Jaques blows ton as rain halts Aussies
Australian opener Phil Jaques was left cursing a missed opportunity to post his first Test hundred on a frustrating weather-affected day two against Bangladesh.
The tourists march towards a thumping win was stalled by fierce storms that restricted the day's play to just over an hour and a half of action at Chittagong Divisional Stadium.
Jaques (66) exited before storms lashed the ground and admitted he was initially filthy for missing out on three figures.
"Obviously I would have loved a big one today but that is one of those things, I am really disappointed but getting my first Test half century was a pretty good feeling," he said.
"I was a little bit narky with myself."
In reply to Bangladesh's 197, Australia was 2-151 with nightwatchman Jason Gillespie (28no) and Ricky Ponting (19no) at the crease in the second Test.
Jaques said the side must knuckle down to build an imposing first innings lead.
"It was looking like we were going to set up the game and we were in a really good position," he said.
"Dizzy was going really well and Punter got off to a good start as well so we are not too far behind their score.
"Obviously it would have been nice to go on and get a big lead but we just have to just get into our work tomorrow."
After resuming at 1-76, Jaques was the only batsman to fall today at the hands of crafty left-armer Mohammad Rafique (2-30).
Jaques was out trying to loft the spinner but only managed to top-edge a simple catch to Shahriar Nafees at square leg.
It was a disappointing end for the New South Wales left-hander who made his debut against South Africa in the Boxing Day Test.
Jaques scored 2 and 28 in Melbourne but had the chance today to reinforce his claims to an opening sport when veterans Justin Langer and Matthew Hayden exit.
The 26-year-old only came into the touring party because of an injury to Langer and replaced Damien Martyn (elbow injury) for this match.
Jaques's demise today continued Rafiques' brilliant run against Australia in this series having taken match figures of 9-160 in the first Test at Fatullah Stadium.
There were large amounts of water on the playing field and the drainage at the ground was not great.
Dozens of local workers used sponges and scooped water into buckets in a bid to dry the centre of the ground.
But the problem still remained in the outfield with large puddles of water and minimal evaporation because of the high humidity.
By the end of the day the covers were held down by sandbags and handy lightning conductors in the form of metal poles.
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