September 20, 2007	Thursday	Ramazan 07, 1428

LAHORE, Sept 19: A fighting century by Luke Ronchi, who later also held three catches to restrict the hosts’ batting, plus a timely half-century by opener Phil Jaques enabled Australia ‘A’ to end the opening day of their second four-day game against Pakistan ‘A’ on a satisfactory note at the Gaddafi Stadium on Wednesday.

Ronchi’s 109-ball 107 and Jaques’s 82, steadied the tourists’ innings, once tottering at 128-5, to help it push to a respectable 293 all out off 68.1 overs.

At the stumps, Pakistan, on a good batting track, had lost three wickets to finish the day at a precarious 22-3 off 11 overs with Khurram Manzoor (19 not out) and Naved Latif (0 not out) at the crease as the umpires called off the day’s play with eight overs left to be bowled.

Apart from Khurram no batsmen could open the account as Khalid Latif, Yasir Hameed and night-watchman Anwar Ali, all were dismissed without scoring.

Earlier, put in to bat first, Australia ‘A’ made an unsteady start, losing opener Rogers (0), run out by Mohammad Sami off the first ball off the third over.

Jaques also witnessed the cheap dismissals of David Hussey (3), caught by wicket-keeper Sarfraz Ahmad off Sami and captain Adam Voges (12) also caught by Sarfraz off Anwar Ali limiting the visitors to 54-3.

Mohammad Khalil compounded Australia ‘A’s problems removing Cameron White (1) who was caught by Sarfraz as the tourists further fell to 59-4.

However, Jaques (82), with James Hopes (34, four fours) retrieved the position to some extent, adding 69 for the fifth-wicket stand that lasted 76 minutes before a well-set Jaques was clean bowled by Sami. Jaques slammed nine boundaries and one six while facing 99 balls.

Ronchi defied the odds to take the Australians out of the crisis, preventing a total collapse. He, with Cullen Bailey (31), added a useful 106 for the seventh wicket to steer the total to 250. Anwar then broke the dangerous partnership when his yorker hit Bailey’s pad trapping him in front of the wicket.

Ronchi, who had completed his fine century with a boundary to Sami, was eventually caught by Faisal off Mansoor for 107. He smashed 16 fours and two sixes.

For Pakistan ‘A’ Mohammad Khalil (2-40), Mohammad Sami (2-51), Anwar Ali (2-64) and Mansoor Amjad (2-68) shared bulk of the wickets equally.

Scoreboard

AUSTRALIA ‘A’ (1st Innings):

P.A. Jaques b Sami 82

C.J.L. Rogers run out 0

D.J. Hussey c Sarfraz b Sami 3

A.C. Voges c Sarfraz b Anwar 12

C.L. White c Sarfraz b Khalil 1

J.R. Hopes c Naved b Tahir 34

L. Ronchi c Faisal b Mansoor 107

C.B. Bailey lbw b Anwar 31

J.N. Gillespie c Faisal b Mansoor 5

D.E. Bollinger b Khalil 10

S.C.G. MacGill not out 4

EXTRAS (LB-2, NB-2) 4

TOTAL (all out, 68.1 overs) 293

FALL OF WKTS: 1-12, 2-17, 3-54, 4-59, 5-128, 6-144, 7-250, 8-276, 9-289.

BOWLING: Mohammad Sami 12-0-51-2; Anwar Ali 18-2-64-2 (1nb); Mohammad Khalil 11.1-1-40-2 (1nb); Tahir Khan 15-3-68-1; Mansoor Amjad 12-1-68-2.

PAKISTAN ‘A’ (1st Innings):

Khalid Latif c Ronchi b Bollinger 0

Khurram Manzoor not out 20

Yasir Hameed c Ronchi b Hopes 0

Anwar Ali c Ronchi b Hopes 0

Naved Latif not out 0

EXTRAS (LB-1, NB-1) 2

TOTAL (for three wkts, 11 overs) 22

FALL OF WKTS: 1-14, 2-16, 3-16.

TO BAT: Faisal Iqbal, Mansoor Amjad, Sarfraz Ahmed, Tahir Khan, Mohammad Sami, Mohammad Khalil.

BOWLING (to-date): Bollinger 4-3-1-1 (1nb); Gillespie 5-1-20-0; Hopes 2-2-0-2.

UMPIRES: Shakeel Khan & Afzaal Ahmed.

MATCH REFEREE: Ishtiaq Ahmed.