Aussies annihilate India

AUSTRALIA have taken a 1-0 lead in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series after thrashing India by 337 runs in the first cricket Test at the MCG.

In another impressive performance by Australia’s bowlers, the home side rolled the tourists for 161 in their second innings to claim a 15th win in succession.

Set 499 for victory, India’s batsmen again failed to live up to their reputations and were all out in 74 overs, after losing 5-27 after tea.

An Australian win in the second Test in Sydney next week will equal the record set by Steve Waugh’s side in 1999-2001, who won 16 matches in a row, and will also guarantee the Border-Gavaskar Trophy stays in the grasp of Ricky Ponting’s side.

What looked a tough day in Melbourne’s dry heat before lunch, when India were relatively comfortably placed at 1-55, turned into another crushing performance over the last two sessions.

Andrew Symonds’ decision to bowl off spin just before lunch was an inspired one, as he removed Rahul Dravid (16) to have the tourists a wobbly 2-56 after the first session.

The Australians then took four wickets in the middle session, including the big scalps of Sachin Tendulkar (15) and VVS Laxman (42), and were halfway there at tea after the departure of Yuvraj Singh, who was leg before to Brad Hogg for 5.

Any hope the tourists had of taking the match into a fifth day were all but extinguished when they lost 3-0 in the space of four balls within the first hour of the first session.

That collapse included the wickets of Harbhajan Singh – run out without facing a ball after a great piece of fielding by Mike Hussey, who saved the ball at cover and threw to the non-striker’s end – and Sourav Ganguly (40), caught at bat pad off Hogg’s bowling two balls later.

The Australian bowlers were again on top of their game despite bowling in tough conditions and on a slow wicket, having rolled India for 196 on day two.

Brett Lee claimed the wicket of Wasim Jaffer (15) in the eighth over of the day and then got the prized scalp of Tendulkar and finished with 2-43, and six wickets for the match.

Mitchell Johnson’s (3-21) three wickets after tea, which included bowling RP Singh to end the match, gave him some deserved rewards for bowling well throughout the game.

The third fast bowler, Stuart Clark, was again unrelenting with his accuracy and bounce, and took 1-20 from 15 overs.

Hogg became really dangerous on a wearing pitch and finished with 2-51 after two wickets in the first innings, while Symonds’ (1-25) removal of Dravid was the big wicket Australia needed after India did a good job of stonewalling in the first session.

The match was also an excellent one for Australia vice-captain Adam Gilchrist, who claimed the national wicketkeeping record from predecessor Ian Healy. His eight dismissals for the match left him with 399 scalps.

Australia’s victory margin was one of the biggest in matches between these sides and represented three days of dominance by the home side after honours were shared on Boxing Day.

India’s comeback with the ball on day one kept Australia to 343 in their first innings, but India slumped to a 147-run deficit at the halfway point after they were bundled out by Clark and Lee.

Australia then set a mammoth victory target when they declared their second innings closed at 7-351, late on day three, and despite India’s talk of putting up a fight, the tourists never got close.

AAP