Jaques and Rogers put Australia A in control
A century stand from their openers helped Australia A finish on 109 at the end of the first day's play, just 90 behind Pakistan A
Cricinfo staff
12-Sep-2007
Australia A 109 for 0 (Jaques 56*, Rogers 50) trail Pakistan A 199 (Abdur Rauf 73, Bollinger 3-34) by 90 runs
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An unbroken century stand from their openers helped Australia A finish on 109, trailing Pakistan A by just 90, at the end of the first day's play of the first Test.
Phil Jaques, the more aggressive of the openers, carried on his fine form from the recently-concluded one-day series. He scored 56 with seven fours while Chris Rogers was more circumspect, striking two boundaries in his 50. Rogers came into this match on the back of a century in the last of the ODIs. Neither batsman did their cause any harm as they compete to become Matthew Hayden's new opening partner in Australia's Test team.
Faisal Iqbal, Pakistan's captain, tried six bowlers but to no avail as Jaques and Rogers safely played out the tricky passage of play comprising of 34 overs after Pakistan's dismal performance with the bat.
The home side started poorly after electing to bat, losing three wickets, including that of Yasir Hameed with only 18 on the board. Hameed's wicket was crucial as he had been among the runs, scoring two centuries in the limited-overs matches. Doug Bollinger, the left-arm fast man, cleaned up Taufeeq Umar for a duck and had Hameed (11) and Hasan Raza (0) caught.
Khalid Latif and Iqbal briefly stabilised the innings before Latif was dismissed by James Hopes. Mansoor Amjad, who had an encouraging stint with the bat at Leicestershire this season, hung around for 90 balls, scoring 25, as Iqbal's aggressive knock of 33 was brought to an end by Hopes.
Abdur Rauf, better known for his bowling even though he has scored five first-class half-centuries, then played a lone hand in ensuring the Pakistan total earned respectability. Rauf smashed seven fours and three sixes in his 84-ball 73, adding 71 with the tail to take Pakistan to what seemed a decent 199.
Dan Cullen and Cameron White grabbed two wickets each as Stuart MacGill, playing his first match of the tour, ended the innings wicketless.
