Latest / The Follow-On / "Wasted some opportunities!" Inglis TON powers Aussies as Starc & Lyon put South Africa under pressure! - RSA vs Australia 3rd Test, Day 3 Review

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"Wasted some opportunities!" Inglis TON powers Aussies as Starc & Lyon put South Africa under pressure! - RSA vs Australia 3rd Test, Day 3 Review · The Follow-On

0:00
Speaker 1: Hello and welcome to another episode of the joint Fox
0:03
Speaker 1: Cricket Code Sports podcast, The Follow On. We're coming to
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Speaker 1: you live from Newlands Cricket Stadium after a thrilling third day.
0:12
Speaker 1: Stage is set for a really, really, really great, I think,
0:16
Speaker 1: end to what's been a fascinating series between Australia and
0:19
Speaker 1: South Africa, the world's top two test teams. Joined as
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Speaker 1: always by Dan Cheney, the Senior Cricket Writer for Code Sports.
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Speaker 1: My name's Courtney Walsh, Senior Reporter for Fox Sports. We've
0:33
Speaker 1: had an unbelievable effort from both teams, I think, today
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Speaker 1: to put this match into what I think is still
0:40
Speaker 1: a pretty evenly balanced match with potentially two days to come,
0:44
Speaker 1: potentially one.
0:45
Speaker 2: Take us through what's unfolded.
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Speaker 3: Today, Dan.
0:48
Speaker 4: Well, Australia started a long way ahead in the game. Well,
0:50
Speaker 4: when I say a long way ahead, one run ahead,
0:51
Speaker 4: but with six wickets in hand in the first innings.
0:53
Speaker 4: We saw Josh Inglis get to triple figures not long after.
0:56
Speaker 5: And then Australia collapsed. Simon Harmer took his wicket.
0:59
Speaker 4: That was for 102, which was exactly the same score
1:01
Speaker 4: as he made in his only previous 10th century goal
1:04
Speaker 4: in early 2025, Josh Inglis.
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Speaker 5: Alex Carey fell shortly after for 80.
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Speaker 4: And then Pat Cummins, Mitchell Stark, Nathan Lyne and Cooper
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Speaker 4: Connolly all fell in relatively quick succession. Australia's lead ended
1:13
Speaker 4: up being exactly 100. Harmer finished with four, I think.
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Speaker 4: And then South Africa, well, they wasted some opportunities. They
1:21
Speaker 4: threw away some wickets. Good pressure from Australia, but Some
1:24
Speaker 4: loose shots, particularly from Aidan Markham and from David Beddingham.
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Speaker 5: Markham driving straight to Travis Head a bit off.
1:32
Speaker 4: Beddingham picking out the man in the deep for the
1:34
Speaker 4: second consecutive inning.
1:35
Speaker 2: Pulse of hooking.
1:37
Speaker 5: Exactly right. One of the great sayings in cricket. And
1:40
Speaker 5: then Marcus Ackerman got done by a brooch of a
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Speaker 5: delivery from Mitchell Stark.
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Speaker 4: It was a brief moment where we thought it was
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Speaker 4: going to be one of the stinks of the tour,
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Speaker 4: or perhaps the stink of the tour. It didn't quite
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Speaker 4: eventuate when he It was timed out, I suppose, not
1:51
Speaker 4: timed out in the convention centre, but timed out from
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Speaker 4: a DRS review perspective. In the end, it was found
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Speaker 4: that he hit the ball anyway, so it didn't really matter.
1:57
Speaker 4: Great ball, though, and he'd been a thorn in Australia's
1:59
Speaker 4: side in this test. Marcus Ackerman, he looks like a player.
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Speaker 5: I'm not going to say he's a real young gun
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Speaker 5: because he's 30, but as a fan of the player,
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Speaker 5: he's a really player.
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Speaker 4: He looks like a guy who could well play for
2:12
Speaker 4: several years now. And then, so from the speed of
2:16
Speaker 4: the game with Ackerman... game and to a lesser degree
2:19
Speaker 4: betting and the game just reached this lull because Temba
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Speaker 4: Mavuma and Matthew Breitsche were bogged down by Australia they
2:26
Speaker 4: batted very cautiously Nathan Lyon was bowled beautifully Pat Cummins
2:30
Speaker 4: was chopping and changing the bowlers he bowled very nicely
2:32
Speaker 4: himself still wicketless for a long time which is incredible
2:36
Speaker 4: he had some of the closest calls today you can
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Speaker 4: imagine he did bowl well and I think better than
2:40
Speaker 4: he has probably across the last couple of innings and
2:43
Speaker 4: then Out of nowhere, in the penultimate over of the day,
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Speaker 4: Nathan Lyon bowls Tim Bavuma through the gate, but it
2:51
Speaker 4: was a very, very loose shot from Bavuma. He looked down,
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Speaker 4: flipped him through mid-week, and I don't know, he just,
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Speaker 4: Lyon involved with such control. He'd been all over Breedskin
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Speaker 4: in particular earlier in his innings. He challenged Bavuma, who
3:05
Speaker 4: has really struggled against off-spin throughout this series, and I
3:09
Speaker 4: don't know, whatever was going through Tim Babuma's head. Simon
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Speaker 4: Harmer was asked about this, some of the shots that
3:14
Speaker 4: South Africa played batting today. And he said, look, pressure
3:17
Speaker 4: can do funny things in essence. And it certainly did
3:20
Speaker 4: a funny thing here because Babuma really threw away his
3:22
Speaker 4: wicket out for 35.
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Speaker 5: He batted for more than two and a half hours,
3:25
Speaker 5: I think it was.
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Speaker 4: And so where the match is, look, I think before
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Speaker 4: that wicket, it was close enough to parry. Probably Australia
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Speaker 4: was marginally in front at that stage. South Africa were
3:35
Speaker 4: effectively three for 42. Now, four for 40. Four for 40.
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Speaker 4: In terms of their 140, four for 140.
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Speaker 5: Exactly.
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Speaker 4: It's an easy sum to do, given Australia was all
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Speaker 4: out 429, the lead of 100. So, look, Australia's on
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Speaker 4: the cusp here. They are almost there. They've still got
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Speaker 4: a fair bit of work to do. It's going to be, look,
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Speaker 4: it's a cliche, but a critical first hour tomorrow. South
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Speaker 4: Africa can dig in. Breedski, we know, does have years.
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Speaker 4: He's a very capable white ball player.
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Speaker 5: So, too, is Ryan Rickleton. We know they bat deep
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Speaker 5: with Janssen and Harmer still to come. I'm missing one,
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Speaker 5: I reckon.
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Speaker 4: Mulder, there's plenty of batting there at 7, 8, 9.
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Speaker 4: So there's still a chance here. And the wicket is
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Speaker 4: beginning to deteriorate. We're seeing plenty of puffs of dust.
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Speaker 4: Lyon's been effective. We know Harmer has been excellent for
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Speaker 4: most of the series for the pro teams.
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Speaker 5: So there is a chance there.
4:28
Speaker 4: But they're going to need something to bowl at. They're
4:29
Speaker 4: going to need, you would think, at least 200 realistically.
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Speaker 2: It's not.
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Speaker 4: I mean, again, fourth innings, funny things can happen. Is
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Speaker 4: it 180?
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Speaker 1: And pressure with an Australian batting order that whilst they
4:39
Speaker 1: batted very well.
4:40
Speaker 2: It's a good pitch. The pitch will be tougher.
4:43
Speaker 1: And we know that it's, you know, there are a
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Speaker 1: lot of moving parts to that batting order.
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Speaker 5: Tricky fourth innings chase.
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Speaker 4: Marnus Labuschagne, who, of course, we will probably now get
4:50
Speaker 4: another bat in test cricket unless they completely run through them.
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Speaker 5: In the first week.
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Speaker 4: Gets it done tomorrow. He probably gets one more chance. Now,
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Speaker 4: whether he'll have enough runs to play with to save
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Speaker 4: his career remains to be seen.
5:02
Speaker 5: But he, for instance, has a very middling fourth innings record.
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Speaker 4: He's not the only one, but he never made a
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Speaker 4: fourth innings century.
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Speaker 5: Neither does Steve Smith, for that matter.
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Speaker 4: He's not going to do it because he's not playing.
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Speaker 5: So, look, again, Australia are very close.
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Speaker 4: You'd suspect that if we're standing here in 24 hours'
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Speaker 4: time or so, we're probably standing here saying Australia has
5:18
Speaker 4: clinched the Series 2-1. But there's just enough of an
5:21
Speaker 4: opening for the Proteas to win this match and this series. Today,
5:25
Speaker 4: I thought the last hour, last hour and a half in.
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Speaker 5: Particular, was such a return to old-fashioned, traditional best cricket.
5:30
Speaker 4: And it's been, look, It's funny with Nathan Lyon, because until,
5:34
Speaker 4: I was talking to one of the colleagues up in
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Speaker 4: the press box, and he, until the last, well, 15
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Speaker 4: minutes of the day, 10 minutes of the day, Lyon
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Speaker 4: had gone wicketless, and people would be saying, oh, where's
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Speaker 4: Nathan Lyon, but he turned up.
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Speaker 5: Now, he bowled really well. He bowled beautifully. He bowled tightly, bowled, yeah,
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Speaker 5: bowled plenty of balls that could have got wickets. He
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Speaker 5: wasn't looking for the miracle.
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Speaker 4: Ball necessarily, but just consistently, diligently, and in the end,
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Speaker 4: it was a nice ball that got, it was also
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Speaker 4: lapsed in concentration, and look, that's part of the art
5:58
Speaker 4: of being a test spinner, and And this was a game,
6:02
Speaker 4: as I said, this was a game for the temperament
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Speaker 4: of long-form test cricket.
6:06
Speaker 5: And it has been for the series. Look, I know
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Speaker 5: Australia collapsed in 99 and the first test was marred
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Speaker 5: by bad light. The second test, obviously, massively marred by rain.
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Speaker 5: But if this doesn't go to a fifth day, it's
6:17
Speaker 5: going to go awfully close.
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Speaker 4: And we're going to get a series that is, you know,
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Speaker 4: you're going to get a lot of cricket played, but
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Speaker 4: still probably get three results.
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Speaker 5: And it'll be 2-1 to one of these sides. So
6:28
Speaker 5: it's just been refreshing.
6:30
Speaker 4: I think, as I said, for Australia, it hasn't been
6:35
Speaker 4: anyone that's dominated today.
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Speaker 5: It's been a team effort. Stark's picked up a couple.
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Speaker 5: He's now... How's this with Stark? He's test bowling average.
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Speaker 5: I must get an awesome amount of crept up since
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Speaker 5: I last checked. At a point today... Well, no.
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Speaker 4: His average since he's turned 35 is about 18.
6:51
Speaker 5: But more remarkably, his test bowling average overall has fallen
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Speaker 5: below 26 for the first time since his debut test.
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Speaker 4: This is Mitchell Starkey, his 110th test, returns 37 early
7:02
Speaker 4: next year, and his average is still going down.
7:05
Speaker 5: Obviously, the further he's even agreed, the harder it.
7:08
Speaker 2: Is to maintain. Well, to actually manage that.
7:11
Speaker 4: Well, to change is harder to get to because, you know,
7:14
Speaker 4: you've got 109 tests to where the bowling.
7:16
Speaker 5: It's only going to move marginally.
7:18
Speaker 4: So you've got to be consistently bowling consistently better than
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Speaker 4: your average for it to get down. And that's what's happened.
7:25
Speaker 4: So a strong position for Australia overall, Courtney.
7:28
Speaker 1: So a couple of key things to touch back on.
7:31
Speaker 1: We'll start the first one, I think, with Josh Inglis.
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Speaker 1: We know that he batted very well yesterday.
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Speaker 5: He got to 85.
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Speaker 1: He's only added 17 today. But the emotion that he
7:41
Speaker 1: showed and what a way to bring up his century,
7:43
Speaker 1: his second test century after the one-on-debut goal, reverse sweep.
7:48
Speaker 1: Simon Harmer, who has been one of the finds of
7:50
Speaker 1: the series, even though he's a veteran, The pro tier,
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Speaker 1: he's been outstanding all series in a lot of facets
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Speaker 1: of the game, I think, Harmer.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, that reverse seat, you saw his emotion.
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Speaker 1: He's the man that's just come into the press conference.
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Speaker 1: We've just come from the press conferences with Inglis and Harmer,
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Speaker 1: two of the better performers, obviously, today. And, yeah, you
8:09
Speaker 1: talk about it. And I asked him the question about,
8:13
Speaker 1: did you fear when you came back? Was there a concern?
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Speaker 1: He said, had I played last week, when he was
8:19
Speaker 1: in the nets and batting, he said, I did realise
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Speaker 1: there was some prospect that if I got a bad
8:23
Speaker 1: hit on the finger, I could be missing eight weeks.
8:26
Speaker 1: That time, that confidence. And then also, when he came
8:29
Speaker 1: into the match, how did it happen? We saw George
8:32
Speaker 1: Bailey running across the field from the nets after.
8:34
Speaker 2: Steve Smith with the neck complaint, not able to play.
8:38
Speaker 2: He gets the tap.
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Speaker 1: He said it wasn't an ideal preparation, but he's also
8:41
Speaker 1: in the situation where he wants to grab every single
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Speaker 1: chance that he gets.
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Speaker 2: And I thought he really... seized the occasion, stood up.
8:48
Speaker 1: Yes, the pitch was a good one, but he came
8:50
Speaker 1: in after Marco Jansen had taken two wickets in short
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Speaker 1: order and Australia was still chasing a significant, still a
8:59
Speaker 1: decent deficit behind. And I thought he assessed it. Early on,
9:04
Speaker 1: he struggled to get off the mark. He was in
9:06
Speaker 1: a bit of pressure early, but then batted beautifully. And
9:08
Speaker 1: it's the type of innings that suggests Well, if you've
9:10
Speaker 1: made two centuries in six outings, you know, he had
9:13
Speaker 1: issues in the Ashes last year when he came in,
9:14
Speaker 1: but I thought that that was a mark to someone
9:17
Speaker 1: who will be playing quite a lot this summer when
9:20
Speaker 1: we get home, no matter what unfolds here.
9:22
Speaker 5: He's been an interesting case study, Josh Inglis.
9:25
Speaker 4: There were periods probably two or three years ago when
9:27
Speaker 4: he was genuinely putting pressure on Alex Carey for his
9:30
Speaker 4: test keeping spot, and Carey sort of kicked off, kicked away.
9:33
Speaker 4: Inglis had that excellent innings at goal on debut, but again,
9:36
Speaker 4: they were already in a position of stress.
9:38
Speaker 5: I think this is a better innings Certainly in terms
9:40
Speaker 5: of the match situation, you know, that came in a
9:42
Speaker 5: match where it wasn't Kawaja, made 230. Australia was already very,
9:45
Speaker 5: very comfortable in that match.
9:47
Speaker 4: Whereas here, yes, they'd had a reasonable platform, but the
9:50
Speaker 4: game was, it was very much a 50-50 at that
9:51
Speaker 4: point when he and Kerry combined.
9:54
Speaker 5: Yes, it's an interesting case study that, you know, I
9:57
Speaker 5: saw in other stats that I had a lot of facts, Cricket,
9:59
Speaker 5: as there always are.
10:00
Speaker 4: Can you name the last Australian men's test player to
10:04
Speaker 4: make two test entries in his first test?
10:07
Speaker 1: I'd go a bloke who's still playing, a place in Victoria.
10:11
Speaker 2: The captain.
10:12
Speaker 5: I feel like you've seen this stuff.
10:14
Speaker 2: Who may well.
10:16
Speaker 1: come into contention if he makes runs for the Indies.
10:20
Speaker 5: I think his hopes are fading, given how some of the...
10:22
Speaker 5: Peter Hanscom, I guess. Peter Hanscom.
10:23
Speaker 4: So it is a curiosity that they're the two. But
10:25
Speaker 4: it's funny, Inglis is, in part because he's two centuries,
10:28
Speaker 4: he's only got 202, which is his average. His average
10:30
Speaker 4: is still only 36 in Test cricket. So it's not
10:32
Speaker 4: as though he's got this extraordinary record, really. I think
10:34
Speaker 4: his next best score is 32.
10:37
Speaker 5: But one of the other.
10:38
Speaker 4: Curiosities about Inglis to this point of his career is
10:41
Speaker 4: that he has clearly entrenched himself as the primary white
10:44
Speaker 4: ball player Gloverman and has now got centuries in six
10:48
Speaker 4: different nations, international cricket and two in each of the
10:51
Speaker 4: three formats.
10:52
Speaker 2: Yeah.
10:53
Speaker 5: The challenge will be for him.
10:55
Speaker 4: And I think this has been, there's a bit of
10:56
Speaker 4: a syndrome that happens for guys who are the backup
10:59
Speaker 4: in a certain category. And because he's been on the fringes,
11:02
Speaker 4: you often get taken everywhere as the fringe guy, which
11:05
Speaker 4: means certainly the testing. There's not been a fringe guy
11:07
Speaker 4: in the one day squad, but he's always taken on
11:09
Speaker 4: pretty much every tour.
11:10
Speaker 5: They have to take a second paper everywhere. And he
11:13
Speaker 5: plays in the white ball team. So he's not getting.
11:15
Speaker 4: Rested like, say, a Travis Head is being rested. Certainly
11:18
Speaker 4: not like a Bowles rest, but like a Head's being rested.
11:20
Speaker 4: Like Mitch Marsh was occasionally being rested when he was
11:22
Speaker 4: an all-format player. Like Cameron Green gets rested. Steve Smith's
11:26
Speaker 4: been well since he's been an all-format player. But like
11:28
Speaker 4: some of those guys.
11:29
Speaker 5: The challenge... Now, there's not as much white ball cricket
11:31
Speaker 5: coming up over the next.
11:33
Speaker 2: Nine, ten months.
11:34
Speaker 4: Not until really the England Games coming up. After that,
11:37
Speaker 4: there's just a lot of chess cricket. But again, I
11:40
Speaker 4: wonder if they may... They may try to give him
11:43
Speaker 4: a couple of these games off. I mean, I know
11:46
Speaker 4: he has just come back from Perth from the break
11:50
Speaker 4: because of this injury that he had in South Africa
11:52
Speaker 4: up in the centre in Zimbabwe.
11:53
Speaker 5: But they've, in the past, he's been.
11:55
Speaker 4: I think in 22 summers ago, he was the sole
11:58
Speaker 4: member of the, sole guy who was both in the
12:02
Speaker 4: Australian T20 squad for the matches against, I think, Pakistan,
12:06
Speaker 4: which ended like five days before the series started against India.
12:10
Speaker 4: And he flew straight in there. Now, because he was
12:12
Speaker 4: unlikely to play, but now he is likely to play.
12:14
Speaker 5: I mean, let's be real.
12:15
Speaker 4: You would think it's almost certain that he will be
12:18
Speaker 4: playing in the first test in Perth.
12:20
Speaker 5: They will give him a chance in the middle order.
12:22
Speaker 2: Particularly at home.
12:23
Speaker 5: Particularly, yeah.
12:24
Speaker 2: And then the way he performs.
12:25
Speaker 3: Well, it's funny because I would have said not particularly
12:28
Speaker 3: at home because he's more seen as a spin specialist,
12:32
Speaker 3: which is quite funny for guys from Perth, but again,
12:34
Speaker 3: New Yorkshire really.
12:36
Speaker 5: He is not actually.
12:38
Speaker 4: Known to be a particularly strong player of pace. That's
12:40
Speaker 4: probably been his one major area of weakness as a batter.
12:43
Speaker 4: But having done it here, you'd think they would try
12:47
Speaker 4: to give him a run in the middle order for Australia,
12:49
Speaker 4: particularly with.
12:50
Speaker 5: Cooper Connolly having not sort of, you know, not starred 29.
12:53
Speaker 2: Well, I was going to touch on Cooper next.
12:56
Speaker 5: Sorry, yeah, I'll let you go, Courtney.
12:58
Speaker 2: Well, so it's interesting you say that about Cooper.
13:00
Speaker 1: I thought today Cooper, again, he came to the crest,
13:02
Speaker 1: his second test after, unlike Josh, who made a century-old
13:06
Speaker 1: debut in goal, Cooper had a rough introduction to test cricket,
13:10
Speaker 1: making four runs.
13:12
Speaker 2: In goal at the same, you know, the test after,
13:14
Speaker 2: wasn't it? Yes. The second test. But he comes out
13:17
Speaker 2: at number seven.
13:17
Speaker 1: Again, there's some pressure because Australia, they lost those two
13:21
Speaker 1: weeks and they're trying to build the lead. Now, I
13:23
Speaker 1: thought he was very nervous early in the year. He
13:26
Speaker 1: was certainly the first.
13:27
Speaker 2: Over it, though. You're thinking, how long is this going
13:29
Speaker 2: to last?
13:30
Speaker 1: After that, I thought, for a man who's 23, I
13:31
Speaker 1: actually thought he showed great maturity. So the scorecard will
13:36
Speaker 1: read that he's made 29 runs off 83 goals.
13:38
Speaker 2: Mm-hmm. I suspect he's left at least another 20.
13:41
Speaker 1: Out there, maybe even more, because he basically, what he
13:44
Speaker 1: did from then on was farm the strike.
13:47
Speaker 2: He tried to protect the tail enders, to try to.
13:49
Speaker 1: Extend the South African bowlers, keep them out there for
13:52
Speaker 1: as long as possible, knowing there was a lot of time.
13:54
Speaker 1: So I thought he actually batted very well. Some of
13:56
Speaker 1: the drives that he didn't actually score runs from were
13:59
Speaker 1: really clearly hit. Now, I'm not saying that he's, you know,
14:02
Speaker 1: I'm not saying it's enough. I mean, you know, if
14:04
Speaker 1: you're looking at the next test in, after this series.
14:07
Speaker 1: With Smith to come in green, probably to be on
14:08
Speaker 1: the ball. Yeah. So that's, yeah, I'm not saying, but
14:11
Speaker 1: I just thought it was a poised, mature innings. And
14:14
Speaker 1: I think that was, and I think he's shown enough
14:16
Speaker 1: with the ball as well to suggest that, I mean,
14:19
Speaker 1: we're almost certain he's going to be in here, isn't he?
14:23
Speaker 5: Oh, undoubtedly.
14:24
Speaker 1: So I think that's a step forward from today. But
14:26
Speaker 1: how did you assess it?
14:27
Speaker 2: Yeah.
14:27
Speaker 4: No, no, I thought he did all right. It's just,
14:31
Speaker 4: it's a tricky situation because he's batting at seven. He's got,
14:35
Speaker 4: No one really hung around for a time. Nathan Lyon
14:37
Speaker 4: was probably the best performer of the bottom four in
14:40
Speaker 4: terms of hanging around.
14:40
Speaker 5: But no one really stuck around. But they had a
14:43
Speaker 5: decent partnership. Connolly was trying to farm the strike, I suppose.
14:48
Speaker 5: Should he have been farming the strike?
14:49
Speaker 2: That's one question.
14:51
Speaker 5: Again, that's the challenge.
14:52
Speaker 4: And then if you are going to farm the strike,
14:53
Speaker 4: do you need to play a few more shots? Do
14:55
Speaker 4: you need to sort of... And we know he can
14:57
Speaker 4: be an aggressive player.
14:58
Speaker 5: He's an accomplished player. relatively accomplished white ball player. He's
15:02
Speaker 5: got an IPL century. I think he'd be relatively accomplished
15:03
Speaker 5: to get an IPL century. So you wonder. I suspect
15:07
Speaker 5: it's not a situation he would have found himself in
15:09
Speaker 5: that often. It was a bizarre situation. He's the senior guy.
15:13
Speaker 5: Four players, all of whom are a decade old. More
15:16
Speaker 5: than that.
15:17
Speaker 2: I mean, Lyon was 15 years.
15:19
Speaker 5: Yeah, it's a strange dynamic. Something to build on.
15:23
Speaker 4: Certainly, and look, he could play a role here with
15:26
Speaker 4: the ball and with the bat. This test has plenty
15:29
Speaker 4: of twists and turns potentially to come. But certainly a
15:32
Speaker 4: step forward from Gore. Yeah, you know, if he doesn't
15:34
Speaker 4: hold his spot for the next test, I think he
15:35
Speaker 4: will have learned something from this test regardless. And the
15:37
Speaker 4: tour more broadly as well, being around. It's been a tough,
15:40
Speaker 4: tough tour.
15:41
Speaker 1: It has.
15:41
Speaker 5: You know, he's played a lot. He's starting to play
15:43
Speaker 5: quite a lot of white ball cricket.
15:44
Speaker 4: I think he'll certainly be a part of Australia's white
15:47
Speaker 4: ball set up against England coming up in November.
15:51
Speaker 5: So, yeah, look, there's something to work on. And he's clearly.
15:55
Speaker 2: A player of the future.
15:56
Speaker 5: And there's just no doubt about that. And he's triggered
15:58
Speaker 5: a central contract as well in recent times.
16:01
Speaker 1: One last thing I'd like to touch on, and if
16:03
Speaker 1: you've got anything else you think is worth it, let
16:05
Speaker 1: me know. But what I did note when I arrived
16:07
Speaker 1: a couple of days ago, everyone was on Smithwatch.
16:11
Speaker 2: Et cetera. They were out at the Nets.
16:13
Speaker 1: I took the chance to stand sort of over at
16:16
Speaker 1: the altar to Table Mountain on this side of the ground,
16:18
Speaker 1: trying to get as close as possible to the fence
16:20
Speaker 1: to see what was going on in the middle through
16:22
Speaker 1: that period. Nathan Lyon's warming up, so we know that
16:24
Speaker 1: he's coming in to replace Scott Boland.
16:26
Speaker 2: And he went through and did You know, everything.
16:28
Speaker 1: We know, having had that bad injury last year, that
16:30
Speaker 1: he's meticulous in what he's doing. What caught me late
16:34
Speaker 1: in that session was the amount of work he did
16:38
Speaker 1: when he was standing.
16:39
Speaker 2: On the fence with high catches, high difficult catches.
16:43
Speaker 1: And for at least five minutes, you know, he had
16:46
Speaker 1: a bloke belting the ball up.
16:47
Speaker 2: It was really arcing.
16:48
Speaker 1: The ball was spinning a lot. He watched his footwork.
16:51
Speaker 1: He watched the way he kept his eyes on the ball.
16:53
Speaker 1: It didn't look like this. And he was just magnificent.
16:56
Speaker 1: The reason I bring that up is that today he took,
16:58
Speaker 1: I thought, a very, very, very good catch. Getting him,
17:00
Speaker 1: we talked about a compulsive pull. He made about 20 metres,
17:03
Speaker 1: got to it and took it low. But it was, again,
17:06
Speaker 1: really so catch in a spot where you're looking back
17:08
Speaker 1: to Table Mountain. You know that Table Mountain caused some
17:11
Speaker 1: issues for Travis Head a couple of days ago. It's
17:14
Speaker 1: also been a feature a couple of days ago. You
17:16
Speaker 1: saw Josh Hazelwood and Mitchell Stark out in the out
17:19
Speaker 1: of taking. Again, they were pretty testing catches. They weren't
17:21
Speaker 1: the easiest catch. Brilliant from Hazelwood. So we've had Steve
17:25
Speaker 1: Smith in the first inning, first match, with just magnificent
17:28
Speaker 1: slips fieldings. Matthew Renshaw took a spectacular shot. We know
17:32
Speaker 1: that he dropped the dolly a couple of days ago.
17:34
Speaker 1: But by and large, I think that work in the
17:36
Speaker 1: field has been really important. And it wasn't the most
17:39
Speaker 1: difficult one, but just watching the effort and the work
17:42
Speaker 1: that he put in a couple of days ago, practice
17:44
Speaker 1: makes perfect.
17:44
Speaker 2: And he did everything he could to make sure he
17:47
Speaker 2: was there to excel today in that position.
17:49
Speaker 4: I mean, look, that's one of the things about a–
17:52
Speaker 4: In a traditional test match, and not that they were
17:55
Speaker 4: traditional shots per se, but in a traditional test match
17:58
Speaker 4: where there's not necessarily a heap of chances coming, you've
18:01
Speaker 4: got to take them. And it was a regulation catch,
18:04
Speaker 4: but you still got to take it. And you still
18:06
Speaker 4: got to do the little things. And this is a
18:09
Speaker 4: guy who, back in Darwin, did drop a sitter. Which
18:15
Speaker 4: was a sign of the rust overall. The overall rust
18:17
Speaker 4: of him and the team. And I think this was,
18:19
Speaker 4: you know, they're hardened. They're a hardened team. I mean,
18:22
Speaker 4: hardened collectively because they've been playing for 70 years, but
18:27
Speaker 4: hardened from a tour perspective. And, you know, they're getting
18:30
Speaker 4: to the dying days of this tour and they're almost there. So, and,
18:34
Speaker 4: you know, from a not partisan perspective, but they do
18:40
Speaker 4: deserve it because they've been the better side for the
18:41
Speaker 4: most part.
18:42
Speaker 5: Not perfectly, but they've.
18:44
Speaker 4: Overall, they have deserved, on the balance of the series,
18:47
Speaker 4: they've been the marginally better side to this point.
18:50
Speaker 5: They could get changed, but At this stage they deserve
18:52
Speaker 5: to win, and hopefully in their case they can do it.
18:56
Speaker 2: As always, you can read Dan's fine work at codesports.com.au.
18:59
Speaker 1: I'll have a couple of pieces again at codesports.com.au tomorrow.
19:04
Speaker 2: Really appreciate you listening to the follow-on. Looking forward to
19:08
Speaker 2: seeing what day four brings. Will it bring the end
19:10
Speaker 2: of the series? Will it be Australia.
19:12
Speaker 1: Who comes out on top and keeps this odyssey, the
19:14
Speaker 1: big year, alive in terms of trying to claim all
19:16
Speaker 1: the big scouts internationally? Or will it be the world
19:19
Speaker 1: test champions, We bounce back tomorrow strongly, make a lot
19:23
Speaker 1: of runs with the tail, and then bolt the Australians out.
19:26
Speaker 2: We'll see.
19:27
Speaker 5: Cannot wait for what's to come.