Day 1: Aus v B'desh

Australia is in control after the opening day of the first Test match against Bangladesh at Marrara Oval in Darwin. Sent in by Steve Waugh, the Bangladeshis were rolled for just 97 in a little under three hours.

The tourists were unable to build a partnership of any substance and were completely outclassed by an impressive Australian bowling attack.

The day began badly for Bangladesh as they slumped to 6/60 before lunch, immediately ruling out any chance of a competetive contest.

Glenn McGrath struck the first blow in just the fifth over, trapping Hannan Sarker lbw for a duck. Javed Omar then managed to fend off a short pitched Jason Gillespie delivery straight to Adam Gilchrist, leaving the score 2/26.

Habibul Bashar (16) and Mohammad Ashraful (23) threatened, however Brett Lee ripped through Bashar and Al Sahariar in the space of two overs to leave the innings in tatters.

Stuart MacGill was brought on to almost immediate success, trapping Alok Kapali plumb in front for no score. Captain Khaled Mahmud provided some entertainment for the crowd in his gutsy knock of 21, however it was always just a matter of time until the wickets fell.

Thanks to Steve Waugh, all four bowlers managed to share the wickets around with Brett Lee's impressive yorking of Kapali the highlight of the innings.

Matthew Hayden and Justin Langer seemed destined for another enormous opening stand as they walked out to bat only half way through the day. But Bangladesh immediately put the crowd's hopes of a boundary feast to rest with an impressive display of line and length bowling.

Keeping a 7-2 off-side field for most of the day, Bangladesh managed to frustrate the Australian batsmen early with a consistent line outside off stump.

Hayden's frustration soon resulted in a bottom edge from a mis-timed pull shot rocketing onto his stumps and leaving Australia 1/13.

When Ricky Ponting (10) was well caught by a diving Bashar at cover off Tapash Baisya, Bangladesh's tactics seemed to be working well.

Yet an unusually patient Justin Langer (40* from 127 balls), bringing back memories of his early years in Test cricket, and Darren Lehmann (51*) managed to steady proceedings.

By stumps, Australia had already cruised to a 24 run lead with eight wickets and four days remaining.

SCOREBOARD:

Bangladesh 97 (McGrath 3/20, Lee 3/23)
Australia 2/121 (Lehmann 51*, Langer 40*)

Close of Play, Day One.

Posted by JohnC