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Rain spoils first session of Australia-India Test
Brisbane, Dec 04: Rain washed out most of the opening session in the first Test between Australia and India at the Gabba today.
Brisbane, Dec 04: Rain washed out most of the opening
session
in the first Test between Australia and India at the Gabba today.
Only 7.2 overs had been bowled when persistent showers forced the
teams to leave the field for the second time.
Australia were 32 without loss at lunch after being sent in by Sauruv Ganguly on a green wicket which the Indian captain hoped would suit his fast bowlers.
There was plenty of sideways movement in the first session but the Australians weathered the early attack with Matthew Hayden unbeaten on 16 and Justin Langer not out eight.
Hayden struck successive fours off Zaheer Khan's second over. Langer also drove Khan to the rope for an early four but was lucky when he was caught by Akash Chopra at bat-pad off a no-ball.
Langer mis-timed an attempted hook off Ashish Nehra and bottom edged the ball to Chopra.
The players left the field for the first time after half an hour. They returned after a 24-minute stoppage but managed only nine more minutes before the heavens opened again.
Match officials announced an extra hour's play would be added on to the end of the day to make up for lost time.
Both sides went into the match with three quickies and a spinner, with left-arm paceman Nathan Bracken selected to make his test debut for Australia.
Bracken, 26, was a late addition to the Australian one-day squad who won this year's World Cup in South Africa and was added to the test squad for the recent series with Zimbabwe after injuries to Glenn McGrath, Jason Gillespie and Brett Lee.
He was 12th man in the second test when Brad Williams earned his first cap but the pair swapped places this time, allowing bracken to become Australia's 387th Test player.
''Words can't describe what this feels like, the pride of being presented with the cap in front of everyone, it's what I dreamed about,'' Bracken told reporters.
''It's a surreal feeling but i hope this is only the beginning.''
Bureau Report
Australia were 32 without loss at lunch after being sent in by Sauruv Ganguly on a green wicket which the Indian captain hoped would suit his fast bowlers.
There was plenty of sideways movement in the first session but the Australians weathered the early attack with Matthew Hayden unbeaten on 16 and Justin Langer not out eight.
Hayden struck successive fours off Zaheer Khan's second over. Langer also drove Khan to the rope for an early four but was lucky when he was caught by Akash Chopra at bat-pad off a no-ball.
Langer mis-timed an attempted hook off Ashish Nehra and bottom edged the ball to Chopra.
The players left the field for the first time after half an hour. They returned after a 24-minute stoppage but managed only nine more minutes before the heavens opened again.
Match officials announced an extra hour's play would be added on to the end of the day to make up for lost time.
Both sides went into the match with three quickies and a spinner, with left-arm paceman Nathan Bracken selected to make his test debut for Australia.
Bracken, 26, was a late addition to the Australian one-day squad who won this year's World Cup in South Africa and was added to the test squad for the recent series with Zimbabwe after injuries to Glenn McGrath, Jason Gillespie and Brett Lee.
He was 12th man in the second test when Brad Williams earned his first cap but the pair swapped places this time, allowing bracken to become Australia's 387th Test player.
''Words can't describe what this feels like, the pride of being presented with the cap in front of everyone, it's what I dreamed about,'' Bracken told reporters.
''It's a surreal feeling but i hope this is only the beginning.''
Bureau Report