Hayden takes Australia’s lead past 100-mark

By IANS

Sydney : Mathew Hayden stabilised the Australian innings with his unbeaten 77 and guided his team to 177 for two against India, when rain forced an early tea on the penultimate day of the second Test match at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) here Saturday.


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As the players rushed out of the ground for covers, Australia were leading by 108 runs. Giving Hayden good support on the other end was Mike Hussey batting on 43.

The Australians, resuming on their overnight score of 13 for no loss, got a good start with openers Hayden and Phil Jaques (42) adding 85 runs for the first wicket.

Jaques was the first to go but not before erasing India’s first-innings lead. The left-handed opener swung Anil Kumble to Yuvraj at midwicket to give the Indian skipper his 100th wicket against Australia.

Captain Ricky Ponting’s poor run with the bat continued and he again fell to his nemesis Harbhajan Singh. The Indian off-spinner, who has been summoned by the International Cricket Council (ICC) match referee Mike Procter for a hearing on a racial abuse charge, dismissed Ponting for the eighth time in as many Test matches.

Ponting failed to read Harbhajan and was caught off a leading edge at silly point by V.V.S. Laxman minutes before lunch. At the lunch break, Matthew Hayden was batting on 39 and Mike Hussey was yet to score.

The ebullient spinner’s joy was unbounded as he ran toward the boundary in celebration, rolling twice on the turf in front of the pavilion.

A heavy drizzle, which stopped play for 20 minutes in the morning session, is likely to cause some more interruptions over the last two days of the Test.

Australia went to lunch with 90 for two and came back strongly with both Hayden and Hussey taking on the Indian bowlers.

The pair scored 87 runs in the second session and pushed the Australian lead past 100 when the drizzle got too heavy and the covers had to come on forcing the umpires to call for an early tea.

The weather forecast may make it difficult for the Australians to get to their record-equalling 16th Test win on the trot, a record they set between October 1999 and February 2001. India ended that successful run in Kolkata in one of the greatest comebacks in Test cricket.

Australia’s record was in danger Friday itself when Sachin Tendulkar struck an unbeaten 154, his 38th Test century, and left the Australians in arrears on the first innings.

Australia lead the four-match series 1-0, having won the first Test in Melbourne by 337 runs.

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