On the second day of the third Test match against India on Sunday, Australia reached 234-3 at teatime thanks to a spectacular 103 not out from Travis Head and an undefeated half-century from Steve Smith.
On Saturday in Brisbane, Head and Smith batted through the middle session to put Australia firmly in control with their undefeated 159-run combination after all but 13.2 overs of the first day were washed out.
Smith struck 91 not out against the West Indies in January, also at the Gabba, but he struggled for most of his innings until reaching 65 for his first half-century.
All the other Australian batsmen had been affected by the Indians in the hot and muggy weather, but Head was just outstanding and took the attack right up to them.
Head was cautious early on and punished any sloppy deliveries, but the Indian attack bowled far more straight to him than they did in Adelaide, where he scored a brilliant 140 in a significant Australia victory.
Head took full advantage of the Indian bowlers’ stumbling as his scoring rate rose, hitting 13 fours and taking just 115 deliveries en route to his eleventh Test century.
When recalled spinner Ravindra Jadeja produced nine pointless overs for 35 runs, he was especially hard on him.
In the lengthy first session, Australia lost the wickets of Nathan McSweeney, Marnus Labuschagne, and Usman Khawaja, and they completed the day at 28-0.
On Sunday, the Indian bowlers were considerably tighter after being wasteful in their short Saturday appearance.
Khawaja had a terrible game and missed against the dangerous Jasprit Bumrah. He has also been having trouble scoring runs at the top of the order.
Before Bumrah eventually got the smallest of edges past wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant to leave Australia 31-1, he had only added two to his overnight total of 19.
When McSweeney (9) edged a straightforward catch to Virat Kohli at second slip in his subsequent over, Bumrah scored once again.
Smith and Labuschagne attempted to settle the innings, but the scoring rate was slow against the disciplined Indian attack because both batsmen were much below their peak before the Test.
On his way to reaching 12, Labuschagne faced 55 balls when, in an unusual move, he attempted an expansive drive off Nitish Kumar Reddy but was caught by Kohli at second slip with a thick edge.
There is a 1-1 tie in the five-match series.
