10.20pm: Australia have won through to the Cricket World Cup decider, with Steve Smith and Mitchell Johnson starring in a 95-run win over India in their semi-final at the SCG.
After a Smith century helped Australia set a target of 329, the visitors were not in the contest for much of the run chase, dismissed for 233 from 46.5 overs.
Johnson claimed the wickets of Rohit Sharma (34) and Virat Kohli (1) which put the Australians on top early in India’s innings. Australia will meet New Zealand in Sunday’s final at the MCG
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9.13pm: The noise is dissipating. The Swami Army can only scream their lungs out for so long. Hope might be gone - unless India’s captain MS Dhoni has a miracle up his sleeve. India require 172 runs from 102 balls. Let’s assume they don’t get there. That’ll leave us with Australia versus New Zealand in the World Cup final at the MCG on Sunday. Ladies and gents, that’s a giant of a championship match. Two aggressive and attacking teams. One match. Winner takes all. A crowd of about 90,000. All the traditional trans-Tasman rivalry. Mitchell Starc and Mitchell Johnson bowling to Brendon McCullum? Yes, please. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. Right now, India are still in the tournament and Dhoni is strolling around as if he has a near-impossible situation in hand ...
8.33pm: Australia on top. James Faulkner dusts himself off after taking a beating early to take the wicket of Suresh Raina (7) and India have lost 4-32 in the last 10 overs and face an almost impossible task now. The Indian-dominated crowd has gone quiet.
8.12pm: Johnson again! Rohit Sharma flat bats Johnson for a six which enrages the quick who flings one in that gets a bottom edge and clips the bails on the way through. India have lost 3-15 in 31 balls and all momentum is lost. Sharma’s 34 came from 48 balls. The visitors need 238 runs with 7 wickets in hand.
7.59pm: Johnson! Mitchell Johnson makes a very important breakthrough removing Virat Kohli who was rushed trying to hook a short ball and only managed to balloon it off the top edge. The dangerous Indian batsman is gone for a solitary run, India has lost 2-2.
Good move by Clarke to get Johnson back on to replace the expensive Faulkner. 2-78 15th over.
7.45pm: Game on! India have hit the go button. If they do it for another couple of hours, they’ll be contesting Sunday’s World Cup final against New Zealand at the MCG. India are 0-73 off 12 overs with Shikhar Dhawan on 45 and Rohit Sharma on 21.
Australia are so desperate for a wicket that captain Michael Clarke has brought Josh Hazlewood back into the attack. India’s legion of supporters are in full voice but there’s still a long, long way to go. If they pull it off they’ll have completed the highest run chase in World Cup history. It’s tense and getting tenser. Breakthrough! Hazlewood gets his man. Dhawan (45) gives Glenn Maxwell a catch in the deep ... now they’re 1-76 in the 13th over and India’s premier batsman, Virat Kohli, comes to the crease.
7.09pm: WATTO! Did he just half-volley the World Cup? Mitchell Starc’s opening over is as seamless as expected. He entices an edge from Rohit Sharma and the ball flies to Shane Watson at first slip. He takes the ball cleanly, low and to his right. Howzat? The umpire says zat not out. They refer for video confirmation. The replays show the ball has half-volleyed into Watson’s hands. He hasn’t claimed the catch. He’s been as unsure as anyone else.
Shikhar Dhawan backs away from facing Starc at the last moment. There’s been no reason for it other than his nerves and the enormity of the occasion. A grinning Starc knows it. He looks at Dhawan with a grin. As if to say, you can back away all you like. Sooner or later, you’ll have to face me. Dhawan nicks Josh Hazlewood on five and Australia’s wicketkeeper Brad Haddin spills a leaping catch. For the minute, India are in survival mode against Starc, who’s hit 150.4km/h. They’re 0-20 after five overs in pursuit of 329.
Innings wrap
Steve Smith has shown why he’ll be Australia’s captain upon Michael Clarke’s likely retirement from the ODI team after the World Cup.
The real question is whether Clarke’s final match in pyjamas will be this one.
We’re in for a riveting night. Smith’s masterful 105 has pushed Australia to 7-328. It’s a big score. Yet it’s not as big as it could have been.
On a flat pitch with a lightning outfield, it feels like an above-par total ... but not by a mile. India has the batting to pull it off, but everything will have to go their way.
Offered 328 before the innings started, Australia would have taken it.
The pace attack of Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Johnson and Josh Hazlewood is formidable. Allrounder Shane Watson and part-time spinner Glenn Maxwell will have crucial roles.
India will feel as though momentum is in their favour because for a while there, while Smith was hitting boundaries at will, they were being batted out of the game. They’re still in it — just. Starc’s opening spell will tell a story. He has the potency to blow India out of the water. So does Johnson. So might Hazlewood.
If the tourists survive what will be a furious onslaught with the two new balls, we might be in for a thriller. Johnson has belted 27 from nine balls in a late burst with the bat. He’s the sort of mercurial character who invariably follows a sparkling innings with a flurry of wickets
6.02pm: Watto you got to go. Shane Watson is caught on the ropes in the 48th over for 28 from 30 balls. Sharma has 2-49. Australia is 7-298 and should have been 50 more by this stage but have lost wickets at crucial times. They will, however, back their bowlers to defend this.
India will fancy their batsman to chase it down.
5.53pm: Faulkner out and Australia are struggling for traction in the last overs. The all-rounder made 21 from 12 balls before being bowled by Yadav (4/68) and was the man to inflict real damage at the end of the innings. 6-284 in the 47th over.
5.34pm: Australia throwing this away! Michael Clarke is out for 10 and his side has lost 3-16 from 28 balls when they should be making merry. 5-248 43rd over. Sharma the successful bowler.
5.14pm: Oh no. Australia lose 2-1. Finch 81 from 116 balls becomes Yadav’s 3rd victim. Clarke and Watson are at the crease now and both are yet to score. If Australia do not pass 300 they will have underachieved. India are back in this.
5.11pm: Big Show cameo: Glenn Maxwell hits 23 from 14 balls but Ashwin has him caught on the boundary and the Australians are 2-232 in the 38th over. Finch 80 from 113 balls is the innings anchor.
Shane Watson to the crease. Can be confident Watson will bat for his side and not for himself.
4.53pm: Wicket. Steve Smith tries a swat pull and skies the ball to the boundary where it is caught by RG Sharma from the bowling of Yadav for 105. He faced 93 balls, hit 11 fours and two sixes.
Finch (73no) and Smith put on 182 from 186 balls and Clarke has opted to send in Glenn Maxwell to take it up a notch or two. Yadav has 2/41 in his sixth over.
Australia is 2-197 in the 35th and will be aiming to get 350.
4.44pm: Steve Smith 100: The brilliant young batsman has brought up his hundred by cracking a six and four in that over from the otherwise frugal bowling of M Shami. In 115 minutes at the crease he faced 89 balls, hit 10 fours and two sixes.
That is his first World Cup century and the fourth of his career. Hit all of them this summer too. Remember he wasn’t in the ODI side for first 50 over match against South Africa.
Aaron Finch has moved to 69 and is upping the ante.
Australia 1-188 in the 33rd over
4.40pm: Steve Smith has reached a century off just 89 balls as Australia heads towards a score well in excess of 300 against India at the SCG
4.30pm: 30 overs completed. The Australians are 1/155. It’s a solid platform that promises some fireworks from here on. Smith is 80 at a run a ball and Finch has moved to 56 from 93 deliveries. Question is whether Clarke will put Maxwell in next to light the fuse.
The Indian bowlers are trying to keep it tight, but struggling to threaten on what is a good batting wicket.
4,00pm: SMITH HAS A HALF CENTURY: The anointed future of Australian cricket Steve Smith brings up his 50 from 53 balls with 6x4s. He almost played a false stroke on 49, but has been flawless otherwise. It is his fourth half century of the World Cup. The side will be banking on him notching up 100 here or even more. Australia brought up the 100th run for the loss of one wicket at the end of the 19th over. Steady going.
3.44pm: REHYDRATE. Time for drinks at the SCG and the Australians are 1-89 from 16 overs. The DJ has now played Leaps and Bounds twice. Could someone tell him that we are playing at the SCG and not the MCG?
Steve Smith is closing in on a half century with 45 from 43 balls while Aaron Finch has got over his earlier troubles and pushed on to 28 from 46.
Smith is really showing his class out there. He is a batsman who knows where runs are on a field and the easiest way to get them. Not for him bludgeoning, he is all placement and timing and has two 3s to go with his 6x4s.
With Finch out of sorts he has taken a leading role.
3.36pm: You can watch video of David Warner’s early exit here:
3.26pm: It wouldn’t be an afternoon of sport without the WAGS.
3.16pm: Here’s why it will still feel like a home match for Australia. Because the SCG pitch itself is so familiar. The crease, the backdrop to the bowlers, the Members and Ladies Pavilions ... just the whole scene is one in which they’ve stood countless times before.
Steve Smith has wandered out and looked comfortable from the get-go. He’s blocked a four ... you’re in good and delicious nick when you’re blocking fours.
We saw a fascinating thing in the SCG nets the other day. Not all of Australia’s batsmen are especially keen to face Mitchell Johnson in the nets.
Smith walked straight in and they had a 20-minute stoush that displayed all of Smith’s skill. Johnson was bowling fast and occasionally short. Smith gave as good as he got. He pulled one of Johnson’s bouncers with enough force for the ball to nearly fly straight through the nets and roll towards Surry Hills. Johnson grinned and applauded.
Even in the nets, Smith was fidgety, hyperactive and industrious. He shirked nothing. No different today. he’s called for a new bat. In Ian Chappell’s day, they’d use the same bat all summer. The one magic wand. Smith will have used about ten this season. Nothing wrong with Smith’s new blade ...he pulls his next two balls for four. Smith is unbeaten on 30 from 26 balls. Finch is 11 from 27. Australia are 1-56 after ten overs.
3.10pm: Gideon Haigh’s piece on Australia and India’s torrid reunion is worth reading here:
2.46pm: OUT! Warner has belted out the national anthem like he’s sitting in the Victor Trumper Stand with a cold one in his hand. Aaron Finch has been out of sorts. One of his remedies has been to get on the drink with Brian Lara. Well, by getting on the drink, we mean they talked through his batting slump in a social setting. Finch has poked at his first ball and missed it. He’s poked at his second ball and hit it.
Kohli comes running in from cover to clap and talk and get himself involved. India see Finch as a weakness. They’ll remind him for the foreseeable future. Warner plays and misses his first ball from MD Shami ... and Kohli nearly does a cartwheel at square leg. It’s the sort of high-octane atmosphere that will get Warner’s juices flowing. Or get him out. Forgetting the emotion and stakes for a second .. the pitch looks a belter and Australia will be wanting a total with a three in it. They’ll want the three to be the first number.
Warner punches Umesh Yadav’s first delivery through mid-off for four. A controlled and authoritative push. He pulls Yadav for six over midwicket. Just a flick, really. India are asking for trouble if they think they can pepper Australia with short balls. Pakistan’s Wahab Riaz could do it because he was operating at 150km/h and he was, quite frankly, a man possessed.
India’s quicks aren’t 150km/h and so far, they’re only in possession of unthreatening pies. Warner is looking great. Finch, less so. And then proving that cricket is a funny old game to anyone who isn’t on the end of the joke, it’s Warner who departs for 12. A leading edge from Yadav flies straight to Kohli. It’s fair to suggest that Kohli is happy to accept the chance. Australia are 1-15 in the fourth over.
2.27pm: Who’s saying what on Twitter about the semi-final: “There is More life on Mars than this grassless SCG pitch! minimal lateral movement for bowlers #Runs#AUSvIND#STOPSTARTCRICKET.” - Former Australia fast bowler Damien Fleming.
“Why am I so anxious so nervous looking forward to this match. Last time I felt like this I had WI colours on.
#worldstage#gloriouscricket.” - West Indies great Brian Lara.
“Let’s go boys! Big day @scg The whole country is behind you #Believe#GoGold@CAComms@MClarke23@stevesmith49.” - Australian tennis star Lleyton Hewitt.
“I hear @scg is going to be grassless/dry/spinner friendly .. Sounds perfect conditions for @CricketAus@cricketworldcup@ICC@BCCI#CWC15.” - Former Australian batsman Damien Martyn.
“An hour and a half to go.. All set here in Miami..gonna hav to pull an all nighter!!Thank God I don’t play tomm#INDvAUS#WontGiveItBack.” - India tennis star Sania Mirza in Miami where she is playing in a tournament.
2.18pm: The Teams:
Australia: D Warner, A Finch, S Smith, M Clarke, S Watson, G Maxwell, B Haddin, J Faulkner, M Johnson, M Starc, J Hazlewood
India: R Sharma, S Dhawan, V Kohli, A Rahane, S Raina, MS Dhoni, R Jadeja, R Ashwin, M Shami, M Sharma, U Yadav
2.05pm: TAKEOFF! So ... blue skies at the SCG, glorious blue skies. Blue shirts. Loads of blue shirts. But the suggestion that this’ll feel like a home game for India ... please. It’s the SCG.
Australia are curled up in their own familiar dressing room. The shed from which they’ve gathered so much success. The plaque to their fallen little mate Phillip Hughes is on the wall.
There might be a lot of Indian supporters here, and they’re going to make your ears bleed, but this is such an iconic Australian arena that there’s only one team feeling like they’re playing on their home patch of dirt. Families and friends of the Australian players are here. They don’t get that in Mumbai.
We saw Wallabies captain Michael Hooper out in the car park. Dude was on a motorbike. We thought it was a somewhat stylish way to arrive at the cricket. But Hooper was leaving. Dude! Have you lost your mind? Come back!
There’s no grass on this pitch. None. Nada. Nought. We’ve watched Australia train this week. We’ve watched India. It’s our firm belief that Australia would win this match nine times out of ten.
In the nets, Australia’s fast bowlers have been so superior to India’s. No real contest on that front.
Australia seemed to have about eight batsmen training with absolute aggression and commitment while India might’ve had two. Australia’s fielding sessions were so much sharper We know India’s running between the wickets is the equivalent of a High School XI. Nine times out of ten, this is Australia’s match while Michael Hooper fangs it up to the northern beaches.
Michael Clarke tosses the coin. Tosses it halfway to the boundary. The coin falls his way ... “We’ll have a bat, thank you,” he says. And that might be the end of the pleasantries for a while. David Warner will open the batting with Aaron Finch. Keep an eye on Virat Kohli on the field. He’ll be in Warner’s face. And in his ear.
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