Australia v Sri Lanka: second Test, day four – live!

12th over: Sri Lanka 25-1 (Thirimanne 12, Chandimal 4) The captain is proceeding serenely by waiting for balls on his pads and then working them for singles. Thirimanne faces most of the Richardson over, circumspect throughout this time, running a single away on the off side to end the stanza.

That’s very unexpected, but the man who was staggering off the ground dizzy and bent double yesterday morning will apparently bat when required later today. That doesn’t tally with anything I know about concussion protocols, so it would be interesting to hear what the full story is there. Anyway, that’s all we’ve been told.

11th over: Sri Lanka 23-1 (Thirimanne 11, Chandimal 3) Starc again to Chandimal, who knocks a single to leg. Thirimanne lets a few good balls go, then chases a very wide one that he can’t get near. There’s another wayward one past leg stump as well.

Well… I don’t know about that. Keeping to a bowler who hits 150 kph and has a tendency to spray high bouncers and leg-side accidents, Paine is standing about 30 yards back from the stumps. In the time that a batsman whacks a ball straight to mid-on, can he realistically be over the stumps before the throw back is unleashed? Doubt it.

10th over: Sri Lanka 22-1 (Thirimanne 11, Chandimal 2) Richardson to Thirimanne, who leaves most of the over alone before hitting one uppishly through midwicket. Loves that airborne stroke, this man.

We did get an extra rendition of that particular song this morning because today is the National Day of Sri Lanka, commemorating their independence day in 1948. And we got two goes at Advance Australia Fair at the Gabba because our own national day highly dubiously remains on January 26. Two Tests, four anthems. How lucky we are.

9th over: Sri Lanka 20-1 (Thirimanne 9, Chandimal 2) Normal service resumes, with Starc swinging one down leg side. That’s no problem at all when he’s also bowling the wicket-taking ones. Chandimal, the skipper, is now at the crease. He opens his account by working two runs through square.

Got him! Starc was knocking over Karunaratne for fun in Sri Lanka back in 2016, but hasn’t been able to replicate that in Australia. Now he does, left-arm over to a left-hander, a bit of shape in perhaps, looks like a slight inside edge but perhaps there wasn’t even that. It clips leg stump after stating outside off stump, and off go the bails as the ball flies down to the fine leg boundary.

8th over: Sri Lanka 18-0 (Karunaratne 8, Thirimanne 9) Jhye Richardson commences from the Manuka Church end, beneath our window. Great view here. He gets some early swing into the pads, and Thirimanne bats out a maiden.

7th over: Sri Lanka 18-0 (Karunaratne 8, Thirimanne 9) Starc is starting us off for the day, having regained the confidence of his captain. He didn’t start with the ball yesterday morning. Away we go, and there’s nearly a run out second ball! Thirimanne drives straight to Cummins but runs anyway, and Australia’s gun misses the throw at the striker’s end that would have done for Karunaratne. The dicey single is all they get, as Starc cranks up the speedometer and the short ball in the first over.

This has been a good Test for Australia in terms of finally getting some tangible results for individual players who needed them. Obviously the circumstances of a lower-ranked opponent facing all kinds of injury difficulties in foreign conditions mean that players have a much better chance to do well. But it still matters to make the most of that chance.

Usman Khawaja has, getting his first hundred of the summer and hopefully a bit of spring back into his step after some injury hassles and during some ongoing off-field dramas. Joe Burns made a huge one when it mattered in the first dig, as did Travis Head, and Kurtis Patterson followed up with his own hundred once the ascendancy had been won. Mitchell Starc then grabbed five wickets, even if at times in strange and fortuitous ways. So they’re all on the board.

Marcus Harris, on the other hand, has followed a decent series against India with a poor one against a much more placid bowling attack. He’s got out to very loose shots each time, which doesn’t bode well for England. And Marnus Labuschagne couldn’t make a run in Canberra after a good knock on his home ground in Brisbane.

As always, you can make your own contributions to the OBO: thoughts, questions, considerations. Find me on Twitter at @GeoffLemonSport or email me at [email protected].

A lot of angst on the timeline this morning about Jason Holder’s suspension from the final West Indies Test hosting England. He’s been an inspirational leader in this series and got his team to 2-0 up, and now he’s been banned for bowling too slowly. Well, for his team bowling too slowly, not for his own figures on the speed gun. Which might have been an issue earlier in his career.

A lot of arguments (these are the rules) and counter-arguments (how can your over rate be too slow when you’ve won in three days). I have some sympathy for both sides of it. Slow over rates are annoying. But then, if a team is winning with four fast bowlers coming off long run-ups and taking lots of wickets, why should they have to stop just to get through more deliveries an hour?

Perhaps the line below is the most compelling argument. Not sure what the solution is, but it’s not the one we have at present.

The surface is starting to look a bit blotchy and worn, but it’s played very truly so far. Decent bounce throughout for both teams, which has helped bring about catches behind the wicket. (As have some horrible shots, mind you.) The footmarks might start to be a factor for Nathan Lyon today, who picked up a couple of wickets on his home(ish) ground here in Canberra.