**** I thought today was Tuesday...
vs
12 months ago, then-finance minister Nick Minchin announced the redevelopment of this ground during what The Advertiser called "the traditional Australia Day day-night cricket match". 12 months on Minchin is shadow defence minister (which reminds me, I've only got a few days left to work out how to fit Kevin Rudd's head on a ball) and the 'traditional' day-nighter is gone and the 'traditional' Test is back at Adelaide Oval over the Australia Day long weekend.
Ricky Ponting will get the Carrey-Daniels Trophy after this match but the Aussies will be desperate to end their losing streak at one and win the series. Last time they met here Dravid and Ponting both hit double tons but it was Ajit Agarkar's six second innings wicket that set up a comfortable fourth innings chase of 230 for the visitors to take a 1-0 lead in the series. Australia's attack in that game consisted of Jason Gillespie, Brad Williams, Andy Bichel, Stuart MacGill, Steve Waugh and Simon Katich, with Ricky Ponting bowling one over. For India Irfan Pathan took 1/160 on debut alongside Agarkar and Ashish Nehra with Kumble, Tendulkar and Sehwag bowling spin. So India have only 4 changes from the 2003 game with Chopra and Patel joining the two medium pacers on the sidelines, though most of those remaining are playing their last Tests in Australia. Only Hayden, Ponting and Gilchrist remain from Australia's team on that day.
While nobody's confirming anything, it's widely tipped that Wasim Jaffer and Shaun Tait will be dropped for Harbhajan Singh and Brad Hogg. Ponting is at least saying he has learnt from his mistakes juggling the four quicks in Perth so they may not be 2 overs
behind the over-rate at the end of this match should they play 4 quicks again, which gives Tait some chance to play on his home ground, but Tait himself expects to be dropped, though Hogg and Johnson could consider themselves lucky having also failed to impress for more than a few balls in any of their previous games this summer. Important game for whichever two get a go with a lot of cricket to be played before the tours of Pakistan (maybe), the West Indies, the top end against Bangladesh and then to India in a busy year, which is actually quieter than 2009. All sorts of possibilities for India with Karthik being mentioned as a possible like for like replacement for Jaffer, Sharma and RP Singh both having been mentioned by commentators as possible omissions for the second spinner, while yet another pre-game football injury has ended Yuvraj Singh's chances of a recall, though it's unlikely that would've happened anyway.
Australia XII:
Phil Jaques, Matthew Hayden, *Ricky Ponting, Mike Hussey, Michael Clarke, Andrew Symonds, +Adam Gilchrist, Brad Hogg, Brett Lee, Mitchell Johnson, Stuart Clark, Shaun Tait
India XV: Wasim Jaffer, Dinesh Karthik, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, +MS Dhoni, Irfan Pathan, *Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh, Pankaj Singh (Test debut), VRV Singh, Ishant Sharma, RP Singh
Umpires:
Asad Rauf (Pakistan), Billy Bowden (New Zealand)
Weather:
Possible thundery showers first 3 days, low 30s. Sunday and Monday fine in the mid 20s
Session Times:
First session: 11am-1pm
Second session: 1:40-3:40pm
Third session: 4-6pm
(Gates open 10am, 9:30 for Members)
Coverage:
– live daily from 11am AEDT (last session only in Adelaide)
– coverage daily on local radio (online Real Windows)
Cricinfo
Cricket Australia
Tickets:
Hill/Day 5 concourse
Adults – $27
Concession – $21
Children – $10
Family – $62
Days 1-4 Straight boundaries concourse
Adults – $38
Concession – $35
Children – $28
Family – $89
Days 1-4 In front of the Chappell stands
Adults – $48(bring a kid for free on Australia Day)
Concession – $40
Children – $32
Family – $112
Chappell Stands (including Trevor in the middle)
Adults – $68 ($47 Monday)
Concession - $68 ($42 Monday)
Children - $47 ($32 Monday)
Family - $160 ($130 Monday)
Betting:
Australia - $1.85
India - $6.40
Draw – $2.60
When Test won
Never - $2.50
Day 5 after tea - $5
Day 5 middle session - $6
Day 5 before lunch - $7
Day 4 after tea - $8
Day 4 middle session - $11
Day 4 before lunch - $15
Day 3 or earlier - $17
Australia Most Runs 1st innings
Ponting - $3.75
Hayden - $4.50
Jaques - $5.50
Hussey - $5.50
Clarke - $6.50
Symonds - $7.50
Gilchrist - $13
Hogg - $51
Lee - $67
Johnson - $81
Clark - $151
Tait - $251
India Most Runs 1st innings
Tendulkar - $4
Dravid - $5
Laxman - $5.50
Sehwag - $5.50
Ganguly - $5.50
Jaffer - $7
Karthik - $8
Yuvraj - $9
Dhoni - $13
Pathan - $17
Kumble - $51
Harbhajan - $81
RP - $151
Sharma - $201
Pankaj - $251
Most wickets
Lee - $4
Kumble - $5
Clark - $6
Harbhajan - $7
Hogg - $9
RP - $9
Johnson - $11
Pathan - $11
Tait - $13
Sharma - $15
Others - $15
Adelaide Oval
11am Thursday January 24-Monday January 28
12 months ago, then-finance minister Nick Minchin announced the redevelopment of this ground during what The Advertiser called "the traditional Australia Day day-night cricket match". 12 months on Minchin is shadow defence minister (which reminds me, I've only got a few days left to work out how to fit Kevin Rudd's head on a ball) and the 'traditional' day-nighter is gone and the 'traditional' Test is back at Adelaide Oval over the Australia Day long weekend.
Ricky Ponting will get the Carrey-Daniels Trophy after this match but the Aussies will be desperate to end their losing streak at one and win the series. Last time they met here Dravid and Ponting both hit double tons but it was Ajit Agarkar's six second innings wicket that set up a comfortable fourth innings chase of 230 for the visitors to take a 1-0 lead in the series. Australia's attack in that game consisted of Jason Gillespie, Brad Williams, Andy Bichel, Stuart MacGill, Steve Waugh and Simon Katich, with Ricky Ponting bowling one over. For India Irfan Pathan took 1/160 on debut alongside Agarkar and Ashish Nehra with Kumble, Tendulkar and Sehwag bowling spin. So India have only 4 changes from the 2003 game with Chopra and Patel joining the two medium pacers on the sidelines, though most of those remaining are playing their last Tests in Australia. Only Hayden, Ponting and Gilchrist remain from Australia's team on that day.
While nobody's confirming anything, it's widely tipped that Wasim Jaffer and Shaun Tait will be dropped for Harbhajan Singh and Brad Hogg. Ponting is at least saying he has learnt from his mistakes juggling the four quicks in Perth so they may not be 2 overs
behind the over-rate at the end of this match should they play 4 quicks again, which gives Tait some chance to play on his home ground, but Tait himself expects to be dropped, though Hogg and Johnson could consider themselves lucky having also failed to impress for more than a few balls in any of their previous games this summer. Important game for whichever two get a go with a lot of cricket to be played before the tours of Pakistan (maybe), the West Indies, the top end against Bangladesh and then to India in a busy year, which is actually quieter than 2009. All sorts of possibilities for India with Karthik being mentioned as a possible like for like replacement for Jaffer, Sharma and RP Singh both having been mentioned by commentators as possible omissions for the second spinner, while yet another pre-game football injury has ended Yuvraj Singh's chances of a recall, though it's unlikely that would've happened anyway.Australia XII:
Phil Jaques, Matthew Hayden, *Ricky Ponting, Mike Hussey, Michael Clarke, Andrew Symonds, +Adam Gilchrist, Brad Hogg, Brett Lee, Mitchell Johnson, Stuart Clark, Shaun Tait
India XV: Wasim Jaffer, Dinesh Karthik, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, +MS Dhoni, Irfan Pathan, *Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh, Pankaj Singh (Test debut), VRV Singh, Ishant Sharma, RP Singh
Umpires:
Asad Rauf (Pakistan), Billy Bowden (New Zealand)
Weather:
Possible thundery showers first 3 days, low 30s. Sunday and Monday fine in the mid 20s
Session Times:
First session: 11am-1pm
Second session: 1:40-3:40pm
Third session: 4-6pm
(Gates open 10am, 9:30 for Members)
Coverage:
Cricinfo
Cricket Australia
Tickets:
Hill/Day 5 concourse
Adults – $27
Concession – $21
Children – $10
Family – $62
Days 1-4 Straight boundaries concourse
Adults – $38
Concession – $35
Children – $28
Family – $89
Days 1-4 In front of the Chappell stands
Adults – $48(bring a kid for free on Australia Day)
Concession – $40
Children – $32
Family – $112
Chappell Stands (including Trevor in the middle)
Adults – $68 ($47 Monday)
Concession - $68 ($42 Monday)
Children - $47 ($32 Monday)
Family - $160 ($130 Monday)
Betting:
Australia - $1.85
India - $6.40
Draw – $2.60
When Test won
Never - $2.50
Day 5 after tea - $5
Day 5 middle session - $6
Day 5 before lunch - $7
Day 4 after tea - $8
Day 4 middle session - $11
Day 4 before lunch - $15
Day 3 or earlier - $17
Australia Most Runs 1st innings
Ponting - $3.75
Hayden - $4.50
Jaques - $5.50
Hussey - $5.50
Clarke - $6.50
Symonds - $7.50
Gilchrist - $13
Hogg - $51
Lee - $67
Johnson - $81
Clark - $151
Tait - $251
India Most Runs 1st innings
Tendulkar - $4
Dravid - $5
Laxman - $5.50
Sehwag - $5.50
Ganguly - $5.50
Jaffer - $7
Karthik - $8
Yuvraj - $9
Dhoni - $13
Pathan - $17
Kumble - $51
Harbhajan - $81
RP - $151
Sharma - $201
Pankaj - $251
Most wickets
Lee - $4
Kumble - $5
Clark - $6
Harbhajan - $7
Hogg - $9
RP - $9
Johnson - $11
Pathan - $11
Tait - $13
Sharma - $15
Others - $15
