Second Test, Sydney (day one, stumps):
Australia 376-7 v India Symonds was playing some beautiful shots late in the day |
Andrew Symonds enjoyed two big slices of luck to hit an unbeaten 137 and take Australia from a worrying 134-6 to 376-7 against India in the second Test.
It was a dispiriting day for the tourists, who lost the toss but enjoyed a purple patch immediately after lunch when Australia lost four quick wickets.
RP Singh had 4-108 but by the end of the day Australia had recovered well with Brad Hogg (79) playing a key role.
He and Symonds put on 175, with Brett Lee adding further vital runs.
But India will feel they had some harsh treatment from the umpires.
Symonds was on 30 when he got an outside edge off Ishant Sharma, the ball taking a visible and audible deflection on its way to wicket-keeper Mahendra Dhoni.
 | I was very lucky... That's cricket though. I can sit here and tell you about my bad decisions as well, but I won't |
The Indians appealed confidently, but the veteran West Indian umpire Steve Bucknor inexplicably denied the appeal, although the bat was some distance away from Symonds' body.
The third umpire, Australian Bruce Oxenford, also left India cursing their luck when a stumping appeal was rejected off Anil Kumble with Symonds on 48.
It was a marginal shout that might have gone against the batsman on another day.
When Ricky Ponting (55) and Mike Hussey (41) took Australia to a confident 95-2 at lunch, there was little sign of the volatile turn the match would take soon after the interval.
But Harbhajan Singh, whose record against Ponting is a good one, trapped the Australian skipper lbw.
He won a fortuitous decision off English umpire Mark Benson as the batsman had edged the ball before it hit his pads.
| 606: DEBATE |
That said, Ponting had survived a confident appeal for caught behind off Sourav Ganguly on 17 then a missed stumping chance from Harbhajan on 31 before his luck deserted him.
Two balls later, Hussey was on his way, playing back to RP Singh and edging to Sachin Tendulkar at first slip.
In the following over, Australia were 119-4 as Michael Clarke suffered a brainstorm facing Harbhajan, electing to play no shot to a standard off-break to go lbw.
It got even better for India when Tendulkar snaffled Adam Gilchrist for seven - giving Singh his fourth success and Tendulkar his third catch.
He had worked out a brilliant formula for removing Australia's left-handers - having also attracted the outside edges of Phil Jaques (0) and Matthew Hayden (13).
Fifty-five overs were left in the day when Gilchrist departed, but India's fortunes declined steeply as Hogg and Symonds settled into their partnership.
Undaunted by the situation, both batsmen scored quickly.
 Ishant Sharma curses his luck as Andrew Symonds is reprieved |
Symonds proved adept at cutting and sweeping the spinners while Hogg played a series of bright drives off both front and back foot for four.
By tea, they had moved the score to 214-6 - Hogg outscoring Symonds to stand on 48 to his partner's 39.
They added a further 97 after the interval with some brutal hitting at times, with Symonds hitting Harbhajan for two sixes over wide long-on.
He moved to 99 by hitting the same bowler over the top for four, and was on 101 when Hogg finally departed, Rahul Dravid picking up a sharp slip catch off Kumble.
Hogg had bettered his previous Test best score by 44.
But the second new ball brought further runs for Symonds, who launched a series of boundaries off the tiring Singh.
Lee played and missed regularly early in his innings but settled to reach 31 not out and all the problems were India's at stumps.
Symonds, on his second Test century following his 156 against England in December 2006, was looking hungry for many more runs.
Australia's Andrew Symonds:
"I was very lucky. I was out when I was 30, given not out. "That's cricket though. I can sit here and tell you about my bad decisions as well, but I won't.
"There's ways to improve [decision-making], but let's not push and prod it too much. It's a good game, it's a great game.
"Players make mistakes every day. Umpires make mistakes, too. It's how you handle them and how you keep going after those mistakes are made."
India's RP Singh:
"I went to the Australia Cricket Academy when Tim Nielsen was the head coach and he told me about Australian conditions. "I learned a lot. I spent about 45 days there.
"There's still three more wickets to go, but I think the wicket's still pretty slow and we have a great batting line-up.
"I think it's going to be a better batting wicket tomorrow because the wicket is now slow."
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