Centuries galore for Australia
Simon Katich and Darren Lehmann gave the Australian selectors the proverbial headache on the opening day of their tour match against the Sri Lanka Cricket President's XI
Australians 484 for 6 (Lehmann 134, Katich 116, Ponting 116) v Sri Lanka Cricket President's XI
Scorecard
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Katich and Lehmann are competing with the allrounder Andrew Symonds for a solitary middle-order slot, and on this evidence, the selectors will have to decide on the toss of a coin. Katich made 116 off 118 balls with 17 fours and two sixes, while Lehmann, who is still recovering from the death of his friend and mentor David Hookes, slugged an entertaining 134 off 143 balls with 19 fours.
The pair have been going head-to-head for the last few months - Katich was given his Test opportunity when Lehmann tore a calf muscle against Zimbabwe early in the Australian season, and grasped it with two match-saving innings of 125 and 77 in the final Test against India at Sydney. In six Tests he's averaging 60, while Lehmann is averaging 49.75 from his 15 Tests.
Katich was all class, threading the ball through slender gaps and, apart from one chance, when he was dropped at second slip on 67, he was impeccable. He wasn't afraid to go over the top either, with his first six bringing an early tea adjournment when the ball got lost in a property bordering the ground.
Lehmann, by contrast, seemed to be batting for fun, and towards the end of his innings he showed a reckless disregard for the coaching manual, taking guard more than a metre outside leg stump. At one stage he was so far away from the stumps he was almost off the pitch. He employed the reverse sweep liberally, danced well down the pitch to all the bowlers, even the pacemen, and brought a cavalier feel to the innings with some inventive shot-making. Symonds, meanwhile, furthered his own claims for a Test spot, smacking a quick 45 not out.
"It's been a good workout for Katich and Lehmann," said Ponting., whose own century was virtually overlooked. "It looks like the wicket will take a fair bit of turn late in the game which will be good for our bowlers. It will also be a useful exercise should we bat a second time, because it's those conditions that we will need to be ready for come the Test matches."
Ponting's 116 took his tour tally to 417 runs in six matches. He was eventually stumped by de Silva off the bowling off Rangana Herath, who also claimed the wicket of Justin Langer (35), who shouldered arms to a straight delivery.
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