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Another interesting match to watch also from Day 1 last night of the Australian Open is the Madison Keys & Anna Blinkova  in the women’s singles opening round tie from Margaret Court Arena.

Keys locked in a narrow opening set lead before she was tied at 1-1 apiece by the World No.60 from Russia, having seen some competitive duels that set up a 3rd & final set decider along the way. 

As said, although Blinkova did everything possible to try and eliminate the World No.13 from the USA early; However, she just couldn’t find that execution there as Blinkova was outpaced by Keys on the run home. The final score was 6-4, 3-6, 6-2.

Unlucky from Blinkova who not only fired off well but also showed some fight back that sent Keys a huge message, especially when she tied with Keys after the 2nd set stage win. But she just lacked the finishing part where she fell just short in the opening set before Keys managed to exploit her weakness area with a clear difference between 1st & 2nd in this final set. It doesn’t mean she’s a bad player though as she can bounce back better next time.

And for Keys, it wasn’t an easy first half with some inconsistency when not only she just closed Blinkova just on time during the first set, but she also fell behind for most of the 2nd set. In the end though, she the final set decider well as her restart where Keys was too good to pull off past her opponent towards the finish line. Now she will face China’s Wang Xinyu for R2 tomorrow after Xiyu def. Australian Storm Hunter – 7-6 (7-2 tiebreaker), 6-4.

The Australian home Test Cricket summer has now came to a close today for this 2022/23 edition at the Sydney Cricket Ground, with Australia trying to finish up the job ASAP after we missed out the entire Day 3 & first half of Day 4’s play yesterday due to extreme wet weather. 

Although there were some great moments moments along the way – such as when the Aussies bowled the Proteas all out for 255 in this 2nd innings spell that prevented SA from escaping the follow-on by only 21 runs; So does a 4fer from Josh Hazlewood who just returned to the starting XI a few days ago from injury.

However, it proved to be such a tall order other than dismissing Proteas’ skipper & opener Dean Elgar way early for yet another consecutive occasion, as the Aussies eventually ran out of time on the 5th & last day by settling a draw with SA.

We would’ve loved to see Usman Khawaja get his first-ever Test 200, but that will have to wait when heavy rain forced skipper Pat Cummins to move on for the sake of the team. He still has unfinished though in the opening role by looking to make up more records & consistent 50s/100s for another 3-4 years at age 35. 

Plus, hats off to the SA lower-order & even spinning pair from Simon Harmer (47 off 165 balls) & Keshav Maharaj for both staying in there v the challenging Australian bowlers. Harmer would’ve liked a Test 50 but his defending & the way he picks these bad balls has been brilliant all along, while Maharaj is more of a handy batter whenever possible by backing up his half-ton for an 81-ball 53.

Now that this home Test summer is done with Australia ended up undefeated of four wins (two each v West Indies & Proteas) and a draw, bring on the Australian Open Tennis starting on Monday 16th-Sunday 29th January.

What a day that is for the Aussies on Day 2 with the willow on hand at 475-4 right now going into Day 3 tomorrow. 

They left off from Day 1 yesterday on 147-2 where we saw not only one but two fantastic stars who each scored their Test hundreds in Usman Khawaja & Steve Smith. It was great seeing Smith start the next day by padding up before making a huge impact, having closed his latest Test ton (104) through a caught & bowl effort by Keshav Maharaj for SA, while Khawaja still hung in there with the help of Travis Head on 195* as he’s only five runs away from securing a double ton at Test level.

Plus, we saw another tremendous show from Head where he continues to pile up consistent test quality runs at No.5, before he was caught at the deep backward point by a sub fielder (off Kagiso Rabada’s ball) when trying to clear a huge maximum (six runs) for a quick fire 59-ball 70. 

Now the weather may not be promising with expected showers that is likely to halt play tomorrow, but we’d love to see Khawaja get his first-ever Test double ton before Australia look to declare by bringing their bowlers in. 

And it’s been a tough whole day on the field for the Proteas (SA), as they have a huge batting assignment to catch up at some point in this final Test. Although rain delays may go their way when it comes to preventing a 3-0 Australian series victory – even though a win is extremely unlikely with the possibility of a draw, but they still didn’t do anything good enough to stop Khawaja, Smith & Head early by letting them slip away in their tracks.

Mother Nature may have stopped play for some time on the opening day of the New Year’s/Pink Test at the SCG in Sydney, but the Aussies are off to a great start with the bat on 147-2 at the moment – thanks to their winning toss beforehand. 

Although it was a shame not to see Dave Warner keep up from his mighty double-ton (1st innings) last week in Melbourne after being caught by Marco Jansen (off Anrich Nortje for 10) at 1st slip, it’s great to see both Usman Khawaja (Other Opener) & Marnus Labuschagne (No.3) form a really good partnership in the middle together that helped the Aussies work their way past the three-figure mark, having both reached their own Test 50s.

In between another rain-delay & early end of Day 1 at stumps, Marnus was lucky to survive the 1st time on 70 runs when Simon Harmer thought he got him out at slip, but then the umpires double checked it on the screen as the ball didn’t carry straight onto his hands that saw the bounce fell so short. However, Marnus didn’t escape this time not long later off the back from another excellent Nortje delivery – where he too was caught behind by Kyle Verreynne for 79 off 151 balls. 

I’ve gotta say that Nortje made the batters play when he not only produced some brilliant speed but he also drew these good areas, so Warner & Marnus gets trapped with the help of his fielders along the way. Really good stuff as the Proteas look to use the overcast/wet weather as their advantage going into the 2nd day’s play & try to wrap it up with the ball ASAP.

Meanwhile, Australia will look to hang in there & go the extra mile with Steve Smith up next to start the day at No.4 alongside Khawaja who is currently on 54*.

There it is! Australia just have completed a comfortable Test match win by an innings and 182 runs at the MCG, as South Africa are all out for 204. They also won the series 2-0 for the first time on home soil since 2005/06, with one game left to go ahead of the New Year’s/Pink Test at the SCG in Sydney on January 4-8. 

Good to see the fielders overcame a series of dropped catches earlier on after they picked up from 13-1 at the start of Day 4 – which not only gave the seamers a sigh of relief when they bowl at their best for them to be prepared for each catching/run out opportunity, but they also upped their game with 1-2 direct hit wickets as well.

Although, the Aussies couldn’t get around Temba Bavuma for a while with his half-ton (65 runs off 144 balls); So does Kyle Verreynne – who scored another quickfire shift for a 40-ball 33 before he was trapped by Scott Boland with an LBW.

However, Australia eventually get the job done where their main spinner Nathan Lyon got rid of the other Proteas batting half with three wickets, while we saw a wonderful finish to this Test Match from part-time leggie Steve Smith after he clean bowled Lungi Ngidi (19 runs off 21 balls) through the gate.

Now there has been some good players from both teams that put up a really good show here at the MCG. First of all, Anrich Nortje was really fiery as always with the ball for SA – including when he busted Cam Green’s finger off a speedy 145 km delivery. Although Green was brave enough to bat through the pain for the next day with his 50, but then that puts him out of action for a few weeks. 

At the end of the day though, Hats off to Dave Warner & Alex Carey, both of whom were outstanding with the bat that got Australia way ahead by more than a country mile, before they got away easily without Green on the field, as well as seeing Starc bowl with one of his injured fingers also like Green. We might be losing these two stars for a while, but we could showcase some young talent from Perth like Lance Morris & Aaron Hardie to wrap up this Test summer.

We’re just gone past three days of the Boxing Day Test with Australia now have nine wickets left to win, while the Proteas need a huge miracle to turn things around (currently trailing by 371 runs to level the scores & even build a huge near impossible run target) – with Sarel Erwee on 7* & Theunis De Bruyn on 6* going into Day 4 tomorrow at 13-1. 

First of all, it’s great to see Travis Head secure his 50, but then Anrich Nortje got away with back-to-back wickets shortly afterwards – including denying Dave Warner the chance to surpass Joe Root’s record (218* v India – Feb 21’) for the highest 100th Test score with the bat by just 19 runs for 200. He’s been the best opposition player so far – who has tremendous execution with the line and length that traps both Head & Warner through the gate.

However, Nortje’s heroics became short-lived thanks to keeper Alex Carey with the bat. He was outstanding on top of his usual keeping & catching skills, having converted his 50 into a maiden Test hundred on 111 at the MCG; He can also make up quickfire runs as long as Carey kept it simple downtown alongside the meat of the full bat face presentation. 

Meanwhile, good to hear that Cameron Green is okay after he was hit on a finger by a speedy Nortje delivery (145 clicks) yesterday. Although he may not be playing a part with the ball again for this Test – which is a pity after his maiden 5fer display two days ago as he will need a few week’s recovery like Mitchell Starc with a similar injury after this – but he too played a really good half-knock not long before Australia declared for 575-8. 

And we round off the day with an early mark due to wet weather where Dean Elgar was caught behind by Carey’s gloves (off Pat Cummins) for a three-ball duck. Now the Aussies are only one step away from regaining the series v Proteas on home soil, as they can still get the job done  – both without the need to bat again, as well as the injured Cam Green.