Australia v South Africa: third Test, day one – as it happened | Cricket

Summary

Of course, that means we’ll start earlier tomorrow, so please stop by at 10am for Geoff’s coverage of the opening ball of the day.

Close on day one: Australia 147-2

The last rites have still yet to be called on the day’s play, but rest assured we won’t have any more action. It’s still raining at the SCG and it’s as dark as ever.

The official attendance has come in at 31,264. Shame they’ve endured such a frustrating day.

This is the sixth Test out of the past seven in Sydney to be impacted by rain. Sydneysiders, what’s going on?

I don’t think we’ve had official confirmation play has been called off for the day, but Channel Seven have ended their broadcast 90 minutes early, and Fox Sports have cut to the Pakistan v NZ Test.

Replays of the final over before play was curtailed are a treat for fans of fast bowling. The four deliveries Nortje sent down to Labuschagne bounced in almost exactly the same place, just back of a length and angling in. One lifted a fraction and caught the leading batter in Test cricket on the gloves. Two held their line. The fourth and final climbed and jagged away off the seam, taking the outside edge on the way through to the keeper. Unplayably good, even for the best of the best.

The full square is now covered to protect it from the rain. It is very gloomy.

Before the moment passes, credit to Nortje for finding a jaffa like that with an old ball on a flat deck. One of the few South Africans to enhance his reputation on this difficult tour.

Now there’s some drizzle in the air and the strip is swaddled in hessian.

What a frustrating day this is.

Regular correspondent Trevor Tutu, in Cape Town, agrees, emailing: “It’s not fair that all my good work in procuring the services of a decent witchdoctor can be undone by an overbearing third umpire!”

Bad light stops play

WICKET! Labuschagne c Verreynne b Nortje 79 (Australia 147-2)

46th over: Australia 144-1 (Khawaja 51, Labuschagne 79) Jansen continues around the wicket to Labuschagne, searching for some reverse swing to wobble the ball away from the batter late on its journey. There’s not a lot happening for the paceman, but Labuschagne is cautious nonetheless, leaving outside off, defending anything straight and riding the bounce on the final delivery of the over for a couple down to fine-leg. Finally, Usman Khawaja gets a turn.

45th over: Australia 142-1 (Khawaja 51, Labuschagne 77) Nortje is bowling to a 6-3 field, and two of those legside fielders are out on the pull, so consequently the line is outside off, aside from the bumper, which Labuschagne pulls easily in front of square for a couple. Another tip-and-run single from the final delivery of the over continues the No 3’s monopoly of the strike since the resumption of play.

44th over: Australia 139-1 (Khawaja 51, Labuschagne 74) From around the wicket, the left-armer Jansen commits to a consistent line on or around off stump to the right-handed batter. Labuschagne leaves and blocks effortlessly, even pinching a single from the final delivery of the over.

Here we go then, two-and-a-half hours after the last delivery, Marco Jansen is about to bowl to Marnus Labuschagne.

The meter reading was obviously a good one, because play will restart at 4.45pm!

The covers are being peeled away and another light reading will be taken soon.

I wish I had more to tell you, but I don’t. Based on the past couple of hours I’d be surprised if there’s any more play before the close, but cricket being cricket (and we know all about that today) we’ll be made to wait until nigh-on 7pm on the off-chance.

Now the covers are coming back on as the second band of showers stalk the SCG.

I haven’t heard this played over the PA system yet, so I cannot confirm.

While we wait for the light to improve, the rain radar suggests another shower may not be far away.

What a day. There’s a bloke playing who failed a Covid test this morning. There’s a fella batting who was out caught in the slips. And we’ve spent most of the past two hours not playing despite only a brief flurry of rain passing through. I’m thankful Twitter’s down.

So the players trudged out into the middle, the umpires rested their light meters on the stumps, and before a ball was bowled in the post-tea session everyone buggered off again.

Bad light stops play

The turnaround at the SCG has been impressively quick. The players are already on the boundary edge ready to resume. There’s no guarantee further rain or bad light won’t intervene but for now, we’re good to go.

The good news: Play will restart at 3.45pm.

The bad news (for me): Play will continue until 7pm – so we’ll have a three hour 15 minute session of play.

The covers are being removed and the mop-up is underway.

And as I type the umpires are making their way into the middle, the groundstaff are hard at work, and the rain has pretty much stopped. After a few minutes to clear up we should be back in action in no time.

The very worst of the rain in NSW is drenching the Central Coast, north of Sydney. And there’s a chance that second band of rain I mentioned earlier might also skirt around the SCG to the north, so once this current storm passes through we might get back on sooner rather than later.

Rain stops play

Tea: Australia 138-1

Let’s get Channel Seven’s cameras on this while there’s no action! Very wholesome behind the scenes at the SCG.

Meanwhile, the darts earlier today was sensational. No stopping for bad light at Ally Pally.