Aussies set on Waugh path

HARARE, OCT 16: Australia captain Steve Waugh hit a superb unbeaten 151 to leave Zimbabwe facing an uphill battle to save the one-off Tes...

HARARE, OCT 16: Australia captain Steve Waugh hit a superb unbeaten 151 to leave Zimbabwe facing an uphill battle to save the one-off Test today. Waugh8217;s 20th Test century-only the 17th player to achieve the feat boosted Australia from 253 for five to 422 all out and left Zimbabwe needing a daunting 228 just to make their opponents bat again.

Debutant opener Trevor Gripper, Perth-raised Murray Goodwin and Grant Flower set about the task resolutely and took Zimbabwe to 80 for one with two days left.

But the first part of the day belonged to Waugh even though he presented a simple chance to Grant Flower at cover point while on 94. His 230-ball century included 16 boundaries and took four hours 41 minutes.

By the time last man Glenn McGrath was caught at slip for 13 Waugh had occupied the crease for a mammoth seven hours 14 minutes and had dealt with 353 deliveries. He struck 18 boundaries in total. Precisely half his centuries have been in excess of 150. Number nine Damien Fleming thrashed a 10-foursecond Test half century off 55 balls then calmed down to reach 65.

Scoreboard

Zimbabwe 1st innings: 194

Australia 1st innings; overnight 275-5: M Slater c A Flower b Strang 4, G Blewett c Campbell b Streak 1, J Langer run out 44, M Waugh camp;b G Flower 90, S Waugh not out 151, R Ponting c Johnson b Streak 31, I Healy c A Flower b Strang 5, S Warne c A Flower b Streak 6, D Fleming lbw b Streak 65, C Miller c Johnson b Streak 2, G McGrath c Johnson b Whittall 13; Extras: lb5, w4, nb1 10. Total: all out in 139.4 overs 422

Fall of wickets: 1-6, 2-8, 3-96, 4-174, 5-253, 6-275, 7-282, 8-396, 9-398

Bowling: Olonga 17-1-83-0, Streak 34-8-93-5, Strang 44-14-96-2, Johnson 2-0-14-0, Whittall 21.4-3-74-1, G.Flower 18-3-38-1, Gripper 3-0-19-0Zimbabwe 2nd innings: T Gripper batting 25, G Flower lbw b McGrath 32, M Goodwin batting 11; Extras b9, nb3 12. Total: for one wicket in 44 overs 80

Fall of wicket: 1-56

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Bowling: McGrath 12-8-5-1, Fleming 10-3-15-0, Miller 8-2-25-0, Ponting 1-1-0-0,Warne 13-7-26-0.