Ponting made his 24th Test century

Skipper Ricky Ponting hit a century to help steer Australia to 340-7 at stumps on day one of the first Test against the West Indies in Brisbane.

Ponting weighed in with 149 after Corey Collymore, who ended with 4-47, reduced the home side from 101-1 to 111-4.

Opener Mike Hussey made just one on his debut but Ponting shared stands of 92 with Matthew Hayden (37) and 104 with Adam Gilchrist (44).

Shane Warne (31) and Brett Lee took Australia past 300 and were unbeaten.

We really should have capitalised when we had them four down Corey Collymore

The West Indies, who won the toss and surprisingly put Australia into bat, opted for pace in their line-up, with Collymore and Fidel Edwards leading the attack.

Australia left out leg-spinner Stuart MacGill, preferring to go with seamer Nathan Bracken.

But the home side's young middle order again struggled to make their mark.

Michael Clarke fell for five, Simon Katich went for a duck and all-rounder Shane Watson departed for 16.

Called into the side when Justin Langer ruled himself out with a broken rib, Hussey departed in the sixth over when he top-edged an attempted pull shot behind off Daren Powell.

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Clarke was also caught behind, nicking a swift leg-cutter from Collymore, then Katich glanced a low catch to Chris Gayle at second slip.

It was the third wicket to fall in the space of 10 runs in three overs.

Collymore also captured the vital wickets of Hayden and Gilchrist when they were in full swing, while Edwards trapped Watson lbw.

Jermaine Lawson ended Ponting's brilliant innings when he flicked a catch straight to Marlon Samuels at mid-wicket.

Ponting survived two dropped catches and a run-out attempt to register his 24th Test hundred, joining Greg Chappell - now India's coach - in fourth place on Australia's list of century-makers.

Collymore ran through the Australian middle-order

He reached triple figures off 131 balls with a square cut off Gayle that sped to the boundary rope, raising his bat in triumph to a thunderous ovation from the Gabba crowd.

He was in an aggressive mood from the moment he arrived at the crease and struck a total of 15 fours in his 213-ball 316-minute innings.

Hayden had a life on 14 when captain Shivnarine Chanderpaul failed to hold a sharp chance at short mid-off but survived to make a valuable contribution that helped rebuild the innings.

He repelled the all-pace attack for more than two hours before Collymore dismissed him after lunch to trigger the collapse.

Gilchrist was far more adventurous, smacking six boundaries in his 64-ball cameo, but also fell lbw to Collymore just when he seemed to be heading towards a much bigger score.