December 5, 2003	Friday	Shawwal 10, 1424

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BRISBANE, Dec 4: Justin Langer completed his 16th Test hundred as Australia’s batsmen put India to the sword on the opening day of the first Test on Thursday.

Langer hit an unbeaten 115 and Ricky Ponting a sparkling half-century to help the hosts reach 262 for two on a rain-shortened day at the Gabba after being invited to bat first by India captain Saurav Ganguly.

The wicket had a distinctive green tinge and there was plenty of early assistance for the fast bowlers but the pitch quickly settled into a perfect batting strip.

None of the top order missed out completely but it was Langer who made the most of the conditions, patiently building his century.

The left-handed opener had a scare on eight when he was caught by Akash Chopra at bat-pad, only to get a reprieve when umpire Steve Bucknor called Ashish Nehra for a no-ball.

Langer shared half-century partnerships with Matthew Hayden and Ponting and had added exactly 100 with Damien Martyn when play ended early because of bad light.

Hayden hit six fours, including two off Zaheer Khan in the day’s third over, before he fell for 37 with the total on 73 when Zaheer found the edge and Vangipurappu Laxman held a catch at second slip.

Ponting was also in a determined mood, striking seven fours and a six, as he set about the disappointment of his last tour to India when he made a miserable total of 17 runs in the series.

Ponting, who takes over as Test captain when Waugh retires after the fourth Test in Sydney early next month, was also caught at one point — by a spectator after he had crashed spinner Harbhajan Singh for a straight six into the top deck of the grandstand.

Ponting beat Langer to 50, reaching the mark off only 72 balls, but threw his wicket away on 54 when he skied an attempted hook off Zaheer and wicket-keeper Parthiv Patel took a simple catch.

Langer reached a patient 50 off 108 balls but smashed nine quick boundaries to race to his century in another 47 deliveries, reaching triple figures by sweeping Harbhajan for four.

Martyn also began slowly but grew in confidence, finding the boundary rope four times to end the day on 36.

Only 7.2 overs were completed before lunch after play was stopped because of rain. The umpires agreed to extend the last two sessions to make up the lost time but bad light forced them off prematurely.

They later announced that play would commence half an hour early on Friday.

Scoreboard

AUSTRALIA (1st Innings):

J.L. Langer not out 115

M.L. Hayden c Laxman b Zaheer 37

R.T. Ponting c Patel b Zaheer 54

D.R. Martyn not out 36

EXTRAS (B-4, LB-4, W-2, NB-10) 20

TOTAL (for two wkts, 62 overs) 262

FALL OF WKTS: 1-73, 2-162.

TO BAT: S.R. Waugh, S.M. Katich, A.C. Gilchrist, A.J. Bichel, J.N. Gillespie, N.W. Bracken, S.C.G. MacGill.

BOWLING: Zaheer Khan 15-1-53-2 (8nb); Nehra 15-4-51-0 (2nb); Agarkar 17-2-74-0 (2w); Harbhajan Singh 14-1-68-0; Ganguly 1-0-8-0.

INDIA: A. Chopra, V. Sehwag, R.S. Dravid, S.R. Tendulkar, V.V.S. Laxman, S.C. Ganguly, A.B. Agarkar, P.A. Patel, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, A.Nehra.

UMPIRES: S.A. Bucknor (West Indies)

and R.E. Koertzen (South Africa).

—Reuters/AFP