SYDNEY, JANUARY 3: At last the sun broke away from the clouds. For the first time in weeks, the Indians got to see clear blue skies and a bright warm day. And for the second day in running, the Sydney Cricket Ground was flowing with people.Not that it made any difference to the fortunes of the Indian team. The relentless Australians continued their march towards a clean sweep of the three-Test series with a batting display of grit and dourness mixed with an occasional aggression to shut out the Indians completely from the contest. Not that the Australians did not have their problems.There was a sense of deja vu in all that happened on the second day of the final Test match.The Australians experienced a lot of problems in countering the movement of the Indian pace attack. The openers failed yet again. But like in the past, Australia found their man to extricate them out of a difficult situation. In a very strong batting line-up, the most successful batsman today was Justin Langer. He haddone little of note so far in the series but changed all that with a hundred and more to place his side in a situation from where they can think of winning this match by an innings. Unlike the Indians, the greatest strength of the Australians has been the way they find their way out of batting troubles. If it is not Steve Waugh shepherding them out of harm's way, then it will be Adam Gilchrist doing the job or a Ricky Ponting taking on the responsibility. The wicket seemed to have been drained off the juices that were in it for the Australian fast bowlers yesterday. Even then, the Indians battled on gamely with Javagal Srinath bowling a couple of lively spells. He could consider himself unlucky when Langer allowed a straight ball to hit his front pad and umpire Ian Robinson of Zimbabwe ruled him not out. If Tendulkar was out yesterday, how Langer was ruled not out can only be explained by the umpire.Srinath was to produce another incisive spell with the second new ball. He was again unlucky to get onlythe wicket of Steve Waugh in that spell as he had Langer and Ponting groping, fishing and doing everything but edge the ball.Langer's long productive innings had its moment of strength but for most of the time it was a sketchy effort that survived a number of turbulent phases. But he did not give up and was to finally celebrate his hundred and 150.His first partner was Mark Waugh. The crowd gave him a standing ovation, for having reached the milestone of playing in his 100th Test match. Mark's magical wrists worked well but not for long. This was not to be his day. His brother filled in the breach well, though Ganguly who bowled a very fine spell of which Mark was a victim, beat him a few times outside the off stump.Once Steve Waugh overcame that jittery spell of his there was no looking back for him. Langer once past his hundred changed his gear and went on to attack for a while. So did Steve Waugh and the two in their long association for the fourth wicket killed the match as a contest.Withtheir fielding too wilting and despite Srinath getting the breakthrough - Steve Waugh's wicket to a Robinson's lbw verdict - with the second new ball there wasn't much for India to even remotely feel good about the day.SCOREBOARDINDIA (Ist innings): MSK Prasad c M. Waugh b G. McGrath 5 (43m,37b) (hung his bat outside the off stump) VVS Laxman c M. Slater b B. Lee 7 (93m, 60b) (fending a shortball) R. Dravid c R. Ponting b G. McGrath 29 (102, 74b, 1 four) (edging an outswinger) S Tendulkar lbw G. McGrath 45 (82m, 53b, 8 fours) (playing across the line) S. Ganguly c S. Waugh b G. Blewett 1 (5m, 5b) (patting a short ball to slips) H. Kanitkar c A. Gilchrist b B. Lee 10 (83m, 67b, 1 four) (edging an attempted drive outside the off stump) V. Bhardawaj c A. Gilchrist b Lee 6 (67m, 35b, 1 four) (trying to glide down the legside) A. Kumble c J. Langer b G. McGrath 26 (59m, 56b, 4 fours) B. (lofting to extra cover) C. A. Agarkar c M. Waugh b Lee 0 (1m, 1b) (edging to slips) J. Srinath c R.Ponting b G. McGrath 3 (27m, 16b) (hanging the bat outside the off stump) V. Prasad not out 1 (25m, 7b) Extras (lb-12, w-1, nb-4) 17 Total 150 in 295m, 67.5 overs Fall of wickets: 1-10 (MSK Prasad), 2-27 (Laxman), 3-68 (Dravid), 4-69 (Ganguly), 5-95 (Tendulkar), 6-118 (Kanitkar), 7-119 (Bhardwaj), 8-119 (Agarkar), 9-126 (Srinath) Bowling: G. McGrath 18.5-748-5 D. Fleming 13-7-24-0 Lee 21-9-39-4 S. Warne 12-4-22-0 G. Blewett 3-2-5-1AUSTRALIA (Ist innings): G. Blewett b V. Prasad 19 (90m, 54b) (beaten by a sharp breakback) M. Slater c MSK Prasad b J. Srinath 1(18m, 11b ) (beaten by an outswinger) J. Langer batting 167 ( 394m, 263b, 23 fours) M. Waugh b S. Ganguly 32 ( 102m, 74b, 5 fours) (played on to an inswinger) S. Waugh lbw J. Srinath 57 (151m, 124b, 9 fours) (struck on the pads, the ball came in and kept low) R. Ponting batting 34 (67m, 55b, 7 fours) Extras (b-2, lb-12, nb-7) 21 Total (for 4 wkts) 331 in 413m, 95 overs Fall of wickets: 1-9(Slater), 2-49 (Blewett),3-146 (M. Waugh), 4-267(S. Waugh) Bowling: J. Srinath 20-3-81-2 A. Agarkar 17-3-70-0 V. Prasad 20-8-47-1 A. Kumble 17-4-54-0 S. Ganguly 9-1-30-0 V. Bhardawaj 12-1-35-0
