(Sports)India move at glacial speed in cricket test against Australia

India inched ever so slowly on Thursday towards Australia's first innings total of 572 runs in the first playing session of the third day of the fourth and final Test series cricket match.

Resuming at one batsman out for 71 runs at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG), the Indian batsmen compiled just 51 runs in two hours of play before the lunch break.

India also lost the wicket of Rohit Sharma for a respectable 53. He was bowled by the slow spin bowling of Nathan Lyon, while Lokesh Rahul made his first Test match score of 50 runs, and survived until lunch with his captain Verat Kohli who compiled a brisk 16 after he replaced Sharma at the batting crease.

The SCG traditionally becomes a spinners paradise from day three of a Test match. When spinners bowl, the ball bounces on the pitch and turns left or right, requiring lots of concentration from the batsman. Lyon was turning the ball sharply, and will do so even more as the pitch roughs up.

But the Indians also have quality spin bowlers, and they will trouble Australian batsmen in their second innings.

Australia's speed bowlers were also very efficient on Thursday, bowling "tightly", meaning they gave the Indian batsmen little chance to make high scoring shots.

If the Indians continue to hold out without scoring at a faster rate while not losing wickets, the five day match could end up being a draw, where neither team wins if they don't lose 10 batsmen wickets in their second innings.

But the spinning nature of the SCG pitch as it wears down ( scuff marks make the ball bounce oddly) in the fourth of fifth days of Tests played there usually means a result is reached. Batsmen increasingly become bamboozled by the ball moving two to three feet left or right of where it landed on the pitch.

That means catches become common, as the batsmen try to hit the ball to one place, but the ball moves so much they mishit it and get caught out.

The other notable aspect of the annual SCG Test match against various countries is that it is called the "Pink Test."

On day three the ground is bathed in pink, signs, the scoreboard, banners, the crowd dresses in pink and even the wickets batsmen stand in front of while batting are pink.

It is the symbol of the Jane McGrath Foundation, a highly successful charity which raises money to fund private nurses to care for women suffering terminal breast cancer.

Jane McGrath was the wife of champion Australian fast bowler Glen McGrath. She died from the disease in 2008, aged 42, after an eleven year fight against the cancer. Endi