Cricket Update: http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 Consolidate in Bangalore Test Day Two
The Australians have consolidated their position on day two of the second and final test against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 being played at the Chinnaswamy stadium in Bangalore.
Left hander Marcus North reposed the confidence of the Australian tour management who continued to persist with him as he neared a much needed test hundred after a long gap.
He came into the match under intense pressure after failing to deliver in any of the last three tests he had featured in for the Aussies.
It was an extremely fruitful session for the visitors who added 99 runs in 24 overs to force the hosts on the back foot.
North found great support from Tim Paine and the two youngsters took the attack to the opposition scoring at nearly four runs per over in the session.
North has thus far scored 81 runs off 155 balls in his defiant knock his innings has thus far included 10 fours and one six.
On the other hand, the wicket keeper Time Paine scored 52 off 113 balls scoring 8 fours in the process.
The duo has added 128 runs for the sixth wicket in their partnership that started on day one of the test.
The Australians started the day at 285/5 on day one of the match captain Ricky Ponting led from the front scoring 77 runs before falling to part timer Suresh Raina.
The rest of the batsmen including Shane http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Watson-c96326, Simon Katich and Mike Hussey got starts but were unable to make the best of their opportunities.
The Indian bowlers had to work hard on what has generally been a benign wicket that has at times offered the pacers lateral movement pace and bounce also.
Sreesanth and Zaheer Khan were expected to make inroads on the morning of the second day, as the conditions were overcast. However, they were not able to get any wickets which were desperately needed by the home team.
The spin twins Ojha and Harbhajan Singh have thus far conceded 196 runs in a total of 61 overs taking three wickets between them.
The total at lunch has reached 384/5 with North and Paine both eyeing hundreds as they looked set to take the total past the 450 mark.
The batsmen would be eyeing the 500 run mark and the hosts on the other end have to ensure that they make inroads and keep the visitors under the 450 mark.
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