Katich shines as Australia, WI kick off series

Riding on half centuries by opener Simon Katich (92), skipper Ricky Ponting (55) and in-form batsman Mike Hussey (66), Australia finished the first day of the first Test match against the West Indies on 322 for five off 90 overs on Thursday.

u00a0

After losing their make shift opener Shane Watson in the third over without scoring to Jerome Taylor, the hosts recovered through the second wicket partnership of 126 runs by Katich and Ponting, reports cricketnext.com.

Earlier the hosts won the toss and elected to bat first against a full fledged West Indies team led by Chris Gayle.

Katich, who looked all set for a century, also added another 74 runs for the third wicket with Hussey before being caught by wicketkeeper D Ramdin off D Bravo for 92 which came off 134 balls with 13 hits to the boundary and six.

Hussey then addeed another 53 runs for the fourth wicket with vice-captain Michael Clarke before being caught and bowled by S J Benn while Clarke became Bravo's second victim after making 41 runs.

At stumps Marcos North (42) and Brad Haddin (9) were holding the fort.

For the visitors Bravo took two for 66 while Taylor and Benn had a wicket each while A Barath and Ravi Rampaul made their Test debut for the West Indies.