Persistent rain over 5 days forces 3rd test between Australia and India into a soggy draw

BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — Persistent rain over all five days forced umpires to finally pull the plug on the third cricket test between Australia and India, calling play about two hours before the scheduled end of the match Wednesday as it ended in a soggy draw.

Australia declared its second innings at 89-7 and set India 275 runs to win in 54 overs and about a session and a half before stumps Wednesday. But play only ensued for less than three overs before bad light stopped play and an early tea was taken with India at none for 8 and needed 267 runs to win.

But the rain came again and that was the end of play in the test.

Earlier Wednesday, Travis Head, named man of the match for his 152 runs in the first innings, dismissed India tailender Akash Deep to end India’s first innings at 260 and secure an 185-run lead for Australia.

After the test, veteran allrounder Ravichandran Ashwin announced his retirement from cricket.

With the five-test series level at 1-1 and Brisbane touted as being a pivotal test in the series, it has turned out to be anything but. Rain delay after rain delay spoiled the Gabba match and forced Cricket Australia to refund tickets to about 35,000 spectators who attended the first day because not enough overs were bowled.

“Obviously to have interruptions like that wasn’t great, but going to Melbourne at 1-1 is great and gives us confidence that we can go to Melbourne and pull something off there," India captain Rohit Sharma said.

Jasprit Bumrah went past India legend Kapil Dev for the most test wickets in Australia by an Indian player when he had Marnus Labuschagne caught behind for 1 on Wednesday. Bumrah is now on top of the list with 53 wickets, two ahead of Kapil on 51.

After helping save India from the follow-on with a valuable 10 not out in a crucial last-wicket stand of 47 with Deep, the 31-year-old Bumrah returned to doing what he does best at the bowling crease — he took nine wickets in Brisbane and now has 21 wickets for the series at an average of 10.9.

Australia will likely be a bowler down for the remainder of the series after Josh Hazlewood suffered calf soreness ahead of the fourth day’s play and was only able to send down one over before leaving the field.

Hazlewood, who missed the second Adelaide test due to side soreness, was late entering the field at the start of play and then looked labored when he came into the attack.

“Josh passed all assessments before he was selected for the third test and was fully fit entering the match,” Cricket Australia's high-performance director Ben Oliver said. “Unfortunately Josh suffered a new, unrelated calf injury during the warm-up on day four.”

Scott Boland, who replaced Hazlewood in Adelaide and took five wickets, will likely be back for Australia for the Melbourne Cricket Ground test starting Dec. 26.

India won the first test by 295 runs at Perth, while Australia came back to win the second day-night test in Adelaide by 10 wickets.

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Rain clouds hover above the Gaba as rain interrupts the play on day five of the third cricket test between India and Australia at the Gabba in Brisbane, Australia, Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Pat Hoelscher)

India's Ravichandran Ashwin walks off the field after losing his wicket during the day three of the second cricket test match between Australia and India at the Adelaide Oval in Adelaide, Australia, Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/James Elsby)

India's Mohammed Siraj, left, celebrates the wicket of Australia's Travis Head, right, during play on day five of the third cricket test between India and Australia at the Gabba in Brisbane, Australia, Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Pat Hoelscher)

India's Mohammed Siraj, runs to field the ball as Australia's Travis Head, right, and Alex Carey, left, run between the wickets to score during play on day five of the third cricket test between India and Australia at the Gabba in Brisbane, Australia, Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Pat Hoelscher)

Australia's captain Pat Cummins hits a six during play on day five of the third cricket test between India and Australia at the Gabba in Brisbane, Australia, Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Pat Hoelscher)

Australia's captain Pat Cummins, left talks to Alex Carey during play on day five of the third cricket test between India and Australia at the Gabba in Brisbane, Australia, Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Pat Hoelscher)

Australia's Mitchell Starc plays a shot during play on day five of the third cricket test between India and Australia at the Gabba in Brisbane, Australia, Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Pat Hoelscher)

India's Akash Deep plays a shot during play on day five of the third cricket test between India and Australia at the Gabba in Brisbane, Australia, Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Pat Hoelscher)

Rain clouds hover above the Gaba as rain interrupts the play on day five of the third cricket test between India and Australia at the Gabba in Brisbane, Australia, Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Pat Hoelscher)

Australia's Travis Head, left, celebrates with teammates after the dismissal of India's Akash Deep during play on day five of the third cricket test between India and Australia at the Gabba in Brisbane, Australia, Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Pat Hoelscher)

India's Akash Deep looks on during play on day five of the third cricket test between India and Australia at the Gabba in Brisbane, Australia, Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Pat Hoelscher)

India's Akash Deep walks off the field after losing his wicket during play on day five of the third cricket test between India and Australia at the Gabba in Brisbane, Australia, Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Pat Hoelscher)

Australia's captain Pat Cummins hits a six during play on day five of the third cricket test between India and Australia at the Gabba in Brisbane, Australia, Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Pat Hoelscher)

Ground staff place covers over the pitch as rain suspends play on day five of the third cricket test between India and Australia at the Gabba in Brisbane, Australia, Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Pat Hoelscher)

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A Filipino woman who spent years on death row in Indonesia for drug trafficking, and who was nearly executed by firing squad in 2015, said Wednesday she's happy to be back in the Philippines but is asking its president to set her free.

Mary Jane Veloso spent almost 15 years in prison but won a last-minute reprieve that allows her to serve the rest of her sentence in the Philippines and will lead to her testimony exposing how a criminal syndicate duped her into being an unwitting accomplice and drug courier.

“What’s important is I be given clemency so that I can be with my family,” she told reporters at a prison facility where she was brought to after arriving in Manila, and where she had a tearful reunion with her family.

“I have been imprisoned for fifteen years in Indonesia for a crime that I did not do.” she added, fighting back tears as her arm was draped on her mother’s shoulder and her two sons stood close by.

Her transfer removes the possibility of execution. The Philippines, Asia’s largest Roman Catholic nation, has long abolished the death penalty.

Veloso was moved late Sunday from a female prison in Yogyakarta to Indonesia’s capital of Jakarta, then escorted Tuesday night to a flight to Manila. Her repatriation was made possible by a “practical arrangement” for the transfer of prisoners signed between the two countries on Dec. 6.

Relatives and a small group of supporters, including Veloso’s two sons who were 1- and 6-years old when she was arrested in 2010, welcomed her with cheers and tears upon her arrival at Manila’s airport.

“Welcome home Mary Jane,” read a huge banner carried by relatives and supporters who were clasping flowers.

Cries rang out and the crowd waved as Veloso was escorted by a security cordon out of Manila’s airport into a waiting van. Her parents wiped away tears.

“We take this opportunity to extend our gratitude to the Indonesian government and to all who have extended assistance for the welfare of Ms. Mary Jane Veloso,” President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said in statement Wednesday.

The government will ensure Veloso’s safety and welfare as she continues to serve her sentence in the country, the statement added. Marcos did not mention clemency, and presidential palace officials earlier said there has been no decision about the family’s appeal.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo also said Wednesday that Velasco’s transfer “is a significant achievement for the bilateral relations between the Philippines and Indonesia, a mark of the trust and friendship between our two nations.”

Veloso told a group of reporters outside the Pondok Bambu female prison in eastern Jakarta that she was overwhelmed by a variety of emotions, before getting into the car that took her to the airport.

“Thank you, Indonesia, I love Indonesia,” Veloso said.

She said that she brought many souvenirs given to her Indonesian fellow inmates and friends, including a guitar, books, knittings and rosaries.

Veloso, who will turn 40 next month, was arrested in 2010 at an airport in the Indonesian city of Yogyakarta, where officials discovered about 2.6 kilograms (5.7 pounds) of heroin hidden in her luggage. The single mother of two sons was convicted and sentenced to death.

Her case caused a public outcry in the Philippines. She traveled to Indonesia in 2010, where her recruiter, Maria Kristina Sergio, reportedly told her a job as a domestic worker awaited her. Sergio also allegedly provided the suitcase where the drugs were found.

In 2015, Indonesia moved Veloso to an island prison where she and eight other drug convicts from Australia, Brazil, France, Ghana and Nigeria were scheduled to be executed by firing squad despite objections from their home countries.

Indonesia executed the eight but Veloso was granted a stay of execution because Sergio was arrested in the Philippines, just two days earlier.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime says Indonesia is a major drug smuggling hub despite having some of the strictest drug laws in the world, in part because international drug syndicates target its young population.

Indonesia’s last executions, of a citizen and three foreigners, were carried out in July 2016.

About 530 people are on death row in Indonesia, mostly for drug-related crimes, including 96 foreigners, the Ministry of Immigration and Corrections reported last month.

Five Australians who spent almost 20 years in Indonesian prisons for heroin trafficking returned to Australia on Sunday under a deal struck between the governments.

Cerojano reported from Manila, the Philippines. Associated Press journalists Andi Jatmiko and Achmad Ibrahim in Jakarta, Indonesia, and contributed to this report.

Mary Jane Veloso, front center, a Filipino woman who spent almost 15 years in an Indonesian prison for drug trafficking and was nearly executed by firing squad in 2015, waves as is reunited with family at the Correctional Institution for Women in Mandaluyong, Philippines Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

Mary Jane Veloso, right, a Filipino woman who spent almost 15 years in an Indonesian prison for drug trafficking and was nearly executed by firing squad in 2015, is reunited with her sons as she arrives at the Correctional Institution for Women in Mandaluyong, Philippines Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

Mary Jane Veloso, center, a Filipino woman who spent almost 15 years in an Indonesian prison for drug trafficking and was nearly executed by firing squad in 2015, breaks into tears beside family at the Correctional Institution for Women in Mandaluyong, Philippines Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

Mary Jane Veloso, a Filipino woman who spent almost 15 years in an Indonesian prison for drug trafficking and was nearly executed by firing squad in 2015, waves to reporters as she is processed at the Correctional Institution for Women in Mandaluyong, Philippines Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

Mary Jane Veloso, a Filipino woman who spent almost 15 years in an Indonesian prison for drug trafficking and was nearly executed by firing squad in 2015, waves to reporters as she is processed at the Correctional Institution for Women in Mandaluyong, Philippines Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

Mary Jane Veloso, a Filipino woman who spent almost 15 years in an Indonesian prison for drug trafficking and was nearly executed by firing squad in 2015, smiles as she arrives at the Correctional Institution for Women in Mandaluyong, Philippines on Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

Mary Jane Veloso, center, a Filipino woman who spent almost 15 years in an Indonesian prison for drug trafficking and was nearly executed by firing squad in 2015, waves as she is reunited with her family at the Correctional Institution for Women in Mandaluyong, Philippines on Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

Mary Jane Veloso, center, a Filipino woman who spent almost 15 years in an Indonesian prison for drug trafficking and was nearly executed by firing squad in 2015, is kissed by her sons after being reunited at the Correctional Institution for Women in Mandaluyong, Philippines Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

Mary Jane Veloso, center, a Filipino woman who spent almost 15 years in an Indonesian prison for drug trafficking and was nearly executed by firing squad in 2015, waves as she is reunited with her family at the Correctional Institution for Women in Mandaluyong, Philippines on Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)