The story appears on

Page A14

December 3, 2011

GET this page in PDF

Free for subscribers

View shopping cart

Related News

Home » Sports » Cricket

Ponting leads Aussie fightback in Brisbane

RICKY Ponting looked poised to make amends for running out Usman Khawaja with a big score as Australia reached 154-3 in reply to New Zealand's first innings 295 after the second day of the first test match in Brisbane yesterday.

Ponting was on 67 when bad light brought an early end to proceedings alongside his successor as skipper Michael Clarke, who was fortunate to reach 28 after being bowled by Doug Bracewell only for the umpire to call him back for a no-ball.

The 36-year-old Ponting had steadied the innings with Khawaja after the cheap loss of both openers but hared off for an ill-considered single on the first ball after tea and Kane Williamson accepted the gift with an athletic underarm throw.

Khawaja departed for 38 with a glower on his face leaving Ponting, who is looking to end a 21-month wait for his 40th test century, to progress to his 58th half century, his second in consecutive tests.

"Ricky's one of the legends of this game, he's awesome and hopefully he can go on and get a big one tomorrow," said Australia finger spinner Nathan Lyon, who took 4-69.

"There's going to be a lot of hard work for us tomorrow, particularly in the first couple of hours. The game's certainly in the balance."

Collapse

A run-out also figured large in New Zealand's innings with Daniel Vettori throwing away his wicket just four runs short of his seventh test century to trigger a collapse from 254-5 to 295 all out shortly before lunch.

New Zealand had resumed in the morning on 176-5 with Vettori and Dean Brownlie assiduously extending their sixth-wicket partnership to 158 before the former captain was run out.

Vettori had just smacked a neat four to move onto 96 when he drove a Nathan Lyon delivery to mid-off and set off optimistically for a run.

Mike Hussey gathered the ball and the accuracy of his throw made Vettori's despairing dive academic and sent the 32-year-old trudging back to the pavilion.

Australia's openers had just two overs to negotiate before the break and debutant David Warner hit a crisp three off Vettori for his first test runs in the first.

Tim Southee, however, brought an early end to his outing with his first ball, a short delivery that caught the 25-year-old on the gloves and left wicketkeeper Reece Young with an easy catch.



 

Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.

沪公网安备 31010602000204号

Email this to your friend