Rick’s Running Diary #3 – Australia v Pakistan, Day 3 | Thebigtip

It’s about time for another one of these. That headline is a little misleading as there will be random musings about the St Kilda-Hawthorn match as it unfolds on delay here in Victoria. Regardless, should be a good night of sport.

7:30pm Underway at Headingley with Ponting facing Aamer. Hoping for Punter to notch up him 40^th century today, he deserves it after the way he played yesterday.

7:39 Early wicket for Pakistan, Ponting out caught behind. Horrible, horrible shot. He’d been scratchy in the couple of overs this morning but that was just a loose shot and not one he should have been playing. 3/144.

7:50 How good is Clarke’s cover drive? I could watch him play that all day long, and by the sounds of it so could Warne in the commentary box.

7:52 Speaking of Warney, sometimes I get the feeling he tries to talk a little too much. Sometimes he’s just got to take a step back and let the action tell the story. It’s been a great first 20-25 minutes.

7:59 Another one to Aamer, got a ball to pop off a good length and all Hussey could do was edge a looping ball to Umar Akmal in the slips. Aussies basically 4/-12 at the moment with North walking to the crease.

8:02 Just on the replay it shows that it was actually a leg cutter that did the trick. Excellent bowling – although you think he won’t need something that complicated when bowling to North. This is going to be interesting, and probably an excellent indicator into his mindset.

8:09 Random musings while he battles along, but why do people keep questioning Clarke as the next captain of Australia? There’s this perception that he’s soft and crumbles under pressure, but aside from his habit of getting out right before breaks, there’s no-one else in that team I’d prefer to captain once Ponting steps down.

8:12 That sound of the stumps crashing should signal the end of North in the Test team. Nothing shot – nothing was going to come from it which meant the shot should never have been played in the first place. Another duck for North, surely that’s the end of him. He’s a liability in the batting order at the moment; he needs to make some runs back at State level. Now for Paine, who I hope moves his feet just a little bit more than he did in the first dig.

8:21 A graphic pops up that shows Mitchell Johnson ranked #5 in the world bowling ranks. Since the tour of South Africa (where I watched him bowl the best spell of bowling I’ve seen in a long while) he’s gone downhill fast. From opening the bowling to coming on at second change in the first innings here ... maybe he needs some more time for the tattoo ink to settle in.

8:26 And the Aussies take the lead on a cut shot from Clarke ... and the very next ball Paine wafts at a ball outside off stump without – you guessed it, moving his feet. That flaw shows up so much more in these conditions compared to back home.

8:31 5/173 at drinks in the first session, Clarke on 54 and Paine on 2. Excellent bowling from Aamer in that session and really not much else. Prediction for lunch time situation – Clarke on 86, and Paine to move his feet three times either before he goes out or in the hour before lunch.

8:35 As I flick to channel 7 to see the new workplace ad (the guy with the broken arm going back to work) it makes me wonder – doesn’t that make a mockery of their previous ads about workplace safety? Going back to work when you’re not 100% surely increases the risk of getting hurt.

8:38 I hope I’m not putting the jinx on him, but Clarke looks very composed at the moment. When he plays the back foot cover drive with confidence you know he’s feeling good about his game.

8:42 You’re not going to believe this, but Paine actually moved his feet to a delivery outside the off stump and put it through cover for four. Who would have thought that cricket could be so simple?

8:44 I flick over to the football to see no score after about six minutes of play. Can’t say it surprises me considering St Kilda is playing.

8:52 The commentators are talking about Gul’s excessive no-balling. As someone who struggles with that myself, I can honestly say there’s not too many worse feelings then straining every delivery and not having any sort of rhythm whatsoever.

8:59 You know, if Kaneria could somehow eliminate that one loose ball he bowls every couple of overs he’d be a top class leg spinner. Instead he’s someone that quality batsmen can sit on and be patient with.

9:04 Would you look at that, six goals in a quarter of a St Kilda game. Amazing. Actually, make that seven. What’s going on with the world?