Welcome to Grandstand's live coverage of day three of the second Test between Australia and India at the Sydney Cricket Ground. The home declared at 4-659 with a lead of 468 runs.
4.15pm: Rahul Dravid has joined in the fun, perhaps spurred into action by Ricky Ponting's 134 and Jacques Kallis's career-best 224 overnight. The 39-year-old Indian is on 24, with 20 of them coming in fours.
3.52pm: HALF CENTURY GAMBHIR - Listen here.
A good knock from the opener and as easy as you like in 83 balls with seven boundaries. This pitch is a road and there is runs in it for any batsman.
3.30pm: The players are back after tea and these two Indian batsman will be determined to make it to tea. But there is a chance we could see Tendulkar before the day is out as he continues the journey towards 100 internationals tons.
3.00pm: India's deficit of 468 is their third highest when batting first. The top three: 486 (Birmingham), 484 (Centurion) and 468 (Sydney) have all come in the last 13 months and all overseas. Thanks to Cricinfo's @rajeshstats for that one.
2.50pm: Sehwag is on his way but Gambhir and Dravid have other plans. Gautam takes Siddle for two boundaries in the one over. The Indian opener is in search of some much-needed form.
2.36pm: WICKET - V Sehwag c. Warner b. Hilfenhaus 4 (India 1-18, Gambhir 11*) - Listen to the dismissal.
Believe it or not, you can get out on this pitch. Sehwag can't help himself and flays the bat at a wide delivery. David Warner takes a ripper at point, moving quickly to his left to pluck the ball out of the air.
2.22pm: The Indian batsman are out in the middle. They have been waiting a while for this. Can they show some ticker and stick around for a few days? It's a massive ask but the pitch is as about lifeless as they were in the field. Pattinson and Hilfenhaus share the new ball.
AUSTRALIA DECLARES 4-659 (M Clarke 329*, M Hussey 150*) leads India by 468 runs.
Well that came out of nowhere. Clarke and Hussey looked like they were running for a drink, but they were actually sprinting towards the pavilion. The Australian captain says 329 is enough and ends his innings fourth on the Australian Test innings list and equal 12th with Inzamam-ul-Haq in the all-time Test records. His unbeaten partnership with Hussey was worth 334 runs, how is that for a special number? Clarke's average increases to 45.82 to 48.65 and he now has 5,643 runs in 78 Tests. He almost scored as many runs in that innings than he did in the 12 months before becoming captain (367).
2.00pm: Clarke is chasing Mark Taylor's 334 for the highest score by a Test captain. He has just passed Virender Sehwag's 319 in Chennai on the all-time list. I recommend following our own @RicFinlay on Twitter for a stream of more stats. He is so beside himself he has "forgotten to walk the cat", says Kerry.
1.43pm: The 300 partnership is up - Clarke (163) and Hussey (130). The first time in Test history an innings has featured two 250+ partnerships. Clarke and Ponting's was 288. The historians are running out of liquid paper!
1.33pm: Want more? Sure. The Aussie captain is also the seventh skipper to pass the 300 mark with Lara, Jayawardene, Taylor, Gooch, Younis Khan and Simpson.
1.30pm: The records continue to tumble. Clarke now has the highest score for a number five, usurping Bradman's 304. He is also now fourth on Australia's all-time Test innings list behind Hayden, Taylor and Bradman.
1.21pm: TRIPLE CENTURY MICHAEL CLARKE
Clarke on 299 blasts another boundary. A masterful display by the Australian skipper. He becomes the sixth Australian batsman to make 300 runs. When you consider he came to the crease with the score at 3 for 37, this has been nothing short of a brilliant knock. Kerry said he has never seen a crowd so expectant with the exception of Steve Waugh's hundred on the last ball of the day at the same ground. They rise at the SCG for what seems to be the umpteenth time in this match. Clarke loses the helmet, punches the air ferociously and plants his customary kiss on the Australian coat of arms. His 300 comes off 423 balls (strike rate of 69.4) with 37 fours and one six.
1.10pm: We're back from lunch. Only one game in town for the moment and that is getting Michael Clarke to the 300 mark. Ishant Sharma opening the bowling after the break.
12.23pm: CLARKE SETS SCG RECORD - Listen here.
Michael Clarke cracks his 34th four and now has the highest score at the SCG. Tip Foster, who captained England in football and cricket, held the record with his 287 on debut in 1903. Clarke also leaves the likes of Lara, Hammond, Walters and Tendulkar in his wake. Not bad from a Liverpool lad. Next stop, triple century.
12.18pm: Michael Clarke passes the highest score in an Australia-India Test. That was 281 by Laxman in Kolkata in 2001. We all remember that knock. Just like we will this one. VVS will need a similar effort in the coming days to dig India out of this massive hole.
12.12pm: CENTURY MICHAEL HUSSEY - Listen here.
As easy as you like. First Ponting and now Hussey comes out of the doldrums to crack three figures. He is saluted by an ocean of pink at the SCG after the third umpire shows he is clearly home after a quick single (much less dicey than Punter's). It is his 16th Test ton and it came off 188 balls with 11 fours, one six and a great deal of ease from a man supposedly under pressure to retain his spot. The Western Australian now has scores of 142, 118, 93, 89 and 100* in his last 13 knocks.
12.02pm: We have another milestone race. Hussey is lining up Test century number 16 as Clarke has his eyes set on the highest score at the SCG held by Tip Foster.
11.43am: Yadav into the attack and Hussey thrashes him for four with a brilliant cut past backward point. That brings up the 200 partnership between these two - Clarke (112), Hussey (84).
DRINKS - Australia 4-519 (M Clarke 264*, M Hussey 77*)
11.20am: Back to the cricket, vote in our new poll. Who will end up with the most Test runs: Dravid, Ponting, Kallis, Jayawardene or Sangakkara? Vote here.
11.15am: Harsha and Kerry are up to their old tricks in the commentary box. The Indian is trying to get his sidekick to eat a Naga chilli - the hottest in the world! Skull isn't having a bar of it despite a slow-hand clap from the SCG crowd trying to spur him on. More pics on Facebook.
11.10pm: Plenty of talk about the captaincy of MS Dhoni yesterday. He employed some "modest" strategies as described by Kerry. There is no doubting his record, taking India to the top Test side in the world as well as a World Cup final win in India. He has been described by the likes of Tendulkar and former coach Gary Kirsten as the best Indian captain ever. He definitely needs to work on his captaincy abroad, but he has received little support from the likes of his top order as well as his bowlers.
11.07am: Michael Clarke moves to 258 and now holds the highest score by an Australian against India, passing Ricky Ponting's 257 at the MCG in 2003.
11.00am: News just in that India's Virat Kohli has been fined 50 per cent of his match fee for flipping the bird to the supporters at the SCG yesterday. Clearly he wasn't copping the banter as well as Ashwin. Australia brings up 500. Hussey is on song again.
10.42am: Ishant Sharma lasts all of two overs opening the bowling and is replaced by off spinner Ravi Ashwin, who had a tough day yesterday (0-103). Curiously, he took some delight in being cheered by the parochial home crowd when he brought up his "century", describing it as a different experience:
10.38am: The crowd continues to roll in at the SCG for the McGrath Foundation's annual "pink day". You can make a donation here. Australian opening batsman Ed Cowan shared a chat with Shannon Byrne this morning talking about the special occasion and watching his skipper and Ricky Ponting making heaps of runs on day two:
10.30am: Zaheer Khan to open the bowling. Much better bowling conditions today for the left-arm swinger.
10.15am: Resuming on 251, Clarke has the ninth highest Test innings score by an Australian.
10.10am: Welcome back for the third day's action from the SCG. Plenty of records tumbled yesterday and if Australian skipper Michael Clarke continues to batter the Indian attack, there could be a lot more. First up, Clarke will be aiming to notch the highest score by an Australian batsman against India - Ricky Ponting's 257 at the MCG in 2003.
For those who want a recap of all yesterday's action, look no further than below:
Tags: cricket, sport, sydney-2000, nsw, australia First posted January 05, 2012 10:05:10
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