Lara: 'It wasn't discouraging'

Brian Lara "It was a good effort from a young attack. It was a decent day for Australia and it was a decent day for us. I hope the young fast bowlers are not going to get discouraged. They have to understand that they will get better bowling pitches to play on and weaker batting line-ups to bowl against in the future, so we have to be patient.

Keep going: Brian Lara encourages Jermaine Lawson as Australia power on Photo © Getty Images

"The wicket was very flat, it offered less help than the ones the bowlers played on in Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago. It's an opportunity for our batsmen to go out and bat for as long as possible.

"Most importantly we need to contain them some more and we have to bat as long as possible. I am not going to declare, even if I get 400 to 500 runs. It is important for us to understand that we are playing against the best and the more time we spend out there batting, the better it will be for us in the future."

Ricky Ponting "We were surprised to get sent in and we have capitalised. There's no grass on it. It's a bit like a one-day pitch. These have been some of the easiest pitches I have batted on in my Test career. There's very little bounce and the pace has been very even every time.

"It is going to be very important that we bat well today. It's also going to be important to do well in our second innings. We don't want to repeat our last performance here in 1999 when we made over 400 runs in the first innings but only scored just over 100 in the second and let them back into the game."

Justin Langer "When Brian Lara won the toss and decided to bowl first on a flat, grassless pitch, there was a stunned silence in our changing room."