Ponting hits fast century

Australia 330-5 v Pakistan

Ricky Ponting hit a rapid hundred as Australia's one-day captain overshadowed Steve Waugh's return to international action on the first day of the first Test against Pakistan here yesterday.

Mark Waugh also made his mark as he became only the 11th Test batsman to reach 8,000 runs.

Ponting came to the crease to face the sixth ball of the opening over, after Matthew Hayden had top-edged to Imran Nazir at cover. By the time he was out, in the 57th over, he had punished some mediocre Pakistan bowling by hitting 141 runs from only 163 balls.

Play was cut short because of bad light in Colombo, the venue for this Test after political tensions in Pakistan had forced the series out of the country. But Australia had by then established a dominating position after compiling 330 for 5.

Steve Waugh, the fifth to bat, made 31 but his Test average fell below 50 as a result. His twin brother, Mark, was also in the runs and did somewhat better by adding 55.

Australia chose to bat after winning the toss and, after recovering from the early loss of Hayden, it looked to have been a good decision. Ponting joined Justin Langer in the middle and the pair set the tone for the day by scoring runs freely.

Both looked good for hundreds, but Langer departed for 72 with the score on 188 when he edged an Abdur Razzaq away-swinger into the gloves of the Pakistan wicketkeeper Rashid Latif. Ponting's 11th Test century arrived two overs later.

First day; Australia won toss

AUSTRALIA – First Innings

J L Langer c Rashid Latif b Abdur 72

M L Hayden c Imran Nazir b Waqar 4

R T Ponting c Younis Khan b Waqar 141

M E Waugh c & b Saqlain 55

*S R Waugh c Younis Khan b Saqlain 31

D R Martyn not out 6

ÝA C Gilchrist not out 1

Extras (b4, lb12, nb4) 20

Total (for 5, 77.2 overs) 330

Fall: 1-5, 2-188, 3-272, 4-302, 5-329.

To bat: S K Warne, B Lee, J N Gillespie, G D McGrath.

Bowling: Waqar 11-2-64-2; Shoaib 13.2-2-39-0; Mohammad 15-2-70-0; Abdur 13-0-59-1; Saqlain 25-6-82-2.

PAKISTAN: Imran Nazir, Taufeeq Umar, Faisal Iqbal, Younis Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq, Abdur Razzaq, ÝRashid Latif, *Waqar Younis, Saqlain Mushtaq, Mohammad Sami, Shoaib Akhtar.

Umpires: S A Bucknor (WI) and S Venkataraghavan (India).