Australia v India: second Test, day three – live!

95th over: India 290-5 (Rahane 111, Jadeja 46) Cummins to Rahane, too straight as well, and Rahane hops and glances a single. Jadeja gets a ball angling into his pads, fuller, and he defends with soft hands, drawing an outside edge into the ground and away for four. Never any risk in that, he played it well. Then he plays a leg glance for one. India up and running this morning.

94th over: India 284-5 (Rahane 110, Jadeja 41) Starc this morning hasn’t got the line yet. Right-hander and left-hander swapping over, and he keeps bowling at their legs, allowing then to work singles. Then he bowls wider and Rahane drives for two, that wasn’t a very safe shot though: it went along the ground but Rahane drove it on the up and reached for it well in front of his body. Any unexpected movement there and he would have been vulnerable. Hard hands would have created an edge that carried. Starc just gives a half shrug, as if to say that he has no problem with anyone playing that sort of shot.

93rd over: India 279-5 (Rahane 106, Jadeja 40) Cummins from the Members End to the left-handed Jadeja. He’s bowling around the wicket, angling in at the batsman and presumably hoping to seam one away. The ball doesn’t do much for him in this over though, and Jadeja can leave everything wider of the off stump, and defend off the back foot to those coming closer.

92nd over: India 279-5 (Rahane 106, Jadeja 40) And we’re away. Mitchell Starc takes the newish ball and charges in from the Great Southern Stand End, with three deliveries left to finish his over that was interrupted when play was abandoned last night. Rahane got clipped on the helmet, causing a delay in the first instance, and then the rain came down. Starc gets that in-swing to the right-hander that typifies his bowling, but Rahane clips him away neatly for a brace.

I’m learning a lot from my co-passengers about who they think is hot, how one guy’s wisdom teeth are going (the fourth is troublesome, the first three came through fine), and who got bashed by someone’s brother. The cricket analysis so far has been limited to, “Is that dickhead Tim Head playing?”

Everything this morning rests on the first partnership. Ajinkya Rahane resuming on 104, Ravindra Jadeja on 40. Rahane batted almost all day yesterday and was first-rate, against bowling that for hours didn’t let up. It was only with the second new ball after the 80th over that the Australians visibly tired and the bowling got a bit less accurate, but for the first three or four hours of the day everyone was at the Indian batsmen, every over, every spell. Rahane fought through it, then stepped up his scoring later. This morning he’ll have to do the spadework again, and the bowlers only need that breakthrough wicket to get things moving.

I am pleased to report that a large group of what can only be described as ‘lads’ have joined my carriage of the train and have arranged themselves in configuration all around me. They are about 19 years old, all wearing Hawaiian shirts and sunglasses, and one is carrying a four-litre box of crisp dry white. It is 10:06am. Start as you mean to go on. Their chief form of communication is shouting sounds that are not words. This is a journey that you and I are now on together.

“G’day Geoff, my American girlfriend and I are following the coverage from Denver, Colorado,” writes Thomas Walker. “I’m competing with the Seattle v LA game for airtime but can’t wait for the match to start. Question – how did Cameron Green bowl yesterday? We were a little sauced by the time he came on but sounds like Warney wasn’t impressed. Anyway thanks for the OBO we love your work!”

Thank you, those of us down the OBO mines are glad to hear it. Denver is a lovely part of the world. I’ve only been there at the end of summer, it’s probably less great in winter when the usual consolation of snow sports is off the table for virus reasons. But it would be a dramatic locale nonetheless.

As for Green, I thought he was good in the morning session. Came on as the relief bowler, the Indian batsmen thought they might be able to relax for a few minutes, and instead he was hitting pads, getting edges, and quickly bowling in the 140s. He’s only young but the prospect of having 10 overs from him each innings to back up the frontliners is very exciting.

Or if you’d like the more detailed spoken summary from your OBO friends in me and Adam Collins, here we are.

The quick wires recap of yesterday’s play, if you’re of that mind.

What’s happening in the other matches? Kane Williamson made another Test ton, the 23rd for a man who gets to play less Test cricket than his celebrated peers in the world’s premier quartet, and NZ made 431. Pakistan will resume this morning with a nightwatchman in place at 39 for 1. Across the other side of the world, Sri Lanka batted well for 396, but South Africa will be closing on it when they resume much later today Australian time, at 317 for 4.

The old communication game. Just think, back when the Manchester Guardian first started, the OBO had to be engraved by hand and posted up on the bulletin board outside the office. And then if you wanted to contribute a note of good cheer or a reprimand for a typo, you had to go home, write a letter with pen and ink, and dispatch it by horseback with one of your best riders to hurry it to town for inclusion.

These days you can just use electronic mail, as they’re calling it, or the invention of the tweeterphone. My correspondence markers are in the sidebar. Have at it.