These two are…dare I say…looking…good.
Looking more and more comfortable, these two. Three from the over, and it’s becoming a sweep-a-thon. A reverse sweep falls short of Cummins, and the next one balloons over Warner at leg slip for two. Attack probably the best defence for Bangladesh here as they keep the score ticking over.
Richard Hinds (@rdhinds)
For a bowler, Nathan Lyon is so damn likeable. Modest, self-effacing and better than I ever thought he could be.#RealOpeners#AUSvBAN
The sweep works again for Sabbir Rahman, again splitting the men on the square boundary as it hurtles into the fence. He’s watchful for the rest and all of sudden it doesn’t feel like every ball is doing something. Bangladesh are into the lead – looking back, Australia again would have ‘taken this’ situation, but every time they get a firm grip on the game, Bangladesh fight back. This partnership is now crucial. Test cricket is great.
Far more positive from both batsmen again, though only one from this over. The deficit moves to two. How many more do Bangladesh need to make a game of this? Not too many, I’d venture. There will be some nervous Australian batsmen watching this. Whereas Lyon and O’Keefe had caught NBA Jam-level Fire some overs ago, the flame has been somewhat contained now, and we can expect the Tigers to take the lead soon. Ebbing and flowing, this.
joelsmith (@joel_a_smith)
@sjjperry I would have thought the Agar experiment was worth another over???
Another good one for the Tigers, this time from O’Keefe’s bowling. Two singles to the vacant midwicket followed by a swept boundary from the concluding ball of the over leaves them 3 behind Australia, with five wickets in hand. The boundary was hit uppishly and briefly had the attention of deep square, but was hit firmly and was never in danger. A counterpunch here from both batsmen.
So an update on the scenario here, Bangladesh trail by 9 runs now after Sabbir Rahman successfully reverse sweeps Lyon for a boundary and four more singles are picked up. That’s 8 from the over. One of them was a lofted shot that fell just short of long on, but both batted with intent this over, and they’re nearly in the affirmative.
Sorry Holland fans (looking at you Hasto), SOK’s back – Agar used as makeweight for the guy Smith trusts. It’s an eventful six balls with two reviews and was that a dropped catch? Rahim presses forward on the last ball and the ball pops out to Handscomb at silly point but he can’t hang on. Rahim rubs his shoulder, Wade dramatically says ‘oh no!’ Who do you believe?
Sabbir Rahman was down the track but Australia liked it anyway. It went on with the arm but struck the batsman well outside off, and may not have been hitting the stumps anyway. Not the best review.
Lyon (who else?) comes from the other end now, replacing O’Keefe. Not sure SOK did enough to satisfy the howling wolves at his NSW door there, but he was solid foil for Lyon during a productive period for Australia. Rahim tries to reverse sweep Lyon again. He does enough to survive the rest – he’s shuffling across the crease a fair bit.
Shakib Al Hasan of Bangladesh is caught out by David Warner of Australia during day four of the Second Test match between Bangladesh and Australia. Photograph: Robert Cianflone/Getty Images
There’s a little delay here as Rahim applies The Magic Spray to his index finger following one that reared on him from O’Keefe. Meanwhile Agar replaces the GOAT, and as with his spinning colleagues starts with a fairly benign over. He does concede a boundary though, as one that strays down leg is tickled fine. Turns out it’s byes. Wade couldn’t do much. A single later and that’s all she wrote. Can the Tigers salvage something? 100 lead too much to ask?
Two singles to Rahim, one to Sabbir in another quieter over – though it still feels like every ball is doing something. Still feels like Australia’s innings could be interesting, if they get there. A commanding sweep from Rahim later on is a little more like it.
A quieter over here (there’s no wicket), but at one point Rahim tries to reverse sweep Lyon. It’s short, it hits the batsman’s shoulder, and kind of sums up Bangladesh’s efforts this innings. In fairness, they probably need some audacity to claw something out of this situation, though I’m not sure a reverse sweep/pull is quite the route to take, says the blogger who hasn’t played for five years. Bangladesh trail by 28 runs.
Two balls remain to Sabbir, the first one from O’Keefe’s a little full and the next one scoots through from short of a length. It’s just kept out.
Matt Wade says ‘come on Hasto’, to O’Keefe, no doubt a reference to his best mate plumping for rival Jon Holland overnight. Everything’s fun for Australia now, you see.
Nathan Lyon of Australia celebrates after taking the wicket of Shakib Al Hasan of Bangladesh. Photograph: Robert Cianflone/Getty Images
WICKET! Nasir c Smith b O’Keefe 5 (Bangladesh 43-5)
O’Keefe gets his first after stringing some good sets together. It’s flighted, draws Nasir into a front foot prod and catches the outside edge, travelling easily to Smith at first slip. O’Keefe makes a ‘shh’ gesture with his forefinger to his mouth. Feels like a bit of a procession now.
It’s moving quickly now, this match. After the wicket there’s a shout for LBW that Lyon rejects himself – there was too much turn. Hmmm, this innings mightn’t last long.
WICKET! Shakib c Warner b Lyon 2 (Bangladesh 39-4)
Ten for Lyon! He was drawn in on the front foot by one curving in and it spun away, grabbed the outside edge and was taken low by Warner in that short gully/third slip position. Kind of like a catch you’d see in dressing room cricket. Excellent bowling, Bangladesh well and truly on the ropes now.
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The Cricket Prof.
