Australia cricket
Defiant India stand firm for fighting draw in third Australia Test
No team had ever bettered 288 to clinch victory in the fourth innings at the Sydney Cricket Ground, with Australia achieving that mark against South Africa in...
The explosive opener was named in the squad after he sat out the first two Tests with a groin injury and has been badly missed as Australia's top order struggled to build partnerships.
Joe Burns managed just one at the Sydney Cricket Ground before being trapped lbw by India's dangerous Mohammed Shami, leaving him with only 62 runs from nine first class knocks this summer.
Australia, to be led for the first time by Matthew Wade in the absence of injured Aaron Finch, also go into the game without their pace spearheads Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood.
Dean Jones, who played 52 Tests and 164 one-day internationals in the 1980s and 1990s, winning the World Cup in 1987, was one of Australia's most popular cricketers.
Finch, Australia’s limited-overs skipper, made his test debut in 2018 against Pakistan in Dubai as fellow opener David Warner served a one-year suspension for his role in the Cape Town ball-tampering scandal.
Cricket Australia introduced the Dukes ball in 2016 and they were used in the second half of each Shield season to try to accustom players to conditions in England, where Australian batsmen had often struggled.
While travel curbs remain Australia has begun easing social distancing restrictions after infections slowed to a trickle.
Alyssa Healy smashed a quick-fire 75 and Beth Mooney an unbeaten 78 as the defending champions plundered an ominous 184 for four - the highest score ever in a women's T20 final.
Top-ranked Australia, the defending champions, are targeting a fifth title, while India are playing in their first final.
Applauded by a large group of his South African family at Senwes Park, Marnus Labuschagne made 108 in an Australian total of 254 for seven after they were sent in to bat.
The Blacks Cap, chasing a massive 488 to win, were dismissed for 240 in the evening session of the fourth day with Lyon taking 4-81 and Blundell last man out for 121.
At the close on day three, the home team were 137 for four, building on their first innings 467 to be 456 runs in front.
That gave the left-arm quick his 27th wicket of the 2019 tournament, breaking the record of 26 for a single edition he had previously shared with retired Australia paceman Glenn McGrath.
This was a hostile chorus of boos that greeted Australia’s Steve Smith as he emerged from the red-bricked pavilion of the self aggrandising Home of Cricket.
Usman Khawaja, who only returned to the one-day side earlier this year after a two-year absence, has prospered upon his recall and scored 655 runs in 10 innings as an opener.
The pair have returned from year-long bans following a ball-tampering scandal in South Africa and are expected to play vital roles in Australia’s title defence although they will not be in leadership positions.
The visitors chased down their 278 target with 10 balls to spare, inflicting the first one-day defeat on Australia in 10 games, although this was not counted as a full international.
Much has changed since Cricket Australia slapped former captain Smith and his deputy Warner with 12-month suspensions for the Cape Town scandal, while giving Cameron Bancroft a lighter nine-month sentence as the rookie opener caught up in a plot driven by others.