Australia v Pakistan, 1st Test, Melbourne, 1st day
Watson and Katich missed centuries on batting dominating day.
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Australia dominates the 1st day of the Boxing Day Test match against Pakistan on MCG. Australian bad luck with the centuries continues as Shane Watson 93 and Simon Katich 98 both missed out on centuries.
Pakistan bowlers were forced to work really hard on a flat batting pitch on a sunny day, 60000 people were in the ground to see the test match but they were very disappointed because of their stars as they could not reach a three figure mark.Muhammad Asif was the pick of the bowlers for Pakistan as he took 2 wickets of Simon Katich and Rickey Ponting.
Saeed Ajmal bowl really well , his ' Dosra ' was the one which was really disturbing the Aussies but they
managed Saeed Ajmal very well. Muhammad Amir as expected bowl with speed and line and length but he was unlucky like some of his other mates.Openers put 182 run stand which really encourages the Aussie captain to come and play aggressively as he did in his free flowing innings but he also departs after scoring 57 runs.
Australia 3 for 305 (Katich 98, Watson 93, Ponting 57) v Pakistan
Pakistan Fielding was really poor , they dropped 3 catches and lots of midfield's in the outfield as well , this could be a deciding factor in this test match. Umar Gull surprisingly not played in that test match , Abdur Rauf replaces him and Danish Kaneria also miss the match due to finger injury. Australia send Nathan Hauritz as night watchman , that was also surprising as well because on a batting paradise , bright sunshine batsmen would love to bat, it a chance for Hauritz to make the most of it and score as many he can score to help his side posting a big total.
Australia score 305/3( 90.0 overs) on the 1st day and every one is expecting them to post a big total on the score board to out Pakistani batting line under pressure on a flat batting track.Michael Hussey is batting on 38 and Nathan Hauritz is on 5.The tourists will need more from Rauf on the second day if they hope to restrict Australia to a retrievable first-innings total.
