On day one, 13 wickets fell; on day two, just one.
Batsmen tumbled on the opening day in a manner that made the owners of day-four tickets fear for their investments.
The pitch was greenish and moist, the ball swung, bounced and seamed, bowlers pitched the cherry up, batsmen lived on their nerves and keepers and slippers waited like crocodiles in a watering hole.
Day two's proceedings looked like they were taking place at a different venue, maybe on a different planet.
The pitch had flattened out, the moisture had evaporated, the ball wasn't moving nearly as much, whatever gremlins and demons existed the previous day had vanished, the batsmen looked utterly at ease and the bowlers grew clueless.
Having survived the tumult of day one, Ponting and Clarke saw it was time to cash in when they resumed yesterday.
They placed their milking stools under a bloated cow and went to work.
When they were full of milk, they started plucking plums from an orchard full of low-hanging fruit.
They ended up putting on 288.
By mid-afternoon, the Indian attack looked like it was bowling for run-outs.
They marked time waiting for a new ball, gave it to the quicks for a while then, in an act of abject surrender, tossed it to part-time spinner Virender Sehwag.
Ponting reached his first test century for two years but Clarke was hungry for more and was unbeaten on 251 at stumps.
- AAP
