Having lost just one wicket during the final session of day one of its Pura Cup clash against South Australia at the Adelaide Oval, Western Australia will head into the second day comfortably placed at a score of 4/273.

Star batsman Justin Langer said the match, played by two full-strength teams, was a good practice for Australian players gearing up to face an international season against the West Indies and Zimbabwe. And, for much of the day, it looked it - with Western Australia being made to work hard for its runs and the visitors finding it difficult to take wickets.

After winning the toss and electing to bat, the Warriors scored at a solid rate, but lacked the extra edge to lead them to the three-hundred mark by the end of play. They will be hoping for a big score from Damien Martyn when play resumes tomorrow - the Australian Test hopeful having finished the day on 56.

Martyn, who toiled for 186 minutes to post his 50 off 161 balls, struck six boundaries for the day. He will resume tomorrow with Tom Moody by his side, the captain on 47 off 97 deliveries.

The pair were joined with the team on 4/190, when Simon Katich fell lbw to Peter McIntyre. Katich, one of Australia's most exciting young batsmen, played a slow innings today - finishing on 25 from 60 balls, with two fours.

Earlier in the day, the crowd of 900 was entertained by a breezy 60 from Langer, but not before he had endured an early scare.

After scoring three ducks from three innings so far this season, Langer nearly departed for another today, when a Jason Gillespie yorker went straight through him. "It was an absolute beauty," he said of the ball that almost sent the speedster on his way to a hat-trick. "Most times when you get out in batting, it's batsman error, but had I have got cleaned up that first ball, I'd definitely say that I could've done too much about it, it was a great ball," he said.

But the 29-year-old was glad the ball didn't crash into the stumps after missing his edge. "Yeah it was good to get off the mark. You're always a bit nervous when you come off a couple of ducks, but you know, for me, it was a bad week at the office really. Most people have a bad week at the office but mine becomes public that's all. I wasn't too worried about it, I know I've been batting well. When you play every week of the year, you've got to have one bad one in 12 months, so I'd like to just put that behind me and get on and have a good season now."

In the first session of the day, Western Australia had fallen just shy of the one hundred mark, going to lunch at 1/99. The Redbacks then swung the momentum their way, with Gillespie and Paul Wilson picking up the wickets of Langer and Mike Hussey (48).

Fittingly, Gillespie, the hardest-working of the Redbacks today, was involved in each of the first three dismissals - snaring the wickets of Ryan Campbell (34) and Langer and assisting Wilson with a regulation catch to end Hussey's marathon innings.

Looking sharp and dangerous, he was the pick of the South Australian attack today, finishing with a miserly 52 runs off his 26 overs, including ten maidens. Wilson was the next best, with one wicket, five maidens and 49 runs off his 20 overs. Blewett, with 24 runs from his three overs, and Young, with 62 from 21, were the most expensive. McIntyre also had a disappointing day (his only consolation Katich's wicket in the last session) and was hit for 70 runs off 23 overs.

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