Jaques forced to wait for double-century
Phil Jaques replicated his immaculate county form with a dominant and unbeaten 199 as Australia A's batsmen pounded into India A at Cairns
Cricinfo staff
18-Jul-2006
Phil Jaques replicated his immaculate county form with a dominant and unbeaten 199 as Australia A's batsmen pounded into India A at Cairns. Jaques, who played his first two Tests last summer, is targeting more top-level action during the Ashes series and after posting 921 runs at 102.33 in six County Championship appearances for Worcestershire, he enjoyed another prolific day that ended with his side in control at 2 for 361.
With rain hitting the north Queensland city over the past couple of days, the India A side hoped for early movement from the Cazaly's pitch after winning the toss in the four-day game, but Jaques and Chris Rogers defused any threat with an opening stand of 171 at more than four runs an over. Rogers collected 55 in a patient performance before the visitors threatened to hit back through Piyush Chawla and Shib Paul.
Chawla removed Rogers when he misjudged a sweep and an over later Paul, who could not finish his 14th over due to injury, had Mark Cosgrove caught behind by Parthiv Patel to drop Australia A to 2 for 172. The double burst was India A's only success of the day as Jaques was joined by Tasmania's Travis Birt in a 189-run stand that completed a superb performance by the hosts.
Jaques struck 19 fours in his 284-ball stay and needs only a single on day two to post his second double-century in two months following the 244 against Essex in the County Championship. Happy to pull and cut in the early stages, he reached three figures from 155 deliveries shortly after drinks in the second session and narrowly missed his second major milestone before stumps. Birt, who also played some crisp cross-bat shots, finished with 82 and will push to add a fourth first-class hundred for the Australian winter after picking up three with his county Derbyshire.
