Round one to Australia

And that was just the toss. Gillie did a great service for his team when he won the toss and made the obvious choice to bat.

At the end of the day, Australia is well placed, but the match is in the balance. With the score at 5/316, the first session tomorrow is all important. It will see if Australia can go on to make it to 400 and beyond.

It was a day of ebbs and flows as both sides wrestled for the upper hand. A reflection of how badly Australia wants this is the care taken. For most of the day, the run rate hovered on or just under 3 runs per over. Pedestrian by the usual standards! That being said, three of the five wickets to fall were the result of batsmen going for big shots.

Australia was on the back foot in the middle session with the score at 4/149. However, Katich (81), batting at number three and Michael Clarke, making his test debut fought hard and skilfully. They shared a partnership of 107 before Kumble bowled Katich, giving Kumble is 400th Test wicket.

In the final 10.1 overs, Gilchrist and Clarke (who had been very watchful at the beginning of his innings) added 50 runs.

With Gilchrist on 35 and Clarke on 76, the fall of the first wicket is critical. The later the better for Australia.

Australia has taken three quicks and Warne into the match. The part time spin of Katich, Lehmann and Clarke will be very important backup for Warne. The quicks will find it hard going as this pitch is a dust bowl.

dongles

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Australia 1st innings R B 4 6
JL Langer b Pathan 52 126 5 0
ML Hayden c Yuvraj Singh b Harbhajan Singh 26 53 2 0
SM Katich b Kumble 81 169 8 0
DR Martyn c Chopra b Kumble 3 12 0 0
DS Lehmann c Dravid b Kumble 17 23 3 0
MJ Clarke not out 76 130 11 2
*+AC Gilchrist not out 35 34 5 0
Extras (b 4, lb 15, nb 7) 26
Total (5 wickets, 90 overs) 316

To Bat: SK Warne, JN Gillespie, MS Kasprowicz, GD McGrath.

FoW: 1-50 (Hayden, 17.3 ov), 2-124 (Langer, 38.5 ov),
3-129 (Martyn, 41.5 ov), 4-149 (Lehmann, 47.4 ov),
5-256 (Katich, 79.5 ov).

Bowling O M R W
Pathan 17 6 39 1
Khan 14 1 38 0 (1nb)
Harbhajan Singh 28 6 105 1
Kumble 24 2 86 3 (4nb)
Sehwag 5 0 26 0 (1nb)
Yuvraj Singh 2 0 3 0 (1nb)