Australia v http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 steady until tea
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/DA-Warner-c1301 and Phil Hughes early on day two of the first Test against New Zealand at the Brisbane Cricket Ground in Australia on Friday, December 2, 2011.
The hosts were in a spot of bother at one stage, losing their openers for just 25 runs on the board. However, Ponting and Khawaja put on an unbeaten 66-run stand for the third wicket, guiding the total to 91/2 until tea. They were unbeaten on 34 and 38 respectively.
Debutant Warner would have been extremely disappointed today, missing out on an opportunity to impress the selectors. He has been performing well at the domestic level recently and was drafted into the team’s limited-over squad.
However, the flamboyant batsman wanted to make his mark in the longest version of the game and finally got that chance following injuries to http://www.senore.com/Cricket/SR-Watson-c2558.
The stylish left-handed batsman lasted only three balls in his first Test innings though, as he got out after adding just three runs to the total. He failed to tackle a short ball from http://www.senore.com/Cricket/TG-Southee-c2659 and edged it to the hands of the wicketkeeper Reece Young.
Next to go was Hughes, who scored just 10 runs in his short outing. He was caught brilliantly in the gully by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/MJ-Guptill-c1980, who dived forward to take a low one.
The ball was not really a wicket-taking one, as it was just angled across the batsman. However, Hughes attempted to play the ball on the onside and as a result got the leading edge to it.
This brought Ponting and Khawaja together at the crease. The same pair helped Australia level the series against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757, as they put together a century stand for the third wicket in the Johannesburg Test.
The former escaped one close leg-before shout, as he was wrapped up on the front pad. The umpire from http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Aleem-Sarwar-Dar-c43094 gave not-out and the replays showed that the ball struck the batsman outside the line of off-stump.
After that, there were no real worries for the home side and they continued to bat well until tea.
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