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| Sunday, 6 November 2005 |
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Hayden, Ponting, Warne the standouts as Aussies grind down Windies BRISBANE, Australia, Nov. 5 (AFP) - Matthew Hayden and Ricky Ponting plundered centuries and Shane Warne conjured five wickets as Australia took a throttle hold on the first Test against the West Indies at the Gabba here Saturday. The Australians were contemplating the timing of a declaration with a massive 508-run lead after Hayden attained his 23rd Test century with 118 and Ponting scored back-to-back hundreds to be unbeaten on 104, leaving Australia cruising to apparent victory at 283 for two. The West Indies resorted to the modest spin of Chris Gayle and Marlon Samuels for much of the final session, bereft of ideas how to stem the run flow. The resurgence of "Matt The Bat" continued apace with his third consecutive century since his do-or-die 138 against England at The Oval in September and his 111 against the World XI in Sydney last month. "This wicket is going to turn and we're in such a great position as a result of just grinding them down to where we can declare any time now with two days ahead," Hayden said. "The longer we batted the more deterioration and the more Warney (Warne) was going to come into the pitch over the next innings, but I would be surprised if we bat much longer." The Australian opener, whose Test career hung in the balance before his opportune hundred in the final Ashes Test, darted through for a single to raise his ton with Ramnaresh Sarwan's throw from mid-off just missing the stumps. It was 34-year-old Hayden's fourth Test century on his home ground - 136 against New Zealand and 197 and 103 against England in the same match here three years ago. Hayden, who had a life on 54 when he was put down by Marlon Samuels in the gully off Jermaine Lawson, was caught by Sarwan to give Gayle his second wicket five overs before stumps. Ponting became the 13th Australian batsmen to score centuries in both innings of a Test, adding to his first innings 149 for his 25th Test century. It was his fifth hundred in his last four Tests against the West Indies and pushed his calendar year aggregate to 1,216 runs. The weather, with storms forecast, appears to be Australia's only drama as the tourists' play has deteriorated under unrelenting Australian pressure. "It depends on how they bat tomorrow," Windies wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin said. "We just have to set about our targets session by session and bat well and get out of this game. "The guys are hungry for this and definitely we'll put up a fight." The highest winning score at the Gabba is Australia's 236 for seven against the West Indies in 1951-52, with India's 355 the highest losing score here in 1967-68. Warne's 5-48 earlier sent the West Indies packing for 210 to claim a match-winning 225-run innings lead. The master leg-spinner took 4-5 off eight overs to finish with his 33rd Test career five wickets in an innings and his fifth in the last 12 months. That took his world record tally of Test wickets to 634 with Glenn McGrath finishing the innings with 4-72 to improve his Test tally to 525, placing him third all-time behind Warne and Sri Lankan spinner Muttiah Muralitharan (568). Wicketkeeper Ramdin remained unbeaten on 37 in 100 minutes as the last four wickets Saturday fell around him. The tourists added 28 runs on the third morning for the loss of four wickets. Warne produced his full array of tricks. He had Daren Powell out to an attempted cut for four, bamboozled Fidel Edwards with a wrong'un for two, had Corey Collymore caught at second slip and saved his flipper, his quicker ball, to trap Lawson leg before wicket for a duck. The Australians once again didn't enforce the follow-on and since the start of the 2003-04 series against India, they have enforced the follow-on only once - against New Zealand at Wellington last March when rain ruined the match. |
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