The third Test between Australia and Pakistan remains delicately poised with the hosts adding just 110 runs on a day that was both slow and weather-impacted.
But the way in which play was halted at the SCG has drawn particular attention.
Fox Cricket runs through the big Talking Points from Day 2.
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SHADES OF PINK AND RED AS KHAWAJA PLEADS LIGHT WAS TOO DARK TO CONTINUE AT SOGGY SCG
Forty minutes before the rain arrived at the SCG on Thursday afternoon, the players and umpires were already walking off the field with Australia at 2-116 in pursuit of Pakistan’s opening innings tally of 313.
Umpires Michael Gough and Richard Illingworth had determined it was too dark to continue unless Pakistan captain Shan Masood was willing to bowl spinners from either end. Understandably given Pakistan’s position in the Test, he declined the offer.
As reported by News Corp, the umpires’ light meters were not working properly, with Gough and Illingworth postponing play on a ‘gut feel’ decision.
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A chorus of boos echoed around the ground as the players returned to the sheds; the SCG’s six light towers were illuminating the venue, but it wasn’t enough to prevent a premature end to day two, much to the frustration of the 30,038 fans in attendance.
“I love cricket but I’m not coming back tomorrow if I’m in the crowd and they’re going to do this,” former New Zealand wicketkeeper Ian Smith said on SEN.
“This is lunacy. Get back out there and play the game.”
Fox Cricket commentator Harsha Bhogle wondered whether umpires have become too conservative when deciding whether conditions are dangerous for players.
“I think we’re too worried about player safety,” Bhogle told Fox Cricket on Thursday.
“The earlier system was the players appealed against light and the umpires were the sole judges. You didn’t have light metres back then.
“I think they’re erring on the side of being conservative, that’s my view.”
Speaking to reporters after the match, Australian opener Usman Khawaja confessed it was “pretty dark” early in the afternoon session, saying he wasn’t surprised by the decision to postpone play.
“That’s just cricket,” Khawaja, who made 47, said.
“It’s been going on for 100 years. The Laws haven’t changed. Light is light. It’s a red ball. It’s still very hard to see the red ball. It’s still the same game.
“When I first started cricket, the batsmen used to get asked, ‘Do you want to take light?’ and we took it 100 per cent of the time unless there was a result.
“So I reckon we were off a lot more in the past than we are now. Unless you can replicate the sun, I’m not really sure what (the solution) is.”
On Fox Cricket commentary, former England captain Michael Vaughan queried whether using a pink ball in dark conditions was the solution, but Khawaja brushed aside the notion.
“Pink ball is not the same as red ball,” Khawaja said.
“No bowler and no batter will ever tell you that pink ball is the same as red ball. It is not, it’s a different beast in itself. The red ball reacts way differently off the wicket, feels different off the bat. It acts different out of the hand.
“The red ball is Test cricket.”
When asked if playing all Test matches with a pink ball was the solution, Khawaja responded: “If it is, I’m retiring.”
SEVEN YEAR PLAN TO MAKE TEST CRICKET GREAT AGAIN … OR AT LEAST LOCK DATES AND VENUES IN
Cricket Australia is hoping to lock in longer term contracts with state associations around the nation to provide certainty about Test dates with a view to boosting the format.
Nick Hockley, the chief executive of CA, said there were benefits to providing state bodies with a firm view of the future in order to enable them to build events around Test cricket.
“What we’re working on is to really give everybody certainty about the future program for the next seven years,” he said.
“That’s all about working together with venues (and) working together with tourism boards to make the international summers of cricket in Australia as big as they can possibly be.
“What we’ve had previously is you get to the end of the season, people … have a rest and then they come back and then we’ll try to work out the schedule for next year. We think we can do way better than that.”
It follows calls from outgoing WACA chief executive Christina Matthews, who said that in an ideal world organisations could lock in a set period for Tests in order to market them.
There was criticism of the crowd attendance for the opening Test of the summer at Perth Stadium despite the fact it was a record for matches against Pakistan in Western Australia.
Matthews has floated the prospect of the Perth Test each summer becoming a celebration of Indigenous Australia’s contribution to cricket across the country.
The redevelopment of the Gabba ahead of the Brisbane Olympics in 2032 provides a window for Cricket Australia to work with given it will be out of consideration for a period.
Hockley said last year’s men’s T20 World Cup in Australia and the 2020 women’s World Cup held prior to the pandemic were examples of how the cooperation could prove beneficial.
“We have seen through the World Cups that when we work together with tourism boards and venues, we can really drive massive international and interstate attendance,” he told SEN.
“I love it when big events come to town. And what’s been great is that we’re having those discussions against the backdrop of just the most wonderful Test matches that we’ve seen.
“(There have been) really constructive discussions and it’d be great to be able to get to a point, as soon as we can, where everybody has got certainty about what the next seven years will look like.”
GRUMPY OLD MEN OR SIMPLY GOOD OLD-FASHIONED CRICKETERS
Grumpy old men grizzling and groaning about modern day players enjoying a bit of banter and geniality on the field?
Not us, according to Fox Cricket analyst Michael Vaughan.
But the former English captain and colleagues including Ian Smith and ex-Australian stars Mike Hussey and Mark Waugh are surprised by some of the pleasantries that have been exchanged between the two sides during the current series.
The quartet are all for good sportsmanship, with the elegant farewell Indian legend Virat Kohli afforded retiring South African opener Dean Elgar as he left the field as a batter for the last time at Newlands overnight featuring on the Fox Cricket broadcast on Thursday.
But they are surprised by Pakistan captain Shan Masood’s willingness to have a lighthearted chat with the Australians during the heat of the battle, and for it to be reciprocated so warmly.
It was a point first raised during Masood’s first innings knock of 35 at a time when Pakistan was trying to bat itself out of an early crisis in the SCG Test on Wednesday.
When David Warner resumed his innings on Thursday, Masood and the soon-to-be-retired opener again indulged in a lengthy chat with plenty of smiles and laughter.
“We are not grumpy old men. But just play the game. There is plenty of time for talk later,“ Vaughan said on the Fox Cricket broadcast.
Devastated Warner falls for 34! | 01:23
Harsha Bhogle, meanwhile, quipped after debutant Saim Ayub dropped Warner when he was on 20 that while he had been pleased to see the Pakistan team present Australia with Christmas gifts ahead of the Boxing Day Test, the team’s generosity had gone too far given the number of dropped catches it has managed this summer.
Warner eventually fell for 34 when edging Aamer Jamal to Babar Azam in the slips cordon.
AUSSIE SNAIL PACE A SIGN OF A POST-WARNER ERA
Were the Australians a bit sluggish with the bat on Thursday? Is it is sign of what is to come when David Warner is no longer bludgeoning attacks at the top of the order?
Pakistan ticked along at a blistering rate on day one of the New Year’s Test, scoring at 4.06 runs per over courtesy of a counterattack from wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan and bowler Aamir Jamal.
But on Thursday, the Australians were considerably more subdued, scoring at 2.47 runs per over.
Usman Khawaja had a strike rate of 32.87, finding the boundary rope four times during his 143-ball knock, while Marnus Labuchagne’s strike rate was slightly higher at 34.85.
With the threat of rain looming, Pakistan legend Wasim Akram was not impressed with Australia’s intent with the bat.
“What’s wrong with them? They’re not batting on a minefield,” Akram said on Fox Cricket commentary.
“The ball is not turning. It’s a good pitch, the spinners are not bowling exceptionally well, but the run rate is 2.51.
“They’re not even trying to play. Usman Khawaja was well set but was just blocking everything, and if you do that you’re going to get a good delivery – and he got one in the end.”
However, when Travis Head and Mitchell Marsh arrive at the crease on Friday, no doubt the run rate will climb dramatically.
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