Powered by century knocks of 107 and 112 not out by Thil Hughes and Luke P Bach, Australia XI sent the Combined Districts XI bowlers on a leather hunt to score 363 for eight in 90 overs on the opening day of the three-day semifinal of the all-India Buchi Babu tournament here on Tuesday.
At the MA Chidambaram stadium, Aussies, who opted to bat, had a splendid start through openers Thil Hughes, who blasted the rival attack in his 107-run knock off 204 balls studded with 16 fours, and Ed Cowan (79, 127b, 8x4, 1x6).
The duo put on 170 runs for the first wicket off 49.3 overs when the Districts XI off-spinner S Suresh Kumar drew first blood claiming Cowan. There was, however, more toil for the District bowlers as one-drop batsman Luke, another left hander, smashed them to remain unbeaten on 112 with eight fours and four sixes.
Districts medium pacer MK Shivakumar claimed four for 71 from his 17 overs.
In the other semifinal, Mumabi amassed 340 for nine from their 90 overs against Baroda, for whom Swapnil Singh took five for 98. Abhishek Nair top-scored for Mumbai with 82, adding 90 for the third wicket with Bhavin Thakar (40). Ajinkya Rahane remained unbeaten on 74.
Brief Scores: Australia XI: 363/8 in 90 overs (Thil Hughes 107, Ed Cowan 79, Luke P Bach 112 n.o., Steve Smithy 38; MK Shivakumar 4-71) vs Combined Districts XI.
Mumbai: 340/9 in 90 overs (Ajinkya Rahane 74 n.o., Vinayak Mane 34,  Abhishek Nair 82, Bhavin Thakar 40, Iqbal Abdullah 57; Swapnil Singh 5-98) vs Baroda.