Hosts dish out usual stuff

Australia bundled bangladesh out for 97 but unexpectedly laboured to overhaul the meagre tally on the opening day of the first-ever Test bet...

Australia bundled bangladesh out for 97 but unexpectedly laboured to overhaul the meagre tally on the opening day of the first-ever Test between the two disparate cricket powers here today.

Cricket8217;s leading team dismissed the test minnows in 42.2 overs in just under three hours and by the close were 24 runs in Front at 121 for two.

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Bangladesh 1st Innings: H Sarkar lbw McGrath 0; J Omar c Gilchrist b Gillespie 5; H Bashar b Lee 16; M Ashraful c Gillespie b McGrath 23; A Sahariar b Lee 0; A Kapali lbw MaCgill 0; K Mashud lbw McGrath 11; K Mahmud c Gilchrist b MacGill 21; M Mortaza c Gilchrist b Gillespie 3; T Baishya not out 2; M Islam c Langer b Lee 1; Extras b-1, lb-5, w-6, nb-3: 15 Total all out: 97 Fall of wickets: 1-4, 2-26, 3-36, 4-39, 5-40, 6-60, 7-87, 8-91, 9-94, 10-97 Bowling: McGrath 13-6-20-3, Gillespie 8-1-27-2, Lee 8.2-2-23-3, MacGill 13-4-21-2. Australia 1st Innings: J.Langer batting 40; M.Hayden b Mashrafe Mortaza 11; R.Ponting c Habibul Bashar b Tapash Baisya 10; D.Lehmann batting 51; Extras lb-4, w-2, nb-3: 9 Total For 2 wkts: 121 Fall of wickets: 1-13, 2-43 Bowling: Manjural Islam 11-3-30-0, Mashrafe Mortaza 10-3-19-1, Tapash Baisya 6-2-8-1, Khaled Mahmud 7-0-25-0, Alok Kapali 8-1-25-0, Mohammad Ashraful 2-0-9-0, Habibul Bashar 1-0-1-0.

The Australians lost the wickets of opener Matthew Hayden 11 and vice-captain Ricky Ponting 10 along the way, but Justin Langer 40 and Darren Lehmann 51 batted the home team into the lead in a match which is not expected to last anywhere near the full five days.

The signs looked ominous for Bangladesh, who have not won any of their 19 matches since debuting as a Test nation in 2000, when they were blasted out for under 100.

Skipper Steve Waugh won the toss and sent Bangladesh into bat on an easy-paced drop-in pitch and by lunch the tourists were reeling at 63 for six against Australia8217;s formidable attack.

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A combination of spot-on relentless Australian bowling and some injudicious shot-selection proved to be Bangladesh8217;s downfall. It was all over for Bangladesh 50 minutes after lunch with Mohammad Ashraful topscoring with 23 off 52 balls and skipper Khaled Mahmud making 21 from 39 deliveries.

There were expectations that Australia would establish a sizeable innings by stumps, but Bangladesh8217;s bowlers gamely stuck to line and length and restricted the Australians from their customary jaunty four-an-over run-rate to a more circumspect 2.5 an over. Along the way Bangladesh had some successes with the wickets of Hayden and Ponting.

Hayden attempted an extravagant pull shot and was bowled by 19-year-old paceman Mashrafe Mortaza in the eighth over of the innings, while Javed Omar took a super diving catch in the covers to dismiss Ponting off seamer Tapash Baishya in the 19th over.

But Langer, who took 21 balls and 32 minutes to get off the mark, and Lehmann steered Australia to the lead in the 36th over, with Lehmann crashing leg-spinner Alok Kapali for six over long-on.

Lehmann8217;s half-century came off 93 balls in 100 minutes.