Pakistan have been cricket's equivalent of the Bedouin over the past few months, playing their home matches here, there and everywhere. But while the wonderfully scenic environs of the P Saravanamuttu Stadium may be redolent of an oasis, there was no fountain of good cheer on offer to them today. Instead, you witnessed Australia putting the iron boot on the windpipe early on and not easing off until after tea, by which time deep lacerations had been inflicted. This was a typically clinical Australian batting performance, albeit with an atypical failure from Matthew Hayden. Ricky Ponting had been asked in the wake of the mauling by Sri Lanka in the ICC Champions Trophy semi-final if he thought it might affect morale ahead of the Test match. He had given the inquisitor a "Which planet are you on, mate?" look before an emphatic "No". It was perhaps appropriate then that he was at the forefront of a magnificent batting display in the morning, when the ball disappeared to all corners of this small oval ground, causing heartburn to dozens of crows snoozing in the outfield.

Pakistan came into this match with a patchwork quilt side and their lack of discipline and planning were ruthlessly capitalised on by foes not known for yielding an inch. At times, the new ball bowlers pitched it as short as you might have done on the old WACA, and they paid the price, as Ponting swivelled into pull shots with almost arrogant panache. Justin Langer played the sheet anchor role but the fact that he got to 50 in 59 balls says much about Pakistan's inability to stick to any sort of line and length. Over the past 24 months, Australia haven't consistently scored at over 4 runs an over just by adopting flamboyant measures; they've done so by being Ming the Merciless against wayward bowling.

Of the bowlers on view, Shoaib Akhtar bowled his heart out, with nothing to show for the buckets of sweat, while Waqar Younis served up largely tripe to finish with two wickets. Funny old game, this. Saqlain deceived Mark Waugh in flight with a delivery that the great Prasanna would have been proud of but for the most part, the Australians handled him with an ease that will send frissons of worry down Pakistani spines.

And speaking of Waugh, Junior, how pleasant was it to see him on the road to getting his run-making Mojo back? He started off characteristically poorly, but opened out just before and after tea with the array of strokes – primarily silken drives through cover and flicks off the pads - that once made him top of the easy-on-the-eye list. The cynics might say the wayward bowling made him look good but the fact remains that it was an innings as beautiful as the arena in which it was played.

Ponting's relentless assault will get the headlines, but it's a couple of Waugh cover-drives that will make the scrapbook from this opening day. And if Pakistan don't get rid of Damien Martyn and Adam Gilchrist early on tomorrow, they might find themselves on the scrap heap as far as this match is concerned.

Dileep Premachandran is assistant editor of Wisden.com in India

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