Almanac Cricket: Second Test – Aust v WI: Day 1 – Citrus Bob’s report
Adelaide Day 1
Driving down from Mildura this morning i was absolutely gobsmacked when I reached Renmark and contiguous (love that word) areas.
If you think of standing at Kirribili House with Albo and looking across the harbour that is what it is like.
Astonishing.
Remember this the bulk of the water from the Murray Darling and tributaries has still not reached SA. The Croweaters just have to sit and wait.
Beautiful day in the City of Churches for Day 1 of what we hope, is an interesting game between the Windies and Australia. Interesting in the fact that we hope to get a decent crowd after what was a disappointing effort by Oz supporters in Perth.
Australia have lost Captain Pat and Scotty Boland returns to the team after an absence that feels like years. The conditions should suit him. Hazlewood is also left out for Neser. Josh H obviously rested, thank you Henry Lawson.
S.P.D.Smith takes over the good ship Oz and he is not afraid to experiment with the bowling so we should see Travis Head get quite a few overs.
Head’s success with the ball could definitely see the end to the Victorian ‘experts’ crying that Maxwell is unfit to fill his rightful place in the eleven.
Unfortunately I think Maxwell has played his last game of Test cricket. Even when he played he was never really a player who could splice the mainbrace regularly. Head has been brilliant in the last two seasons playing for the team when it mattered and taking wickets.
I know this might sound rather crass to some but I am just about over all the felldala that goes on before we actually start a Test match. Surely such ceremonies should be confined to the start of a series?
Seales and Roach are missing from the Windies attack with the latter being sorely missed. A much under rated player is Kemar Roach.
Nice touch as the widow of Rod Marsh rings the bell to start play. That is one good initiative that has stemmed from Lords.
All the hay and lucerne must be cut and bailed as there is a goodly crowd in the Members. Remember when there was great hue and cry when they changed the Adelaide test from traditional Australia Day to early December. The farmer-members were ropable but they seemed to have cut their cloth (crop) to suit the seat, or something like that!
The wicket looks pretty easy and I only recall one ball actually troubling the batters although they have not got as many balls away as they would have liked.
Two cracking fours through the covers by Bulldog Drummond and then he tries for a third and only nicks it to the keeper. Warner seems to have lost the ability to concentrate and perhaps still thinks the game is his for the taking. Maybe less appearances by him and his wife in the media might help.
Although there are not many runs on the board it is a much needed wicket for the pirates of the Caribbean. Australia 1/34
Chase is on to bowl his offies in the 10th over so skipper Brathwaite has acknowledged there is nothing in the wicket for the quicks.
Neither of the two new bowlers Mindley and Phillip are certainly not of the Windies of old. Very pedestrian indeed.
Khawaja has played some lovely shots,mind you against a very unimpressive attack andthe piratwes could be all at sea today. I think they might need some help from the Bermuda triangle if they are to get anywhere.
However he has been stuck on 49 for sometime as the bowlers tempt him to play at balls wide of the off-stump. In fact in Holder’s last two overs he has only had to play at two balls.
The game has dwindled to a crawl but the crowds gets something to cheer about when Khawaja at last reaches his 50 from95 balls. An untroubled innings if ever there was one.
1/85 at lunch was reasonable but there werea lot of balls that batters did not bother to play at. Not happy Jan!
Continues in a similar pattern after lunch.
Bowling wide of the stumps, using part-timers to try and take wickets. It is a sorry sight and I can’t continue to blame the Windies. The scheduling of cricket has been the main problem all along particularly this year and dare I say the next few years.
There has been too much cricket and then yu throw in what I would call football parlance, a “B” team against the best bowling attack in world cricket and what do you get?
Well as at 6.50pm EST two wickets! Khawaja (62) a doubtful LBW to Thomas and Captain Smith formerly of the Titanic caught and bowled Holder for a duck. Terrible shot by the stand-in skipper.
Australia 3/131 and some life back in the game.
Roston Chase bowls an over without taking his jumper off. Come on guys its not that cold and you have started to fumble in the field as well.
Labuschagne reaches his 50 from 108 balls. No fuss and bother and very little fidgeting and farting around llike has been in the past. He certainly has become the baulwark of Ship Australia in the last couple of years.
Brathwaite is now bowling with his jumper on as well. Like Chase long sleeves to boot!
Local Hero Head as usual, is trying to up the ante and is looking for runs all the time. He certainly has had a fine return to Test cricket in the last 12 months.
By tea,or was it dinner, Australia had moved to 3/189 so in some respects it was a satisfactory session for the home team but to their credit the two wickets the Windies took put life into the game.
If the Windies were cold before tea they certainly must be freezing now. Most of them seem to wearing two jumpers and their hands are in their pockets right until the bowler delivers the ball. The temperature has dropped to about 12 degrees, real footy weather.
Both batters seem untroubled in the heavier air and this is probably the first time WI have played a day-night test in the Southern hemisphere.
They should call Travis ‘Head Butcher’. Anything short he cuts and does he do it well. His 50 comes from 66 balls and he is best by far as the most aggressive bat in the team.
Labuschagne takes his average in this series (so far) to 404.00. It has been a measured innings punctuated by many, many balls he didn’t have to play because they were so wide. He hasn’t been tempted at all by the bowling tactics.
The crowd of 24,449 has mostly stayed on, as they hope Travis Head will reach his century before stumps. With 10 overs to bowl it looks odds on (no bets please).
It comes when he straight drives Joseph for four. The best innings of the day, in front of his delighted home crowd. 10 fours, mainly square cuts and 39 singles. Emphasis on the singles as there has been delightful running between the wickets by the batters.
Well that’s stumps with Australia well in command at 3/330 Labuschagne 120 and Head 114. No bowlers worth mentioning.
More from Citrus Bob Utber Here
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About Bob Utber
At 84 years of age Citrus Bob is doing what he has always done since growing up on a small farm at Lang Lang. Talking, watching and writing sport and in recent years writing books. He lives in Mildura with his very considerate wife (Jenny) and a groodle named 'Chloe on Flinders' and can be found at Deakin 27 every day.

Thanks CB, your report, as always, an insightful and in-depth one with a touch of humour, and a delight to read.
Adelaide Oval may be the the only Test ground to have appearances by both Morkel and Mindley
Hello CB. Thanks for your report and I concur with your observations having been there for a chunk of the day, courtesy of a couple tickets as my wife was the on-ground Auslan interpreter for the official ceremony including both anthems (you may have seen her on the big screens).
Like many I was initially excited by the novelty of the day night test but now wish for an end to this nonsense. I agree with Gideon’s analysis in which he states that the comfort of the spectators has been sacrificed for the comfort of the viewer. While Saturday will be hot and the night session will work, early December (still, of course, technically spring) is generally too cool in Adelaide for this to be fun for those in the crowd not insulated by gallons of Bundy.
CA will take false comfort in 24,000 being there, but the stands were mostly barren, and the top decks of the Riverbank and eastern ‘football’ stands might as well have been closed. Most of the spectators were out the back of the members at the Village Green. As such they were part of a separate event that coincidentally happened to occur at the same time as the cricket. It’s time for ‘truth in attendance figures.’
A day night test will not be held in Perth because it’d finish at midnight on the eastern seaboard. Sydney and Melbourne test traditions are immune to tampering despite the pink ball being a natural fit for the Pink Test. Adelaide and its test have not been rewarded with the prize of a day night test. It’s an imposition we endure because of the broadcaster and CA.
And the confected narrative that the evening session is somehow additionally compelling because the ball moves in exaggerated ways? Spare me.
I can’t wait for this failed experiment to come briskly to its sorry conclusion and for the test to be returned to its custodians, the people who prefer test cricket in its traditional timeslot.
Enjoy Day 2!
Mickey D thanks for that. I have a friend who walks out of the Oval as soon as the lights come on.
SWISH – great observations
BOMBER – dont know how you got this!!! thanks as usual . Avast me lads!
Nice run down Bob. Again my big bug bear is the Windies continuing to bowl wide and not attacking the stumps enough as the pitch map shows so well. That tactic again worked well against Warner, but that was the end of the penny section. I certainly agree about all the waffle at the beginning of the match being overdone. Head is rapidly becoming my poster boy, attacking at every chance and defending the good balls. Manus and his antics really entertain me, whether batting or in the field, a fine entertainer. Also, I am one that really enjoys the commentry of the lady,forget her name, but she knows her stuff.
FISHO – there are 2 “ladies” who know their stuff – Alison Mitchell and Isha Guru. They leave some of the “gentlemen” in the changing room.
Glad you agree with me on the pre-game “waffle” . Interesting to see what happens on Saturday when SA line-up.
If ever a player was auditioning for the next captain it is Travis Head who sacrifices everything for the team. As for Marnus, well he is Marnus.
Probably the most interest in the Aussie team is C.Green – still has not hit the highlights for me although he has been limited against WI