Aussies capitalise on India’s woes

Another incident involving members of the SCG crowd has further strained the patience of India’s unhappy touring party.

Cameron Green lofts one of four sixes into the stands at the SCG on Sunday

Another incident involving members of the SCG crowd has further strained the patience of India’s unhappy touring party.

Play was stopped for 10 minutes just before tea on Sunday as officials dealt with patrons in the Brewrongle Stand after captain Ajinkya Rahane notified umpires about something happening between the crowd and Mohammed Siraj.

The Indian side had already made a formal complaint about racial abuse on the previous day aimed at Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah.

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The team is reportedly convinced this was another incident of racial abuse, but that claim is disputed by fans in the vicinity.

At least six fans were eventually ejected from their seats for being intoxicated and another had been asked to leave after abusing Siraj earlier.

Cricket Australia security chief Sean Carroll released a statement soon after the incident, saying anyone engaging in racist abuse was unwelcome in Australian cricket.

“CA is awaiting the outcome of the International Cricket Council’s investigation into the matter reported at the SCG on Saturday,” Carroll said. “Once those responsible are identified, CA will take the strongest measures possible under our Anti-Harassment Code, including lengthy bans, further sanctions and referral to NSW Police.

“As series hosts, we unreservedly apologise to our friends in the Indian cricket team and assure them we will prosecute the matter to its fullest extent.”

NSW police said the incidents were not of a racial nature and other patrons backed those claims, but the controversy will do nothing to improve the mood of the visitors and came as Cricket Australia chairman Earl Eddings was in meetings with the BCCI top brass over the fourth Test.

The message from the Indian team is they do not want to travel to Brisbane but the BCCI seems intent on fulfilling the agreement it signed on December 29.

At first the team said it was because quarantine restrictions were too harsh but over the weekend the reason has shifted to that town’s harsh lockdown because of an outbreak of the UK strain of the virus.

Meanwhile, India’s battered batting line-up faces the task of chasing down 300 on the last day of the match with two batsmen already out and two others, Ravi Jadeja and Risabh Pant, carrying injuries that stopped them taking the field on Sunday.

Perhaps the most disappointing aspect of Sunday’s interruption to play was that it distracted attention from an innings that will have brought a flutter to the heart of every Australian cricket fan.

We know Cameron Green will emerge as a serious bowler. We know he is more than a handy gully fielder. We knew he could bat — that was obvious from his 146-ball 45 at the MCG — but we didn’t know just how many tricks he had until Australia closed in on the declaration.

Greg Chappell called him the next Ricky Ponting on these pages before the start of this series, but the shots Green produced in the hour before tea were next level.

It was like that moment in the Bee Gees career around the mid-1970s where Barry hit that high falsetto note for the first time. Suddenly a band that had made a career from brilliant pop songs found another gear.

This batsman is even more exciting than we imagined.

Green hit four enormous sixes in 12 deliveries. Three from the bowling of Siraj were deposited over long-on and deep into the Victor Trumper stand. He then put one from Jasprit Bumrah into the Brewrongle.

It was some spectacle; the 21-year-old charged the seamers who were hoping to pick up wickets with the second new ball.

Good judges suggest Green’s technique is as good if not better than most other batsmen in the side. He bats with poise, bats to the circumstances of the game and he revealed on Sunday that he has an extra gear that is absolutely thrilling.

Green qualified for an entry-level Cricket Australia contract before this match. He will demand one with a bit more weight when the deals for the next 12 months are handed out after this series.

IPL scouts will have noted the hitting and the bowling, but one thing Australia needs to be absolutely wary of is breaking the young man. Green has just recovered from a stress fracture that stopped him bowling for most of the past 12 months and he is at least four years short of the sort of physical maturity bowling demands of the body.

In other good news for Australia, Marnus Labuschagne (73) and Steve Smith (81) are tracking quite nicely. Again. Both batted well in the first innings and looked just as good in the second.

Tim Paine’s cameo with Smith — a typically crisp 39no — comes with one concern. There are suggestions the captain may have hurt a hamstring during the knock.

India’s woes are legion and made worse by Rohit Sharma playing an unnecessarily flamboyant shot in the last hour of the game which brought his innings to an end on 52 and made the run chase on the final day just that little bit harder.