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Jaques' maiden hundred gets Australia to 242
for 3 on Day 1 |
Link to Scorecard
Left hander Phil Jaques wasted no
time in getting into the boots of Justin Langer by scoring his maiden hundred to
announce himself as the new Test Match opener for Australia. Australia riding on
Jaques' hundred ended at 242 for 3 on a curtailed first day's play of the
opening Test at the Gabba. Sri Lanka though have looked good because of Muttiah
Muralitharan who has already started to trouble the Aussies.
Overnight rain and then
intermittent showers saw 14 overs being lost in the day's play. The first
session was just of 11 overs after Sri Lanka won the toss and put the hosts to
bat first. It was Test Match Debut for left arm quick Mitchell Johnson. The
brief morning session was seen off by Hayden and Jaques without any trouble and
in the afternoon, Hayden as usual stroked his way confidently. But a loose shot
off Chaminda Vaas rather cut his innings to a score of 43 in an opening stand of
69. Sri Lanka after that were kept at bay by a busy innings from Skipper Ricky
Ponting and with Jaques batting well, it was a big partnership on the cards. At
Tea, Australia were laying a strong foundation at 161 for 1 in 46 overs.
In the final session, Sri Lanka
made a comeback with Ricky Ponting done in flight by Murali and a brilliant
stumping from Prasanna Jayawardene ended the 114-run stand. Ponting made 56 in
85 balls with 7 fours. Murali would have denies a century for Jaques but for a
dropped chance at slip and the left hander soon got what he wanted with a
boundary off Vaas in the 65th over. The hundred was short lived with Phil Jaques
getting himself out in an ugly fashion, stepping down blindly to be beaten by a
big turning offie. Jaques fell exactly for 100 which came in 203 balls with 14
fours. Australia then finished the day's play with bad light forcing an early
end. They would have lost Michael Hussey too but a sharp catch was put down at
short mid wicket by Marvan Atapattu off a short ball from Farveez Maharoof. At
stumps, Michael Hussey was at 28 which included a six off Murali and Michael
Clarke got to 5. Muralitharan bowled 23 overs in the day and has started to look
dangerous from the batsmen's point of view.
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