BRISBANE, Australia (CMC):

West Indies bowled purposefully in the opening Test against Australia on Thursday, and gave some early proof that they may yet be a competitive force in this three-Test series.

None of the West Indies bowlers distinguished themselves, as Aus-tralia - choosing to bat - reached 322 for five in their first innings at the close on the opening day.

All of the West Indies' bowlers had decent spells at crucial points throughout the day, but Dwayne Bravo was the most successful with two wickets for 66 runs from 21 overs.

For the most part, the West Indies bowlers maintained a fullish length on the helpful Gabba pitch, and typically bowled on or just outside the line of the off-stump.

This brought them rewards, as Australia's top-order batsmen got starts, but failed to carry on - Simon Katich hit the top score of 92, Mike Hussey supported with 66, Ricky Ponting made 55, Marcus North was not out on 42, and Michael Clarke got 41.

No early breakthrough

West Indies failed to build on an early breakthrough from Jerome Taylor, and Katich and Ponting carried Australia to 114 for one at lunch.

Sharing the new ball with Kemar Roach for the first time, Taylor bowled steadily and struck when Shane Watson offered no stroke to a ball moving back, and was trapped lbw for a duck in the third over of the day.

But the West Indies' bowlers strayed from the plan, and Katich and Ponting both scored freely to pass 50 before lunch to help the home team shrug off their early setback.

Ravi Rampaul, playing in his first Test for West Indies, discovered the narrow margin for error in Tests when both batsmen struck him for sixes, and used him to bring up their landmarks.

Rampaul was tucked behind square for a single for Katich to reach his 50 from 68 balls, and the West Indies fast-medium bowler was hooked over deep fine leg for a six for Ponting to land his 50 from 64 balls in the final over before the interval.

In between periods of toil, West Indies created a few anxious moments for the two Australian batsmen - and Ponting in particular.

Taylor had Ponting, on 17, for what television replays showed was a palpable lbw decision, but umpire Asad Rauf ruled not out, and West Indies declined the chance to refer it to the video umpire under the new Umpire Decision Review System.

Good pitch

Bravo, playing his first Test in a year and a half, took two for 66 from 21 probing overs to help keep the Aussie batsmen in check.

"The pitch is good for batting. It did not do as much as we first thought so we knew we had to stick to the job," Bravo said.

"We had a game plan to stick to good lines and lengths and it worked quite well for me. Maybe they (Australia) got about 20 to 30 runs more than we would have liked but we stuck to it and we are in the game."

SCOREBOARD

Australia 1st Innings