So there's a 60% chance of showers and thunderstorms for Adelaide later today but at 6-166 with another 334 required to win, you'd expect India would be pushing it to last until late morning when that 60% likelihood kicks in.

Had they done a little better in the final session yesterday they might have been in a position where the cavalry arrives amid rolls of thunderheads, but pause for a moment to consider what occurred between tea and stumps.

We'd been summoned to the regular end of the month retired teachers' lunch, which coincided nicely with the lunch break at the cricket, so I'd been able to catch the first session along with the requisite radio commentary. Not all that much to report there, with Clarke and ponting seemingly batting time and building the lead while they waited for time to do its bit on what still looked like a good batting track.

With Clarke and Hussey gone in the first session and the lead crawling towards 600, I'd been careful to claim a seat at the table where I could see a TV screen in the public bar, though it wasn't close enough to be able to pick up too much actual detail.

Fair enough, things weren't going to get really interesting until the declaration, which came three overs into the middle session, a little earlier than I'd expected, but still probably ruling anything like an extensive warmup for the Indian batsmen out of the question.

I'd figured we might opt for a declaration about forty minutes into the session, so that if Gambhir and Sehwag had been able to sneak in a warmup in lieu of lunch they'd have been out in the paddock long enough to have lost some of the benefit, but the target was obviously that 600, so in they came.

Since we were into the Indian second dig a bit earlier than I'd expected I missed much of the mayhem as Sehwag set about carving the bowling.

Gambhir went early, but it's fairly obvious Sehwag doesn't need much in the way of warm ups to get his eye in as he blazed past the half century at better than a run a ball. It was possible to get the gist of what was going on from a distance, and frequent updates arrived courtesy of Warbo and Jimbo as they returned from the bar, with their data adding to what I'd managed to glean in the to and fro pursuit of schooners of Fat Yak.

Sehwag was still blazing when we left, headed for an appointment with a box of wine at the Post Office before heading back to the LHoC. Could've collected the box earlier, of course, but you don't want to leave a dozen Coonawarra Cab Merlots sitting in the boot for an hour or two if you can avoid it.

Consequently I missed Sehwag's dismissal for 62 out of a total of 80, close to 80% of the score, 53 deliveries. Waist high full tosses do get wickets, but they shouldn't be getting them at 1-80 when you're supposed to be looking to bat time.

At that point in the quest for ten good balls, ten batting errors or an equitable balance between the two we were on a fairly equitable one-all.

The classification of the next three to fall is going to depend on your particular bias.

I thought Dravid's catch to Hussey was the maintenance of the bowling plan, which I assumed was to keep plugging away there and you're going to get a nick, particularly if he's looking for the one that sneaks back through the gate. 3-100, and a couple of significant obstacles overcome.

As far as that classification goes I'd be placing the Tendulkar bat-pad dismissal off Lyon squarely in the good ball side of things. Lyon got it through a little higher off the deck, master batsman deceived. Others may have seen it differently, but on this deck under those circumstances I thought it was the offie doing what his job description called for.

And you can tick the bowling/captaincy box for Laxman's dismissal as well. Two fielders close in on the leg side, Shaun Marsh in a spot you might have thought superfluous and Laxman chips Lyon straight into the clammy claw. Red ticks and gold stars to captain and bowler.

What followed is one of those little incidents that has you scratching your head and wondering what the (expletive deleted) certain people were thinking.

Two overs and four balls to go, five-sixths of the top order in the sheds and in comes Sharma as a night watchman. Fair enough, if you accept the need for the night watchman.

Then again, with Ashwin, Sharma, Zaheer and Yadav to come after Saha do you really need to be protecting the remaining batsman?

But if you do accept the need, then you're not looking to the established bat to farm the strike are you?

The night watchie's there to hold up his end until stumps and then provide nuisance value into Day Five. When he (presumably it's him) eventually goes, in comes Saha and the two who'd posted a century partnership in the first dig set out to bat time with Ashwin in next.

Hell, on that basis you just might hang around until the weather kicks in.

But no, it seems like Kohli's needing to shield the tail ender, risky single, sharp bit of work from Hilfenhaus and we're waving goodbye to the second last recognized bat.

On that basis you'd have to expect proceedings to be rolled up fairly smartly later this morning before the clouds roll in and the rain tumbles down in Adelaide in January.

That's a prospect that has me more worried about the South Australian grape harvest than a four-nil result in a disappointing series.

Disappointing, that is, for anyone who was looking for something competitive...

As Day Three unfolded at the Adelaide Oval a certain inevitability set in,

Eventually someone in this Indian batting line up was going to pick up a century, and while you'd have started off thinking Messrs Gambhir and Tendulkar were the prime candidates, and when they'd departed it seemed fitting that the eventual ton arrived at the hands of young Mr Kohli.

There's every possibility Tendulkar will eventually get that hundredth International hundred, but reflections on this morning's walk suggested it will be more likely, and arguably more appropriately achieved, during the round of T20s and ODIs that will follow the Test Series.

It is, after all, the proliferation of limited overs matches that has brought Sachin within reach of a remarkable milestone.

Continuing that theme of inevitability, while you mightn't have thought Kohli as the most likely centurion in this Indian order his knock, and the supporting cameo from Saha was a timely reminder that there will inevitably be batting life after Messrs Dravid, Tendulkar and Laxman have departed the International scene.

Lyon was going to come into calculations by picking up a top order scalp eventually, though you might have expected it to happen on Day Four or Five rather than before lunch on Three, but there you go. With Sehwag, Dravid and Tendulkar back in the sheds, Laxman was always the most likely suspect, wasn't he?

Laxman's departure, caught behind for 18 inevitably left it to the tyros to get the score to the point where Australia would be looking to bat again to avoid a nasty little Day Five chase.

Then again barring a major collapse or rapid deterioration on the track we were probably always going to be batting again, weren't we?

And you could keep on ticking off the inevitables.

Five for to Siddle, check.

Zaheer failing to trouble the scorer, check.

A bit of niggle as the quicks locked horns, check.

Decision to bat again rather than enforce the follow on, check.

During the change of innings you'd have been offering very short odds on Ashwin coming into the attack early, and you'd have been right on the money. You mightn't have been expecting him to open the bowling, but if you're going to get him on early you might as well give him the new ball and be done with it. Inevitable? Check, I think.

That in turn saw a quick fire Three for, which will inevitably have the eraser being applied to Marsh, S. as a serious contender at Three, leaving a spot for a fit Watto and the extreme likelihood that both Ponting and Hussey will be packing their bags for the Caribbean.

On revealed form to date they're probably entitled to, though I'd rather see both given time off as we have a look at options before South Africa at home and India and England away.

So what's inevitable today?

382 runs on, you'd expect the declaration some time before drinks in the middle session, and with Clarke and Ponting at the crease with Hussey and Haddin to come you'd expect a lead of around 480 by lunch.

Bat on for a bit thereafter,to break up the track a bit more and bring the variation in bounce into the equation would seem to be the way to go, which probably means it's inevitable that Clarke will declare inside the first hour this morning, eh?

In fact, having hit the Publish button I'll probably head over to Cricinfo and discover he's declared at the overnight total...

Despite the extreme bat-friendliness of the Adelaide track this time around there are very sound reasons why we see statistical oddities like the news that Michael Clarke's double century made him the first captain since Don Bradman and Wally Hammond to score a double and triple century in the same series.

As Clarke's dismissal from the first ball he faced after lunch yesterday reminds us, each ball you face with bat in hand could be the last for the innings, and while you might get a second chance here and there, at the top level one mistake can be fatal.

A member of the Bowlers' Union would, at this stage, be talking in terms of eight good balls before the Indian total passes the follow on target, while a batting consultant would be inclined towards eight mistakes or false strokes. Having previously referred to Doug Holloway's batsmen get themselves out I was again reminded that Doug haled from Adelaide and on the basis of Days One and Two the batting error is the most likely source of dismissal.

The morning session yesterday, runs flowing faster than the clock with nary a wicket lost certainly raised the prospect of an interesting poser as far as declarations were concerned. I couldn't help wondering whether Clarke might have been quite as inclined to close on 600 if he'd still been at the crease with Ponting.

By that stage we'd have been around tea time on Day Two, three down, nothing obvious on offer from the track, two bats in the upper reaches of a double century and the temptation to bat on until the pitch at least started to deteriorate could well have been lurking in the back of the mind.

One ball is all it takes, though, and with Clarke back in the sheds straight after lunch, Hussey following soon afterwards off a freak dismissal and Ponting holing out in the deep you could well have been inclined to let things unfold, have been pushing the declaration to one side.

On form Haddin was no good thing, Siddle didn't hang around long but with Harris hitting out the 600 was passed, the declaration made and it was down to two lots of ten good balls or ten batting errors, depending on the observer's bias.

Watching those events unfold in the middle session one got the impression of an Indian side that had regrouped over lunch and found some approaches that seemed to work, though there's no way you can plan for the sort of opportunist flick from Gambhir under the lid at short leg that brought Hussey unstuck.

Under ordinary circumstances, a day and a half into a game played with temperatures in the mid-thirties you wouldn't expect something like that, and one notes Gambhir's continued presence at the crease as an indication that he's got a fair degree of mental toughness.

As, of course, has the dude at the other end. You don't achieve the career milestones Tendulkar has managed to accumulate without it, so you'd want to be looking for something early in the piece on Day Three if you were going to roll them early. Otherwise it could well be a long wait.

Earlier in the day ponting and Clarke had underlined their status as major figures, and here's every possibility that Gambhir's on his way into the stratosphere, though he mightn't quite end up there with Sachin, Sehwag, The Wall and VVS.

And, at the start of the Indian innings it looked like the Australian radar had temporarily gone on the blink, with Harris and Hilfenhaus both wayward and a batting combo that looked likely to take full toll.

Getting Sehwag off Siddle's first delivery helped, of course, and Dravid looks to be a shadow of his former self (which, given the way these things pan out, will probably equate to a second century) but with one of the Big Four there at the moment, another to come, an opener with a point to prove and Kohli looking to cement a place in the long term, twenty overs into the innings on a flat track the omens aren't good for the bowling fraternity.

Some time later today we'll see reverse swing emerge as a possibility, and somewhere along the line variable bounce will start to kick in.

The question is, of course, when?

Looking at events on the cricket field over the past month you'd have to be scratching your head and wondering how India managed to rise as far up the Test pecking order as #1, wouldn't they?

Well, actually, you know the how and the why, resting as it does on a stellar batting lineup and mastery of their home conditions but the frequently remarked on fragility away from home is the factor that brings the head scratching.

In the end, despite all suggestions that they were here to win a series in Australia I've come to the conclusion that, deep down, they don't care or are convinced the attempt is futile. There seems to be a sense of being here because they have to be for a series that they're not going to win in conditions they don't like.

Maybe it's not just the administrators who are thinking the fans back at home will be disappointed for a bit, but then they'll go through the IPL bit and host a few Tests at home, which they'll duly win, and everything will be right in the applecart again.

I never thought I'd be looking towards a series of ODIs to get a sense of commitment from the opposition.

That's not to suggest India didn't have their chances on Day One in Adelaide. At 3-84 you'd have conceded the first session to them, but Tests aren't necessarily won in a session. They're often lost in one, but that's almost invariably because the momentum has been handed to the opposition and they're not going to hand it back in a hurry.

It certainly looked like acting captain Sehwag was doing his best to wrest the initiative when he brought Ashwin into the attack, obviously looking to undo Warner by taking the pace off the ball and denying him the chance to establish a rhythm. One wonders how often the opposition will try the same thing in the future, because it certainly seemed to work.

Admittedly it was Zaheer rather than Ashwin who got him LBW, and the decision certainly could've gone the other way, looking to be high and possibly going down the leg side. It was the sort of decision that probably would have been referred under the DRS, and could have gone either way. It certainly wasn't one of the howlers the DRS is meant to avoid.

While Warner hadn't looked settled, Marsh was unsteady from the time he walked to the crease, and an early departure came as no surprise. Bowled through the gate, playing for non-existent turn, that probably marked the end of this incarnation of his Test career.

It certainly seems to have cleared up the identity of the player who'll be making way for Watson when he eventually makes his way back into the side, but it'd be handy to have a few extra cards up the sleeve. I missed the Mark Nicholas chat with National Selector John Inverarity during the tea break, but suspect Invers would have been keeping the cards close to the chest.

Seriously, though, it's a situation where you'd like to have at least two alternatives to a non-performing Marsh with an injured Watson in the wings.

If Marsh is this uncertain with no one breathing down his neck, having obviously been given the card as next cab off the rank while he got over the back problem one doesn't like his chances come crunch time against a committed opposition. Sure, Warner going early wasn't the way things were supposed to go, but when you bat Three you have to be ready to go in to face the second ball of the innings.

Considering evidence to hand, Marsh may not be a Three, could be an opener, but the confidence bit kicks in there as well, and probably doesn't fit in further down the order.

Given the suspicion that Ponting won't be holding that press conference any time soon in the interim I'd be inclined to move him up to Three, shuffle Clarke into Four if Watson's still out injured, and throw the new face in at Five with a chance to establish himself. Otherwise, with Watto fit, bat him Four.

Despite Warner's early departure this time around, given the fact you can always expect to lose an opener early in the piece, the Warner-Cowan combo looks good in the short term, despite the soft dismissal that caused Cowan's demise in the run in to the lunch break.

I suspect the original rationale behind Marsh at Three was the third opener option rather than we think he's a genuine Three, so with a more stable opening combination we can possibly go looking elsewhere in the order as the avenue to introduce new blood.

Despite the 250 run partnership between Ponting and Clarke, there's a definite need to establish options, so the next month or so will be interesting (to say the least).

Again, despite that fourth wicket partnership that'll hopefully cruise past three fifty in the morning session Australia's dominant position at the end of Day One has as much to do with India's lack of drive as the skills of two top class bats.

In that department, Geoff Lawson was particularly interesting in the radio commentary, repeatedly stressing that on this type of wicket the runs are going to come, there's not a lot you can do to stop them, and you need to set fields that'll be likely to grab whatever chances they're given and then bowl to them according to a predetermined plan.

Whether Ashwin to Warner was a predetermined plan is, of course, something we'll never know for sure, but wandering slips and ineffective dives in the field aren't going to give your bowlers much heart while they're getting carted, are they?

No, better to go with three slips and a gully and delegate outfield duties to a couple of committed fielders with a degree of pride in their work.

So, from here? Bat all day. On that basis a total around 750 looks doable. Bat on into the third morning and declare around the 800 mark, setting 600 to avoid the follow on with a deck that may be starting to come through at two heights and see how young Mr Lyon goes with the ball.

We'll be needing someone of his ilk in India in two years' time...

And so we're off to Adelaide later this morning, looking towards securing the 4-0 result that will lift Australia level with India in third place in the Test rankings.

Well, as far as the LHoC is concerned we're not physically heading that way, but we will be watching with interest.

The interest this time around goes a little beyond the eventual score line, since we've already got a few things that need to be looked at.

You could, for example, start by looking at comments from the Indian camp about the tracks they've been given and Gambhir's call for raging turners when we're next in their neighbourhood, which hardly comes as a surprise, but was interesting to read after previously noted comments about result reversals on the subcontinent.

We might just let the possibility of a repeat of the minefield on which Clarke took 6-9 go through to the keeper without further comment.

Right around the Test venues so far this summer we've had pace bowler friendly conditions, though one would hardly describe that as earth-shattering news in Brisbane and Perth, would we?

Adelaide is, traditionally, flatter, and you'd expect the Indian batting lineup to go better there, but the big question is going to involve the damage inflicted on confidence in the first three Tests, isn't it?

That, in turn, raises the question of what they were thinking of and how they prepared before setting off on tour, doesn't it?

We're due to head across to India in 2014, so preparations for that tour will be a matter of interest here in the LHoC. We might get a little insight from Adelaide, since the four quicks approach in Perth has reverted to the three quicks and a spinner that's been in operation through the rest of the summer.

The first issue that comes out of that is, of course, the question of rotation, with Siddle having played through the summer and looking tired towards the end in Perth. Under a rotation policy you'd think he'd have been the logical bloke to rest, but he's been given the nod to play, with Starc combining the drinks waiter role with a chance to play in the Big Bash Final.

I've got no issue with that decision, by the way, provided it's part of a this is something we're working on gig rather than a he's the leader of the attack so he's got to play routine.

Contrary to expectations in these parts he has been the leader of the attack through the summer, though one would have been inclined to be using that term to describe young Mr Pattinson by this stage if he'd been fit throughout the series.

Adelaide, however, with the quickie-friendly factors being taken out of the equation, is going to be a situation where reverse rather than normal swing comes into play on a track that'll resemble what we might find in India in two years' time, so if we're looking at that side of things the decision to go with Siddle rather than Starc would make a fair bit of sense. He can, after all, be given a break through the one dayers, can't he?

So we'll be watching the approach with the ball rather closely.

Spin, on the other hand, will be a significant factor, with India looking towards playing two with a third in acting captain Sehwag. They mightn't actually bite the bullet and do that, since you'd expect Zaheer Khan to be safe, Ishant Sharma to be persevered with and Yadav to be hard done by if he was the one to get the chop. He's an emerging talent, and would have been the first one of their bowlers picked if I was doing the selecting.

But I'm not doing the selecting, so we'll wait and see.

On the spin front, one notes with some alarm that Lyon has been looking to Ponting for advice, which would presumably have the rest of the ex-Test spinners' fraternity raising the odd eyebrow, but the suggestion that they're working on the same lines as Ashley Mallett was suggesting and bowling closer to the stumps to improve his angles and take the shots through the leg side out of the picture. Hmmm. Time will tell.


Predictions? Well, win the toss and bat, for a start. From an Australian point of view we want to see either a substantial opening partnership with substantial runs to Marsh at Three or a disciplined spell with the new ball while the thing is likely to swing.

Not that either of those is an earth-shattering suggestion.

And if India wins the toss and bats we've got the prospect of a final chance to enjoy Messrs Sehwag, Dravid, Tendulkar and Laxman at the crease in an Australian free to air friendly time frame.

Add the possibility of a close examination of how far the Lyon as a work in progress has progressed against a batting lineup that would devour a couple of spinners before the daily breakfast and there's plenty to look forward to, isn't there?

Technical issues with broadband usage has been a major preoccupation in these parts recently, which explains the lack of clickable links above, and there's a substantial backlog of writing projects that needs to be attended to, so at this point we might just close the preview, promising to return with a comment on Day One tomorrow morning.