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Live: Smith century leads Australia to 474 as fast bowlers eye Indian top order

Live: Smith century leads Australia to 474 as fast bowlers eye Indian top order

Live: Boxing Day Test — Australia vs India

Australia is all out for 474

Steve Smith throws his head back as Akash Deep celebrates his wicket.
(Getty)

LYON IS OUT! And reviews as he walks off the field

The definition of a ‘Why not?’ review as he’s trapped plumb LBW and makes the review gesture on his way off the field.

It is high, but I don’t know if it’ll be high enough to overturn.

He’s out. Umpire’s call on the off bail.

123rd over – Jasprit Bumrah is forced to bowl another spell

And here’s another reason to keep batting, to get more overs into the legs of Jasprit Bumrah, who cramped up in Adelaide and is carrying the weight of India.

Lyon is digging out these Bumrah balls for now.

122nd over – Jadeja to the defensive Boland

Scott Boland defends.
(Getty)

Still getting himself in behind it is the big number 11.

A straighter ball threatens to sneak through, but Boland gets enough of an inside edge on it.

And that’s a rapid maiden.

121st over – Siraj charges in

Lyon defends and loudly calls “NO”.

“There is nothing worse in the game than this if you’re a fielding captain,” Ricky Ponting says on Seven as Lyon turns a single off his hip.

Boland is getting deep in his crease to defend and doing so rock solidly.

He gets a shorter ball and just rides with it, playing it down behind square leg.

Any danger of some attacking fielders?

FOUR! A lovely straight drive from Nathan Lyon, just bunted back past Siraj and to the rope.

120th over – Jadeja to Lyon again

There’s the sweep shot from Lyon and it gets him an easy single. But still Jadeja only has two attacking fielders, both on the off side for number 11 Boland.

He’s defending resolutely and with tight technique.

He blocks out the over. Must be infuriating for India.

119th over – Mohammed Siraj is back into the attack

More boos for the battling seamer, who’s currently got 0-115 from 21 overs in this innings.

CONTACT! Siraj and Boland come together as they sneak through for a single. Nothing in it, but the crowd favourite colliding with India’s chief villain has the crowd up and about.

Scott Boland collides with Mohammed Siraj during a cricket Test.
(Getty)

Siraj appeals for LBW … and again Boland is given out! But we have a another review from Boland.

Looks like it’s sliding down leg to me, but maybe it will clip by enough to uphold Joel Wilson’s on-field call.

NOT OUT AGAIN!

Boland survives. When in doubt, always think the opposite to Mohammed Siraj and Joel Wilson when it comes to LBW decisions.

118th over – Lyon faces his spin nemesis

Lyon slaps across the line and takes a single wide of mid-on.

Boland, however, is happy to leave outside off.

BOLAND’S GIVEN OUT! Jadeja thinks he has Boland out LBW and the umpire agrees. But Boland reviews immediately.

Is this a sincere review or just a last-wicket ‘Why not?’ effort? He did get bat on it, but was it pad first?

No. NOT OUT. Big inside edge onto the front pad.

Why no declaration?

Can you explain the point of sending these 2 out rather than declaring? Is it every runs count? Or is it to see how many ducks Boland can get in a summer?

– Christopher

Why should they declare?

It’s just after lunch on day two; there’s plenty of time. This pair could easily take this score to 480 or more, which could be important.

Plus, it forces India to toil in the field for a little longer, which is only a good thing for Australia.

117th over – Akash continues

Lyon gets his second run with a thick edge out through gully as he drives at a length ball.

And Scott Boland gets into the runs with a little dab off his hip for a single.

This pair continues to nudge singles all around town.

Boland moves to 50 career Test runs. He has 40 wickets.

116th over – Jadeja continues with 3-73

Lyon gets off the mark with a push behind point.

This ball is turning a long way already. Jadeja only has a slip and a silly mid-off as attacking fielders. The rest of the field is spread for Australia’s number 11.

Boland happily prods forward and leaves the ball alone outside off.

Steve Smith is bowled in hilarious fashion!

Smith charges down the wicket and out towards leg to try to hoik Akash into the stands, but he gets a bottom edge into his back foot, the ball ricochets towards the stumps, and Smith watches it trickle towards the leg peg, just barely dislodging the bail.

That was in absolute slow motion. I feel like Smith might have had time to get back to that if he’d got his butt in gear, but no such luck.

Smith goes for a well-made 140, and even he can crack a smile after that.

Steve Smith holds his bat in the air during a cricket Test match.
(Getty)

115th over – Akash Deep takes the second over after lunch

114th over – Jadeja bowls to Nathan Lyon

Lyon leaves outside off. Will he hang around long enough for Smith to take Australia to 500?

There’s plenty of turn out there, which Nathan Lyon the batter won’t love, but Nathan Lyon the bowler will be buzzing.

BOWLED HIM! Jadeja gets Starc with a lovely ball

Jadeja tosses one up from around the wicket and Starc props forward, playing for prodigious spin, but the ball just straightens down the line of the off stump, eats his outside edge and takes the top of off.

Ravindra Jadeja will kick things off after lunch

Steve Smith takes guard on 139.

Smith nudges a ball down to long-off and takes the easy single.

Smith’s potential ranking in the 10k club

Where does Smudge sit on the board of quickest to 10K runs?

– Joey B

Hi Joey,

If Smith gets the extra 52 runs he requires to get to 10,000, he’ll be the fifth-fastest to do it, with this being his 201st innings.

Brian Lara, Sachin Tendulkar and Kumar Sangakkara hold the joint record for this, having all crossed the magical mark in their 195th innings.

Sangakkara actually did it during a Boxing Day Test himself, back in 2012.

Ricky Ponting crossed the 10k mark in his 196th inning.

Aussie Virat

While I deplore Kohli’s actions/attitude, has he not always been more or less like an Aussie player of the Waugh/Ponting eras? Aggressive, feisty, inclined to spoil things…

– Ed in Dee Why

Hi Ed,

It’s an excellent point you make, and one that I’ve long thought myself, to be honest.

While we never condone making physical contact with an opponent, I personally love the way Virat goes about it.

He’s exactly like those aggressive and nasty Aussie players from the golden generation in the 90s and 2000s.

It’s rare for an opposition player to go at the Aussies like the Aussies usually go at others. There’s a somewhat begrudging respect from Australians towards Kohli though, even if he’s not universally loved.

He’s the typical guy you’d hate to play against, but would love to have on your side.

Why the black armbands for India?

Why arm the Indian Team wearing black armbands

– Juline

Hi Juline,

The black armbands for the Indian team are to honour former Indian Prime Minster Manmohan Singh, who died at 92.