Ricky Ponting will be feeling a lot better about his decision at the toss at the end of the second day's play in the second Test of the Pakistan Australia Test series at Headingley, Leeds.
ricky ponting michael clarke bat
Either it is a matter of pride or of downright shame that Shane Watson is becoming Australia's chief wicket taker despite having the likes of Mitchell Johnson, Ben Hilfenhaus and Doug Bollinger to rely on.
But the Australian captain will not mind who gets the six-for so long Australia are still in with a fighting chance. Australia who seemed to have the measure of Australia were slowly losing their hold by the end of the second day when Australia first fought back through Watson's bowling and then, managed to bring the game to an even keel with the captain and deputy doing a sterling job.
shane watson celebrates with teammates
Watson reduced Pakistan's ambitious by scaling through the middle order in a hurry with only the Pakistan captain, Salman Butt, and his opening partner, Imran Farhat, remaining the top scorers with forty-five and forty-three runs respectively.
Watson's six for thirty-three off eleven overs meant that Pakistan, who looking to be gaining a huge lead, could only secure a lead of 170 runs, a sizeable lead nevertheless, having scored 258 compared to Australia's first innings total of eighty-eight.
When Simon Katich departed courtesy Mohammad Aamer, that lead was looking significant. With Watson the second wicket to fall with the score on fifty-five, the match could have gone either way. As it turned out, Ricky Ponting survived a treacherous start for sixty-one runs, when he was fortunate not to be given out lbw, to forge a partnership with Michael Clarke, batting on thirty-two, for the third wicket worth eighty-one runs, that were beginning to wear down Pakistan before bad light stopped play.
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