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Australia v India day 1

Thursday, December 4 2003

First Test , Australia v India at the Gabba , Brisbane

A superbly paced hundred from Justin Langer coupled with good support from Ricky Ponting & Matthew Hayden , has put Australia in a dominant position against some inconsistent Indian bowling on day 1 of the First test of the Three Series at the Gabba.

Play seemed unlikely to start on time after an extremely heavy downpour in the early morning , however the superb Brisbane drainage system soon had things cleared for play to start at 10am as scheduled.

A characteristically hard Gabba wicket , with an even grass covering , tempted Sourav Ganguly into sending the Australians in , a decision which the overcast & swing friendly conditions seemed to justify.
However the Indians did not start well in the field , Zaheer Khan spraying the first ball of the series wide for 4 byes & following up with a series of half volleys which the tried & tested combination of Hayden & Langer were all to well equipped to deal with.
Just as Khan & his new ball partner Ashish Nehra seemed to be settling down the weather intervened , the heavens opening with the score at 0-26 , an hour long rain delay followed.
An attempt to get play underway again was made shortly before lunch , Justin Langer being given his first life after pulling a short ball from Nehra straight to short leg Akash Chopra who took a superb reflex catch , unfortunately for the tourists Nehra had ever so slightly overstepped , a sequence of events which drew anguish from the bowler , yet only a nuggety smile from Langer.
Further downpours shortly after resulted in a further rain delay , Australian going to lunch at 0-32.

The rain eventually abated shortly after lunch , the resumption in play was finally met by blue sky’s as Hayden & Langer went about their work in brutal fashion , blasting a succession of boundaries from the hapless India seamers , the introduction of Ajit Agarkar to the attack initially stemmed the run flow as he began with a fiery maiden , however the just as the Indians looked like breaking through they let the pressure slip , with a series of half volleys & wide deliveries , Agarkar’s next 4 overs costing 40 runs.

Zaheer Khan prevented things from going completely pear shaped , enticing Hayden to drive on the up , with Laxman holding onto the resulting edge at second slip , it was the first time the big Queenslander has been dismissed for under 50 in the first innings at his home ground , out for 37 . the score 1-73.

Ricky Ponting was quick to stamp his authority , taking Agarkar for 3 boundaries in 1 over as it became apparent Ganguly was running short of ideas.
A superb spell from Khan checked Ponting’s innings , forcing the Tasmanian to play & miss on several occasions & regularly getting into the high 130’s as he hinted he was rediscovering his best form.
Ponting had no intentions of hanging around against his 2001 tormentor Harbhajan Singh , skipping down the pitch & lofting him for 6 to raise his half century shortly before tea.
The Indians had been convincingly outclassed in the middle session , yet they fought back admirably after tea , a disciplined line from Khan combined with some imaginative field settings from Ganguly getting the better of Ponting , the Aussie captain in waiting becoming clearly frustrated at his lack of progress , attempted an ambitious pull shot from Khan on 54 (7 fours , 1 six) , only for the ball to be skied straight to keeper Patel who took the most straight forward of catches (2-162).

However just as the Indians looked like getting back into the match Langer took charge , sweeping Singh with the type of control & composure that was missing from his game in India in 2001 & cutting the quicks in classical fashion , Damien Martyn was initially troubled by Singh’s loop & bounce , however he to chimed in later in the day with a series of elegant shots square of the wicket.

Langer brought up his 16th test hundred shortly before stumps , before batting cautiously until the close.
Australia will resume at 9.30am tomorrow morning on 2-262 , Langer unbeaten on 115 (16 fours) , with his WA team-mate Martyn still there on 36 (4 fours).
Khan was easily the best of the India bowlers with 2-53 from his 15 , while Harbhajan (0-68) bowled well without a lot of luck on his side.

This is not the first time Sourav Ganguly has put Australia in for an important fixture this year , it is also not the first time he has been made to regret it.

Australia 2-262 (Langer 115* , Ponting 54 , Hayden 37 , Khan 2-54)


Posted by DavidH