Australia well placed after first day

Australia were 322 for five at stumps on the first day of the first test against the West Indies at the 'Gabba, Brisbane, on Thursday.

Simon Katich and Ricky Ponting came together after the loss of Shane Watson with the team yet to score after opting to bat, to produce a settling stand of 126.

Both, however fell in the second session – Katich, only eight short of his century (including 13 fours and a six), and Ponting for 55.

Mike Hussey looked uncomfortable from the outset, but found his , and the boundaries, just to give his wicket away on 66.

The West Indies – seemingly out of touch on a few occasions – kept fighting back with energetic bowling.

Dwayne Bravo removed Michael Clarke (41) and also picked up Katich in his 2/66.

Marcus North (42) and Brad Haddin (9) have the task of continuing the good work tomorrow.

West Indies' day started badly when Ramnaresh Sarwan was ruled out with a back injury, but they were able to afford Adrian Barath and Ravi Rampaul the chance to make their test debuts.

Teams:

West Indies: Chris Gayle (capt), Adrian Barath, Travis Dowlin, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Dwayne Bravo, Brendan Nash, Denesh Ramdin (wk), Jerome Taylor, Sulieman Benn, Ravi Rampaul, Kemar Roach.