Australian opener Justin Langer scored a century on the first day of the opening test at the Gabba on yesterday to leave Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly questioning his decision to bowl first.
Encouraged by the lush cover of grass and an overcast sky, Ganguly asked Australia to bat first, and watched the world champions score 262 for two in 62 overs on a rain-interrupted first day.
Langer, whose presence was initially overshadowed by fellow opener Matthew Hayden (37) and test captain-elect Ricky Ponting (54), scored a plucky 115 not out and will resume his 100-run third-wicket stand Friday with Damien Martyn, unbeaten on 36.
Last year, England skipper Nasser Hussain bowled first and watched Australia score 364 for two on the first day which set the platform for a 4-1 Ashes victory.
If history repeats itself Ganguly's decision will come back to haunt the tourists for the remainder of the four-test series.
Left-armers Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra, and Ajit Agarkar failed to swing the ball in traditionally seamer-friendly conditions. The trio were either wayward or too short or full, and lacked the conviction to undermine Australia's dominance.
Offspinner Harbhajan Singh, who took 32 wickets in the come-from-behind 2-1 series win at home in 2001, struggled and gave too much width.
Zaheer took the two wickets to fall at a cost of 53 runs in 15 overs.
The visitors did well to dismiss the record-breaking Hayden after a 73-run opening stand, but a rollicking 89-run stand between Langer and Ponting left them broken in the matter of two hours.
Langer, who was caught of a no-ball on eight, and survived a run out on 33, cut loose on reaching his half century, and hit nine fours off 47 balls to post his 16th century in his 68th test.
His first half century took him over three hours and 108 balls.
His five-hour innings silenced the critics after the lefthander had managed scores of 1, 26, 2 and 8 in his previous innings against Bangladesh and Zimbabwe.
The test series got off to a frustrating start when rain cut short the morning session to just 43 minutes and 7.2 overs and 32 runs.
After Hayden was caught at second slip after lunch, Ponting, who will succeed Steve Waugh as captain after the test series, dominated the afternoon session and the stand with Langer.
Ponting smashed seven fours and a six off Harbhajan before skying an attempted hook off Zaheer to wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel.
Australia capped 26-year-old left-arm swing bowler Nathan Bracken as its 387th test player. Bracken played 17 one-day internationals before making his test debut.
england versus sri lanka
Sri Lanka's ace off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan claimed seven for 46 yesterday as England crashed out for 235 runs for a 96-run first-innings deficit in their test opener being held in Galle, Sri Lanka.
England's batsmen failed to read Muralitharan, who turned another Galle test into a celebration of his prodigious spinning to take five wickets for the seventh time in nine tests here.
This was his 39th five-wicket haul in 83 matches.
Muralitharan dismissed Paul Collingwood (1), Andrew Flintoff (1), Chris Read (0), Ashley Giles (18) and Richard Johnson (26) as the batsmen were caught in two minds trying to read his sharp turners on the third day.
RSS