MELBOURNE: Australian openers Simon Katich 98 and Shane Watson 93 provided 182 runs opening stand to the home side as Aussies gain upper hand on first day of the first Test against Pakistan with 305 runs for three wickets.
Australian captain Rickey Ponting won the toss and elected to bat first.
Openers Watson and Katich provided 182 runs start to Australia however they missed centuries when Watson 93 was run out by Salman Butt/Imran Farhat, while Katich caught by Butt off Mohammad Asif.
Skipper Rickey Ponting scored 57 and caught by Misbah off a delivey of Asif, who remained only successful Pakistani bowler with two wickets.
Mike Hussey 38, and Nathan Hauritz with five runs were at the crease on the first day stumps.
Earlier, Katich was almost run out on 3, but should definitely have been sent on his way on 8 when 19-year-old Umar Akmal put down a sitter at gully off Mohammad Aamer.
Watson dropped on 43, as Misbah-ul-Haq put down a regulation chance at first slip from the bowling of Saeed Ajmal.
Pakistan: Salman Butt, Imran Farhat, Faisal Iqbal, Mohammad Yousuf (Capt), Misbah-ul-Haq, Umar Akmal, Kamran Akmal†, Mohammad Aamer, Abdur Rauf, Mohammad Asif, Saeed Ajmal
Australia: Shane Watson, Simon Katich, Ricky Ponting (Capt), MEK Hussey, MJ Clarke, MJ North, BJ Haddin†, MG Johnson, NM Hauritz, DE Bollinger, PM Siddle
was first posted on December 26, 2009 at 1:17 pm.
