Chris Barrett is a Sports Writer with The Sydney Morning Herald.
Matthew Wade was brought back into an Australian side at its lowest ebb for, among other reasons, his big mouth. And the Channel 9 stump microphones on Saturday night revealed the recalled Australian wicketkeeper running it with abandon.
It was widely lauded as Usman Khawaja's best innings and one of the finest by an Australian in recent years but the man himself says he was simply trying to reintroduce the "lost art" of batting time in Adelaide.
Peter Handscomb has emerged as the pick of the Australian debutants in Adelaide, announcing himself on the Test scene with a half-century alongside an indefatigable Usman Khawaja on Friday.
Interim national selector Trevor Hohns said the panel had been given a mandate for generational change ahead of the third Test in Adelaide and it has now been revealed that advice came right from the top.
A clever declaration by South Africa' wily captain and centurion Faf du Plessis caught David Warner and the Australians off guard.
The broadcaster hopes the pink ball Test and a new-look Australian team can be a panacea to ratings woes this summer.
The Test captain says he will seize on the opportunity presented by Australia's failures this summer to "stamp my authority on this team as the leader".
The indignance of their players at accusations of ball tampering against Faf du Plessis difficult enough to swallow, but the thuggish behaviour of their touring security guard is unacceptable.
James Sutherland forecast on the morning after Australia's crippling defeat to Hobart that it would be "a different group of players that gather for the next Test match". He wasn't wrong.
Nic Maddinson admits he must put behind him a poor recent record in Adelaide and against the pink ball in his Test debut this week.
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