Tons of fun as old Younis and new Warner excel at numbers game
Talking points abounded at the SCG – the variable form of the Pakistan tourists; some intriguing stats; and those new kids on the Aussie block ... Geoff Lemon: What’s a socially appropriate expletive expressing enthusiasm? I can never remember what’s offensive in England. Anyway, we don’t know how this last Test in Sydney will wind up, but we do know that we’ve sat watching Younis Khan bat serenely through the third day. Adam Collins: And as you say that, Mohammad Amir has played the worst shot you’ll see half an hour before stumps 94 short of the follow-on. GL: That’s been the tone from Younis’ innings. A real ‘if you can keep your head when all about you’ innings. AC: Him aside, and Wahab with the ball, it feels like they’ve phoned this in. What happened to that gritty, relentless Pakistan we’ve enjoyed so much over the last few years? GL: End of a tough trip, two close calls, the emotional exhaustion of nearly winning and then nearly drawing. They just need to nearly lose here, and they’ll have the whole set. But Younis has found reserves today, which might set back his retirement chat for all of five minutes. AC: He was the man least likely in Brisbane, until he wasn’t. Culpable on the final day in Melbourne, along with the rest. And utterly brilliant today. I know you have a spreadsheet dedicated to his stats. Go on, then. Hit us with your best shot. GL: The obvious one: 34 Test tons takes him sixth on the all-time list. Dravid, Sanga, Ponting, Kallis and Tenders the only ones ahead. Decent list. More niche is that Younis has made his tons faster than any of that crew, in terms of matches played. He goes at 3.38 Tests per century, which is ninth overall. Lastly, this ton keeps up his record of having more centuries than fifties. Only seven players
over ten tons share that. Oh, and he’s a flicker away from his 10,000th run. AC: I’m happy because you’re happy. And also because it’s great that there’s still a guy playing professional cricket who was running around when the Millennium Bug was a real and present danger. If he clocks that 10,000 mark he’ll be the 13th to get there – exclusive. But not as exclusive as the club David Warner joined on Day One: the fifth player to reach three figures before lunch. Thing is, it wasn’t a Warner innings as one may have imagined a few years ago. It was Warner 2.0, to keep up the outdated computer chat. GL: He was the first to notch that feat in Australia, too. He’s evolved so much. He can go defensive if required, sure, but even his attack has changed. If he’d made a hundred this fast in 2011, it would all have been giant clouts over cow corner. This was all control: cuts and drives between cover and backward point. Plus Pakistan fed him like a fruit machine. AC: His previous century in a session was precisely that in 2012. Brilliant in an entirely different way. The way he gets up and punches through point is a joy. He said the quicks bowled too short, and I guess that’s the temptation to someone who drives so powerfully. Two of the other Australians on that list, Bradman and Trumper, have stands named after them at the SCG. I’m not saying you can start carving a statue yet, but he has the game and time to become an all-time great. Unimaginable even a few years back. And how about his new mate? They’re kind of cute together. GL: Adorkable. That’s not a typo, it’s the only word for Renshaw. The big goofy grin. Being called ‘Turtle’ because he rarely comes out of his shell, not because he’s slow.Which is literary genius for an Aussie nickname, where gold standard is Knackers or Snowy. Our Prime Minister revealed his affectionate moniker to be Malcolm ‘Malcolm’ Turnbull, when he popped by the ABC commentary box today. His friends must be a riot. AC: He certainly has a bit about him. Renshaw, not the PM. A relatively smart mouth as well, it’s not hard to see him becoming England’s public enemy in the next Ashes. It was a brilliant selection in Adelaide. It’s hard to imagine an Auswith
“It wasn’t a Warner innings as one may have imagined a few years ago. If he had made a hundred this fast in 2011 it would have been giant clouts over cow corner“
tralian side without him now, but there’ll also be temptation to protect him from India. Not for Pete Handscomb though. What a laugh this is for him, yet to be dismissed without a half-century, couple of tons. Now he’s keeping wicket with Matt Wade crook. Anything he can’t do? GL: I’ll give this line another spin: at least the stomach bug means that Wade has caught something and got among the runs. Handscomb – or is it now Glovescomb? But they won’t let that mess with his batting. He’s going so calmly, he’s adapted to different match situations every innings with equal facility. He’s the only new inclusion who makes me excited rather than anxious about the India trip. Even in today’s sunshine, that tour is a looming cloudburst. AC: But take comfort: Nathan ‘Nathan’ Lyon has just turned one back through the gate to take Wahab’s leg stump, the sort of ball that loops around in an offspinner’s dream landscape night after night. If he can find a way to do that in India... look, I won’t even finish that sentence, I know how daft it’s going to sound. I’m Lyon’s Fox Mulder: I want to believe. GL: O’Keefe with the last over, spinners in tandem. It’s been hard graft, but they’re chipping away. And now stumps, for us and the SCG.Younis to come back on 136 after his team fell to eight down. He may not carry it on tomorrow, but we can keep that dream alive tonight.