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 | | You are in: You are in: Cricket: Australia v South Africa |
 | |  Friday, 14 December, 2001, 10:03 GMT Langer relishes challenge  Langer deals severely with a short delivery Australian opener Justin Langer savoured another memorable batting display following the opening day against South Africa in Adelaide. The left-hander made 116 out of an Australian close of play total of 272 for six, but the day ended on a downbeat note for the home side who were 182 for one at one stage. "I think it was a really exciting, the way today went, and it augurs well for the rest of the series. "It's going to be a really, tough uncompromising battle," said Langer. "We're both going to be trading punches and the team that can take the most punches will come out on top."
It was the 11th hundred of Langer's Test career and his second at the Adelaide Oval, where he made an unbeaten 179 in the third Test against England three years ago. Slow left-armer Claude Henderson picked up three wickets for the tourists and the pitch is expected to become increasingly helpful to the spinners as the match wears on. "It was pretty hard to bat on and the wicket's only going to get harder. It's definitely going to spin and we've got the best leg-spinner in the world (Shane Warne), so that's got to be to our advantage," Langer added.
Henderson produced an excellent performance in only his third Test match after being given a late call-up for the tour when Nicky Boje was ruled out because of injury. "I was planning to have a good Christmas meal with my mum, I wasn't really expecting to be here, things changed around very quickly and I'm very happy," he said. "There's a bit of bounce which helps spinners a lot. "On day one of a Test match, I don't really expect to get that much turn out of the rough, but it was there and I enjoyed it. "The guys kept it very tight. It was a very good comeback and we dired the runs up, which helps a lot. "Australia's tail is very strong and Damien Martyn is a quality player, so there's still a lot of hard work to do." | | Internet links:  The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites Other top Australia v South Africa stories:  Links to more Australia v South Africa stories are at the foot of the page. | |||
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