26 December, 2008

Ricky Ponting emphatically answered critics of his captaincy with a gutsy ton but his team remains in a dogfight to square the series against South Africa after the opening day of the second Test at the MCG on Friday.

After yet another failure from opener Matthew Hayden, who made eight, vice-captain Michael Clarke will be entrusted with the task of steering Australia to a total in the vicinity of 400 on Saturday when it resumes on the second morning on 6-280.

Guilty of rash dismissals in Perth, Clarke has batted with more caution this time, taking more than three and a half hours to reach 36.

While not the best of his career, Ponting's 37th Test century, and fourth at the MCG, was particularly sweet, coming after a week of intense criticism following his side's six-wicket loss in the first Test.

Given a life on 24, Ponting made the Proteas pay, delighting the 63,263 fans with an entertaining 101 off only 126 balls before being dismissed with the last ball of the second session.

Scratchy early in the face of an excellent but unrewarded spell of outswing bowling from Jacques Kallis, who made the Australian captain play and miss several times, Ponting gradually improved as his innings wore on.

His innings hit top swing during the middle session when he plundered Makhaya Ntini for three consecutive boundaries, the first one seeing him past 50.

He raced through the 90s, taking just five balls to leap from 87 to three figures, but his innings came to an end when he was caught at short leg by Hashim Amla off the bowling of Paul Harris.

Unlucky in Perth, Hayden had nobody to blame but himself this time when he attempted to drive Ntini but succeeded only to hit it straight to JP Duminy at point.

Katich, in contrast, appeared at ease in the middle and was in magnificent touch.

Batting with the assuredness lacking in his opening partner, Katich was largely untroubled by the Proteas attack.

So it came as a surprise when Katich, on 54, played on to an innocuous delivery from Steyn, who had earlier not threatened with the new ball.

With his confidence lifted, Steyn started to build some menacing pace and, with the aid of movement in the air, resembled the demon quick whose stocks have risen significantly this year.

Michael Hussey, who had no trouble playing the disappointing Morne Morkel, succumbed to his first delivery from Steyn.

Unable to withdraw his bat in time, Hussey feathered one to Mark Boucher, completing his third duck from his past five innings.

Andrew Symonds and Brad Haddin both made bright starts but could not curb their natural aggression and were both victims of outstanding slips catching.

Coming in the penultimate over of the day, Haddin's dismissal, for 40, was particularly bitter for the Australians, who had batted with tremendous application against the second new ball.