Australia v Sri Lanka – http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 (1st Test) – Live Cricket Score and Match Update – Clarke, Hussey lead Australia’s recovery
Early strikes from Sri Lankan seamer http://www.senore.com/Cricket/MEK-Hussey-c1942
put the hosts back in the running, and enabled them to finish at 299 for 4 by stumps on the opening day of their first Test match against Sri Lanka, at the Bellerive Oval in Hobart, today on December 14.
Dotted with green patches, the pitch at Hobart did not turn out to be particularly conducive to bowlers, but held plenty of promise for the batsmen – luckily, for the host team, skipper Michael http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Clarke-c51120 elected to bat first after winning the toss.
However, it wasn’t smooth sailing from the start. Sri Lanka’s Welegedara (20-1-99-3) – the only bowler from the visitors’ camp who managed to pick up any wickets – made an early dent in the Aussies' line-up, sending opening batsman http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Andrew-Graham-Downton-c44379 Cowan back to the pavilion
after a 4-run contribution.
Making a return to Test cricket after the retirement of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/RT-Ponting-c2377 (who received a special lunch-time farewell today on Tasmania's home ground), Phillip Hughes drove the earlier part of Australia’s innings with a haphazard but effective 86. His partnership
with opener http://www.senore.com/Cricket/DA-Warner-c1301 (57) appeared to be going strong and had yielded 79 runs – however, confused running led to the dismissal of the latter via run out in the 27th over, leaving Australia at 97 for 2.
Coming in at number 4, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/DPMD-Jayawardene-c1397 off Welegedara, after a mere 30-run
contribution.
Eight over later, Hughes followed him back to the pavilion, bowled by Welegedara, and Australia’s top-order was taken care of. However, the home team was far from finished yet, and the next duo to step up to bat was that of Michael Clarke (70*) and Michael
Hussey (37*).
Both formidable middle-order batsmen, Clarke and Hussey have shared the most century-stands in 2012 (4, having accumulated 1187 runs from 13 innings, at an average of 107.90), and have shared nine century-stands in total throughout their careers. In addition,
the Aussie skipper has performed outstandingly this year, and is currently the highest run-getter in 2012.
Living up to the expectations raised by their past performances, both batsmen dug their heels in, and set up an as-yet unbeaten 101-run stand for the 5th wicket. Their combined efforts lifted the Australian team up to 299 for 4 by stumps on day
one, and served as a positive promise of things to come.
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