Australia v Pakistan: Boxing Day Test, day one – as it happened

26 Dec 202303.08 EST

Geoff Lemon

Thanks for your company on a damp Boxing Day, and cheers to Jim Wallace for starting it off from the Old Dart. Wishing you and yours a happy week ahead, and we’ll of course be back with you from Day 2 tomorrow.

After losing the toss and being asked to bat, that’s a reasonable result for Australia. We got 66 overs bowled in the end, so realistically we only lost about 20 to rain. Not too bad considering the length of the delay. Had Shafique held onto Warner early in the day, Pakistan may have been able to apply more pressure. But the scoring never cut loose – strike rates in the 30s and 40s for each batter today – so Pakistan are still well placed if they can stop major partnerships from building tomorrow. Australia will probably aim to do just that, keep on grinding out runs and hope that scoring gets easier.

View image in fullscreen

66th over: Australia 187-3 (Labuschagne 44, Head 9) Agha Salman to bowl it. Off spin. And nearly a wicket! Width, flight, Head drives, and it flies just past second slip. Shan Masood has positioned himself there, and flings himself across, but it’s travelling too fast. Gets a run. Labuschagne another to long on. And that’s that.

65th over: Australia 185-3 (Labuschagne 43, Head 8) Mir Hamza is still smiling late in the day, bustling in to tempt Labuschagne outside the off stump, but the batter leaves it alone. The clock ticks over to 7pm before the umpire is standing behind the non-striker’s stumps, but he’s reaching for the bowler’s hat and jumper so they will get this over in.

64th over: Australia 185-3 (Labuschagne 43, Head 8) Jamal losing his control late in the day, must be tiring. Five wides from a leg-side bouncer, then another wide with too much height on the ball.

CA says 2036 heart tests have been done on the machines installed at the ground today in honour of Shane Warne.

63rd over: Australia 177-3 (Labuschagne 42, Head 7) Mir Hamza back near the end of the day, and Labuschagne gets three more with an on drive. Head on strike keeps himself in check, seems to be thinking of reaching stumps more than scoring, though he does punch a single to point.

62nd over: Australia 173-3 (Labuschagne 39, Head 6) Couple of defensive shots from Head facing Jamal. It always feels like a countdown clock is ticking when this happens. He drives to mid off, no run. But the big shot doesn’t come, just a tickle behind square for one.

61st over: Australia 171-3 (Labuschagne 38, Head 6) Labuschagne ticks along, another couple of runs pushed to leg from Shaheen.

60th over: Australia 168-3 (Labuschagne 36, Head 5) Jamal is bowling the next over, so the treatment worked. Pakistan are full of confidence with their reviewing, too, and waste one going down the leg side against Labuschagne. Head carves away a boundary with the cut shot in typical style.

View image in fullscreen

59th over: Australia 162-3 (Labuschagne 35, Head 0) Just over 62,000 people in today, decent crowd considering the forecast. I can tell you that a lot went home ahead of the first big rainstorm, it was looming on the radar in a fluorescent horrorshow as they headed for the trams and trains.

Quite the over from Shaheen. Top edge as Labuschagne tries to bail out of a pull shot but accidentally hits it anyway, over the keeper. Then a beamer that hits Travis Head on the top of the shoulder, followed by a pearler that just misses his off stump.

Meanwhile, Jamal has gone down with some discomfort in his hip after a sliding save, and is getting treatment from the physio to warm it up, pushing his leg back and wobbling it about. In a highly medical way.

58th over: Australia 154-3 (Labuschagne 28) Talk about against the run of play! The two batters have got through a tough period and they look ready to prosper. Smith drives through cover with a flourish, running another three. Gets the strike back. Then last ball of the over, pushes at Jamal, who appeals with Rizwan as ball beats edge. At least that’s how it looks. And sounds. The umpire says no. Pakistan take the review. And there is the tiniest spike, entirely recognisable in its sharpness but in miniature, like a baby octopus compared to the full-grown thing. An edge, and as ever, Smith walks off shaking his head. Jamal comes through for his team.

View image in fullscreen

57th over: Australia 150-2 (Labuschagne 27, Smith 23) A drinks break comes and goes. We’re playing until 7pm tonight, which is another three quarters of an hour away. Sunlight across the MCG now, long shadows of the two batters across the pitch. Two slips and a gully still wait. Backward point. Short cover crouching. Smith pulls Shaheen out through midwicket for three, then thanks to a misfield at mid off, Labuschagne drives him for four.

56th over: Australia 143-2 (Labuschagne 23, Smith 20) Jamal to Labuschagne, very wide again and it’s cut for a run. Smith does the same for one to backward point. Jamal’s line has been all over the place.

55th over: Australia 141-2 (Labuschagne 22, Smith 19) Given! But this time, ball-tracking saves Steve Smith, the tiny margin going his way after it went against him in Perth. Shaheen over the wicket gets the ball to swing back in and just pitch in line. Beats Smith’s shot across the ball and strikes his pad. Knee roll, just above, but he’s playing back and well inside the crease. After a long few seconds of thinking, umpire Michael Gough raises the finger. But Smith’s review shows the bounce clearing the bail by a couple of millimetres.

54th over: Australia 139-2 (Labuschagne 22, Smith 17) Decent short ball! Jamal digs one in at Labuschagne that reads at over 136 kph, much faster than most of his speeds in Perth – and usually shorter ones read slower. Interesting. Labuschagne hops out of the way as it zips over his shoulder, good direction.

53rd over: Australia 137-2 (Labuschagne 21, Smith 16) Shaheen returns and he also starts with some garbage, more short and wide and cuttable stuff. Smith with the boundary this time.

52nd over: Australia 133-2 (Labuschagne 21, Smith 12) Aamer Jamal is back into the action, and starts poorly – short and wide for Labuschagne to usher past slip with a back cut. Four. Then an extra as Jamal bowls even wider.

51st over: Australia 128-2 (Labuschagne 17, Smith 12) Smith is opening up, cracking his wrist position to nail a cover drive. Babar dives across to get a hand to it, turning four into two. The only runs from Hamza’s over.

View image in fullscreen

50th over: Australia 126-2 (Labuschagne 17, Smith 10) Labuschagne in full survival mode, comes on strike against Hasan Ali and just leaves, defends.

49th over: Australia 125-2 (Labuschagne 17, Smith 9) Now Hamza dials up the challenge to Labuschagne, beating him twice outside the off stump as the Australian No3 drives at one ball and pushes defensively at another. Good seam away. Rizwan and Hamza appeal for the first but the toe of the bat hit the ground. This is good stuff.

48th over: Australia 125-2 (Labuschagne 17, Smith 9) Oh, so close to a fine over! Hasan Ali works Smith hard, getting the inside half of a dragged drive to mid on, then beating the edge twice. But the sixth ball undoes some good work, an easy length on the pads for Smith to flick through midwicket for four.

47th over: Australia 121-2 (Labuschagne 17, Smith 5) The runs coming a little more easily from Hamza’s over, Smith getting singles with both the pull shot and a push to cover.

46th over: Australia 118-2 (Labuschagne 16, Smith 3) This has been an impressive return from Hasan Ali. Smacks a length outside off stump, bowls a couple a bit wide but others very close to the timber. Labuschagne leaves them all but it’s disciplined bowling.

45th over: Australia 118-2 (Labuschagne 16, Smith 3) Labuschagne with another leg-side single, then Hamza is wided for sending a ball soaring over Smith’s head. Squares him up after that, taking a leading edge into the covers.

44th over: Australia 116-2 (Labuschagne 16, Smith 3) Steven Smith, and you won’t believe this, walks across his stumps to glance a single. I was shocked too. Hasan Ali cuts Marnus in half, seam off the deck and hits him in the stomach. Eventually nudges one away like Smith.

43rd over: Australia 114-2 (Labuschagne 15, Smith 2) We’re finally back, and Mir Hamza picks up where we left off: bowling dot balls to Labuschagne.

View image in fullscreen

The resumption is 15 minutes away.

We can see the pitch now, so cricket may unfortunately interrupt the Shane MacGowan Live Tribute Blog at any moment.

Steve Perrin is also on the Shane Train. “Drinking Wellington lager and alternating ‘The Old Main Drag’ [song] with Prosecco Socialist [band]. Shane may or may not have approved.”

“Afternoon Geoff, and a happy damp Boxing Day to you,” writes Jack Jorgensen. “That Glen Hansard-led version at Shane MacGowan’s funeral is joyous. I enjoyed an Xmas evening watching highlights of David Boon’s second ever Test century at the SCG against India. Luscious mullet matched only by a luscious mo.”

We’re down to the central pitch cover, the rest are gone. David Warner is doing a walk-and-talk interview around the boundary with Mark Howard. A few players are warming up.

The big cover comes off the centre square. Merry Christmas to all.

The pegs are coming out! Things that excite us on Boxing Day…

Bursts of sunshine coming through now, some shadows are visible from the security staff, but it’s still drizzling at the same time. Is it about to stop? I think the regs are that they have to be back on by the scheduled close of play, which is 1 hour and 4 minutes away, and it usually takes about 45 minutes to clean up the ground and let the players warm up. But the drizzle has to totally stop first.

Yeah, still sprinkling. Small puddles have returned. The umpires are out there having a look with their umbrellas firmly up.

They’ve drained the surface water off the other run-up cover now, so I’ve lost my means of telling if it’s still raining. Must be very faint if at all. The light out there seems brighter now. There is a radar gap that might leave enough time to get back on for a bit.

This is a strange one. There’s a cheer as half a dozen members of ground crew come out and remove one of the covers from the bowlers’ approach area at the Shane Warne Stand end. But it’s still raining, you can clearly see the ripples on the other covers. Then they put the first cover back on again. Maybe it just wasn’t lined up properly with the central cover.

I think we’re in trouble on the radar. The southerly swoop of the cloud band has now shifted more east to west, dragging it across Melbourne for the predicted 90-minute window ahead. It’s 15:30ish local time.

Great minds thinking simpatico here. Harry Sachar writes in. “Had a great Christmas with great friends. We shared a Guinness while watching the Pogues’ rendition of Fairytale of New York at Shane MacGowan’s funeral.”

Or this rendition is pretty special…

I’m going to need some help to get through the next hour or so. How was your Christmas? Tell me some tales, let’s warm our hearts. My highlight was spending Christmas Eve listening not to carols but to a thumping live band at a Shane MacGowan tribute night. Ending, of course, with this one.

Still drizzling away out there…

Thanks Jim, and happy festive etceteras to everyone. This rain announced its imminence dramatically. I had to duck home at the lunch break, and riding back to the ground acrosss Melbourne from north to south, there was this terrific massif of slate-grey cloud following all the way behind me, with an advance phalanx advancing to the east, like an arm curling around our city’s shoulders, down the Mornington Peninsula around the bay. So here it is. My early guess is that this will take about an hour to pass, then there might be another band that clips us. And if we get back on by about 4:30pm, which is an hour and three quarters away, we’ll get more play.