1st Test vs Australia
CW began the series by winning the toss and batting on a good, hard track. They'd kept an unchanged side from the tour match.
The batsmen started slowly against some accurate bowling from the Aussie quicks, and an hour into the day Heads fell for 11 when he edged Court behind. Ballich and Narang made steady progress, and the visitors managed to get the better of an attritional session as they reached lunch on 79/1.
Court picked up his second wicket when Narang top-edged a cut to gully, falling for 42 just as CW's hundred came up. Ballich was out soon after to the same bowler for 45, and when Spark nicked off against Watson the home side were in some trouble at 124/4. That rose to 158/4 at tea, with Dharan and Riley seeing them to the interval.
The Riley-Dharan partnership got the CWers past 200 and into a position of relative safety, but the game swung back Australia's way late on as McDonald struck twice. Dharan was bowled and two overs later Riley was lbw, becoming the third and fourth batsmen of the day to be out in the 40s. Stumps came with the score on 226/6.
The innings was rescued in the morning by a superb stand of 92 between Winne and Hing. The pair ******ed the CWers past 250 and soon 300, before Winne (yet another batsman out in the 40s) gave Court his fourth wicket via second slip. Hing held on until the lunch break with Capone, and raised his first Test fifty with the final ball of the session. They were 330/7.
Hing had just about survived the 40s, but was undone almost immediately after as Lee got one through him in the early part of the afternoon. Dean (24) contributed his now expected cameo to give the score a boost, but Gillespie had him (bowled) and Dong (fended to short leg) out in the same over to end the innings.
The total was 360 all out. It was under-par for the pitch, and was made to look even more so as Hayden and Jaques saw out the rest of the session, easing their way to 48 for no loss at tea.
Dean got the breakthrough with score on 78, getting Hayden (34) out bat-pad, but Ponting and Jaques were able to push on, and at a healthy speed. Australia looked comfortable at 150/1 late in the day, but Dong came on for a fierce second spell.
The opening quick had a huge lbw appeal turned down against Jaques, before taking the umpire out of it by bowling the opener two overs later for 88. Dong followed that up by removing Ponting (bowled for 27), and CW were right back in it. Australia were 159/3 at the end of day 2.
The first session of the third day was Australia's, with David Hussey making his way to a half century. Hing claimed the only wicket of the session - Martyn, bowled for 17 - as Hussey and Watson took Australia within a hundred runs of the lead. The partnership continued to turn from very good to matchwinning throughout the third day as the pair batted out the entire afternoon, and took the lead for the home side soon after tea.
Hussey by this point had raised his century, and Watson his fifty. Hussey was finally dismissed for 133 when he edged Capone to first slip, breaking a fifth wicket stand of 163. Capone was keeping CW in the game - Watson (81) fell just as Australia reached 400, and Gilchrist departed soon after, both edging the left-armer into the slips.
Australia counter-attacked before the close, with Lee's unbeaten 24 from 27 re-asserting Australia's control over the day. The score was 446/7, and the lead worth 86, at stumps.
Capone was able to minimise the lead early on the fourth day. His first over featured a ball spearing in past Lee to bowl him for 28, and McDonald (21) was caught behind soon after for Capone's fifth wicket. Court could only make 4 before hitting Dean to short leg, and the home side were all out within half an hour of the day, their lead restricted to 97.
The CW batsmen were still in with a chance of overturning the deficit and setting the Australians a target, but going for the win quickly took a back seat as Narang lost his wicket early, bowled by Lee for 2.
Once again, CW briefly recovered from an early wicket, but once agin, Court made inroads into the top order, this time drawing edges from Ballich (24) and Dharan (8). The visitors were in serious trouble once more, three down and still 32 runs from making Australia bat again.
Heads, who over the break had been 30*, decided the best form of defence was attack. His side gained the lead as he sped to 70* from 110 balls, with Spark in steady support. The hundred partnership lasted for the whole of the afternoon session, and by the end of it CW led by 68, with Heads into the 90s.
That was when it all went horribly wrong for the visitors. Spark (32) was the first to go as Gillespie found his outside edge, and in the following over Heads departed, caught behind off Lee for 96 off 160 balls.
Riley failed to trouble the scorers as Gillespie picked up a second, and though Winne and Hing managed to block out a few overs, Gillespie found a way through to dismiss Winne (9 off 36) and collect a third. By the time Watson bowled Hing for 4 off 21 balls, the game was up.
Court came on to bowl to the tail and quickly finished things off, picking up Dean for a duck and Dong for 5. The CWers had collapsed helplessly from 169/3 to 196 all out, and set their opponents only 100 runs to win.
The only way CW were going to defend this was with a clutch of new-ball wickets, and so would have nine overs at Australia's openers before the close. With CW going for an all-out attack, Hayden and Jaques responded in kind and came off far the better. They closed at 67/0, and the match was all but over.
Jaques made his way to a run-a-ball fifty in the morning, and hit the winning runs with a powerful pull for four off Hing. Australia had shown CW how to play like the no.1 team.
Australia won by 10 wickets
MotM - Bill Court