Clarke, Cowan lead Australia’s recovery to 306-4 on day 4 of 1st test against South Africa

By John Pye

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

BRISBANE, Australia — Michael Clarke continued to flourish as Australia’s cricket leader, posting his sixth test century since becoming test captain and sharing a 259-run partnership with Ed Cowan to bat the hosts out of trouble against top-ranked South Africa in the series-opening match.

Cowan scored his maiden test hundred before he was unluckily run out for 136 and Clarke was unbeaten on 126 as Australia reached 306-4 at tea on Monday, still 144 behind South Africa’s first innings with four sessions remaining in the first test at the Gabba.

Cowan was backing up, out of his crease, when fast bowler Dale Steyn got a hand to a full-blooded Clarke drive and deflected the ball onto the stumps at the non-striker’s end just before the tea interval. It was the only wicket to fall in the first two sessions on day four after Australia resumed on 111-3.

Clarke joined opener Cowan with the Australians reeling at 40-3 late Sunday and their nearly six-hour stand became the country’s highest fourth-wicket partnership in a test at the Gabba ground, surpassing the 245 by Mike Hussey and Clarke in 2007-2008 against Sri Lanka. The Clarke-Hussey combination was to resume after tea on Monday, with Hussey (1) joining Clarke at Cowan’s dismissal.

Cowan had a couple of chances, including one when he should have been run out on 106 after being sent back by Clarke when attempting a quick single and another on 123 when he hooked Rory Kleinveldt to deep fine leg, where Steyn and Jacques Rudolph got in the way of each other and put down a routine outfield catch.

The captaincy has certainly helped Clarke’s batting since he replaced Ricky Ponting as skipper after Australia’s quarterfinal exit at the World Cup last year.

Six of his 20 test hundreds have come in the last 14 months, including double and triple centuries.

Clarke played a couple of loose shots before and after reaching 50 but otherwise looked comfortable against the best pace trio in the world.

He stroked three boundaries in one over from Morne Morkel to move into the 90s, but then took a while to reach three figures — prodding behind point for a single on the ball before the drinks break in the middle session.

As Cowan had done before him, Clarke kissed his cap and hugged his batting partner to celebrate the milestone, before getting back to business.

His 126 contained 12 boundaries and came off 245 balls. Cowan hit 18 boundaries to prove he could convert a good start into a century and gave Clarke a gesture to signal no hard feelings when he was finally run out after 388 minutes at the crease.

The 30-year-old lefthander had a couple of anxious moments, including an inside edge for four in his 50s and a top-edged hook to move to 98.

Cowan’s place in the test lineup was under scrutiny coming into the series, but his assured innings — particularly after the failures of David Warner (4), Rob Quiney (9) and former captain Ricky Ponting (0) on Sunday evening — will help secure his spot at the top of the order.

His previous high score in seven tests was 74 against India in January, one of his three test half centuries.

00:11ET 12-11-12