Lehmann and Ponting pile pain on Lara

Ricky Ponting and Darren Lehmann made maximum use of a West Indies bowling attack which looks as weak as any in Test cricket – including Bangladesh – as Australia amassed 391 for 3 off 90 overs on the opening day of the Second Test.

Generous lbw decisions by Asoka de Silva presented West Indies with the wickets of Justin Langer and Matthew Hayden off Merv Dillon within the first hour. After that, Ponting, unbeaten on 146, and Lehmann, caught by debutant wicket-keeper Carlton Baugh off Vasbert Drakes for 160 four overs before the close, rattled up a record Australian third-wicket partnership of 315. Lehmann made up for years in the wilderness with his first hundred in his 10th Test. Lucky to escape an undetected edge off Drakes when 65 and dropped by Baugh off Dillon on 118, he hit a six and 21 fours. Ponting followed his 117 in the First Test with his 16th hundred in his 66th Test.

Already one down, and fielding one of the least experienced teams in their history, the West Indies woes began a half-hour before the start, when Shivnarine Chanderpaul withdrew with discomfort in the left knee that was struck in his whirlwind first Test hundred. Jermaine Lawson and Ridley Jacobs had already been eliminated so West Indies carried two newcomers into the match, 20-year-old Baugh and 21-year-old all-rounder David Bernard.

They were further disadvantaged when Steve Waugh chose to bat on a pitch that is likely to crack after the longest dry spell in Trinidad for 30 years.