Umpiring
errors aid Australia’s recovery
SYDNEY, Jan 2: Aided by umpiring
blunders, Australia recovered from
staggering early blows inflicted by India
to reach a dominant 376 for 7 at close on
the opening day of the second Test here
today.
The hosts
rode on the luck and brilliance of Andrew
Symonds who remained unbeaten at 137, 107
runs after he clearly nicked Ishant
Sharma to wicketkeeper MS Dhoni. There
were more new year gifts for Symonds when
he was declared not out by the Australian
third umpire Bruce Oxenford after being
stumped by Dhoni off Anil Kumble’s
bowling.
Electing
to bat, the Australians were gasping at
134 for six at one stage before Symonds
and Brad Hogg (79) not only pulled the
team out of the pits with a 173-run
seventh wicket partnership.
Brett Lee
(31) was giving Symonds company at stumps
on a day which saw the script going
horribly wrong for the Indians after the
post-lunch drinks break.
The Indian
bowlers exploited the morning conditions
on a lively SCG track with paceman Rudra
Pratap Singh (4/108) ripping through the
top order but the going became tough as
the pitch eased out during the day.
It turned
out to be a frustrating second half of
the post-lunch session for the Indians as
Symonds not only notched up his second
Test hundred but also took Australia to a
commanding position by finding an able
ally in Hogg after their top order
batsmen had perished cheaply.
Apart from
Symonds, captain Ricky Ponting (55) was
also a beneficiary of a poor umpiring
decision when he was on 17. He clearly
nicked Sourav Ganguly to Dhoni but umpire
Mark Benson did not rule him out.
However,
Benson came to India’s aid in the
afternoon when he did not spot
Ponting’s huge inside edge on to his
pads and ruled in favour of Harbhajan
with the team total of 119 for 3.
It
triggered a mini-collapse for the hosts
as Mike Hussey (41) departed two balls
later and Michael Clarke (1) and Adam
Gilchrist (7) didn’t trouble the
visitors either.
RP Singh,
with four scalps was the pick of the
bowlers, and Harbhajan with his two
strikes gave enough indication of his
return to form.
But the
Symonds-Hogg partnership hit the visitors
hard with the latter setting the pace by
striking a flurry of boundaries against
the erring Indian bowlers.
A striking
feature of Symonds’ innings was his
cuts as well as drives through the
offside though he reserved his best shots
for the midwicket region.
The
partnership was finally broken when Hogg
edged a cut off Kumble to Rahul Dravid in
the slips.
The
173-run stand from 214 balls was the best
Australia had ever scored for seventh
wicket against India. It overtook the
110-run record which Steve Waugh and
Shane Warne put on in Adelaide during the
1999-2000 series.
It was
also the best seventh wicket stand ever
seen at the SCG, bettering the 160-run
partnership between Richie Benaud and
Graham Mckenzie against South Africa 41
seasons ago.
India had
more trouble in store as Brett Lee
partnered Symonds for an unbroken 69-run
eighth wicket stand.
Symonds
has so far batted for 246 minutes for his
173-ball 137 and hit 17 fours and two
sixes.
Lee has
faced 67 deliveries for his 31 runs,
studded with five fours.
India had
their moments during the day’s play
but failed to match the intensity of the
hosts who staged commendable fightbacks.
RP Singh
had given the visitors an excellent start
by accounting for Phil Jacques (0) and
Matthew Hayden (13) in his first five
overs.
SCOREBOARD
Australia,
1st innings:
Phil
Jacquesc Dhoni b RP Singh 0
Matthew
Hayden c
Tendulkar
b RP Singh 13
Ricky
Ponting lbw b H Singh 55
Mike
Hussey c Tendulkar
b RP Singh
41
Michael
Clarke lbw b H Singh 1
Andrew
Symonds batting 137
Adam
Gilchrist c
Tendulkar
b RP Singh 7
Brad Hogg
c R Dravid
b A Kumble
79
Brett Lee
batting 31
Extras
(b-2, wd-3, lb-4 nb-3) 12
Total (for
seven wkts, 89 overs) 376
Fall of
Wickets: 1-0, 2-27, 3-119, 4-119, 5-121,
6-134, 7-307.
Bowling:
Rudra Pratap Singh 21-3-108-4, Ishant
Sharma 17-2-65-0, Sourav Ganguly
6-1-13-0, Harbhajan Singh 20-2-88-2, Anil
Kumble 20-0-82-1, Sachin Tendulkar
5-0-14-0. (PTI)
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