Minds wander while the GOAT grazes at SCG
Nathan Lyon put on a masterclass at the SCG while several players wait on potential million-dollar deals in the IPL.
Justin Langer likes to call her Mother Cricket, whoever or whatever she is, the game and the various fortunes it inflicts on its participants are unique and were on display in Sydney, Hobart and Chennai.
Nathan Lyon — who has 399 test wickets and should have had his 400th during the India series but managed just seven scalps from eight innings — took 6-21 from 16 excellent overs at the SCG. In contrast, Mitchell Starc took 0-71 from 14 overs.
Lyon’s was a masterclass against batting which was somewhat lacking in class and this is clearly a different wicket than the one on which he took 2-201 when India drew here in January. The quality of opposition should also be noted.
Queensland’s Joe Burns who scored the first century of the Shield’s second coming must know how Lyon is feeling. The opener who was dropped from the Test team from the summer would have liked a bit of that form before Christmas.
Burns contributed 171 runs to Queensland’s total of 275.
At the SCG Players spent much of the day scurrying off as persistent showers interrupted play.
Thanks largely to Lyon, Victoria squandered a good start to lose 8-48 and be all out 200 – a first innings lead of 35.
Steve Smith, Sean Abbott, Moises Henriques and Sean Abbott were among players participating in the rain interrupted domestic game with, one suspects, the overnight IPL auction on their mind.
Millions were at stake in a tournament so popular it has shaken world cricket’s foundations, but the job at hand a little more thankless and the remunerations on offer a little more modest.
At Bellerive, where Tasmania was engaged with Queensland, Marnus Labuschagne, Jack Wildermuth, Brendan Doggett and Mark Steketee were among the vast field of international players also hoping for the sound of the auctioneers hammer in Chennai.
The second day of the SCG was a test of patience for the few who turned out hoping to see the best be their best, but things livened up in the delayed and extended afternoon sessions thanks to Lyon’s efforts.
While the serenity is something at a Shield match – no crowd noise, no piped excitement, no fireworks or face painting – the contrast between what was to happen in the evening and what was happening during the day could not be more extreme.
Does any other sport offer such contrasts for its leading participants?
The man at second slip wearing No 49 at the SCG, the one dismissed the previous day for 7, the one playing in front of a handful of people in a competition that has slipped down the back of cricket’s couch, was wondering if somebody will match the $2.5m contract he recently enjoyed in the Indian league.
In the interrupted first session Smith watched as Nic Maddinson continued in the bright manner he had left off on day one.
When he is in this mood it is easy to see why Smith backed him for a start at Test level some years back. He is audacious, talented and difficult for an opposition to contain. Maddinson advanced at a run a ball for much of his innings but was out caught by Smith at slip off the bowling of Abbott for 77.
By the time he was gone the visitors were 2-108 from just 27 overs. The Victorians looked on the way to comfortably passing NSW’s underwhelming 165.
Marcus Harris, who is still trying to nail down his Test place, was out for 24, but there is no Test cricket until November – unless the Test Championship final falls in Australia’s lap – so he is not playing for sheep stations. Or even a place in an IPL franchise.
Meanwhile, Will Pucovski has finally decided to have a shoulder reconstruction after rest failed to improve the injury which occurred in his only Test of the summer.
Pucovski is expected to miss six months cricket which means very little in international terms because of Australia’s self-imposed drought.
In Hobart the visitors were mugged by fast bowling hobbyist Beau Webster. The 202cm spinner got a little bored during downtime before the season and figured he might try his arm at seam bowling too.
Queensland was going along fine until the dismissal of Marnus Labuschagne (49) triggered a collapse that saw them lose 6-90 after lunch with Webster picking up 3-9 in an impressive six over spell of seam bowling.
Tasmania began its second innings with a lead of 57 in the bank.
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