Hussey, Chawla star on tense day

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HYDERABAD, Oct 4 (Cricinfo): It was a day of contrasting halves. The Australians lost five wickets for 27 runs in the morning session before Michael Hussey and Stuart Clark defied the Board President's XI for more than 40 overs and added 96 runs for the final wicket to save the follow-on.
Piyush Chawla and Pragyan Ojha threatened to trample them but the last-wicket partnership allowed the tourists to reduce the first-innings deficit to 141. Brett Lee and Clark bowled probing spells to pick up two quick wickets before Wasim Jaffer and Yuvraj Singh began the repair work with an unbroken 75-run partnership.
Hussey and Clark ensured another valuable match-day's practice was not wasted. Hussey's ability to read the variations allowed him to play the ball late and he got into comfortable positions with precise footwork to execute the sweep and the cut. He scored 95 of his 126 runs square of the pitch.
Clark, the batsman, was a surprise. He used his height to lean forward and smother the spin on a slowing pitch. After growing in confidence, he even struck Chawla and Ojha for straight sixes. His resistance prompted Yuvraj to take the new ball but the fast bowlers couldn't separate the pair either. Yuvraj brought himself on and Clark was eventually caught at midwicket.
The application with which Hussey and Clark batted was lacking earlier in the day when the Australians' struggle against spin continued. It took Ojha four balls to remove Brad Haddin, who used his feet effectively against the spinners last evening. Haddin had attempted to charge Ojha's third ball but changed his mind. Sensing he might try it again, Ojha shortened the length and turned the ball away from the right-hander, leaving Haddin stranded outside his crease. In his next over Ojha skidded one through to Jason Krejza and induced an edge to first slip.
Board President's XI 110 for 2 (Jaffer 46*, Yuvraj 37*) and 455 lead Australians 314 (Hussey 126*, Chawla 5-76) by 251 runs