Future Test batsmen shine for WA

Australia's next middle-order Test batsman was on show at North Sydney Oval today.

But which one was he?

Simon Katich and Damien Martyn gave Western Australia the upper hand on day two of the Pura Cup cricket match against New South Wales with a sparkling, unbeaten 162-run partnership.

Replying to the NSW first innings of 226, WA was 2-210 at lunch with Katich on 109 and Martyn on 64.

If injury, poor form, or in Mark Waugh's case stern action from the International Cricket Council over his involvement with Indian bookmakers, forces a change to Australia's top six, Katich and Martyn are next in line.

Katich was the front-runner 18 months ago but illness kept him out of the WA side last season and temporarily out of the selectors' minds.

In his absence, Martyn kept plundering runs for WA and the Australian one-day team to be rated a chance of replacing Waugh for the first Test against the West Indies last month.

It's anybody's guess who would get the nod if national selectors had to pick a new batsman tomorrow.

Either way, they couldn't go wrong.

Katich and Martyn both batted superbly today, untroubled as NSW captain Shane Lee tried six bowlers in a vain attempt to ebb the run flow.

WA opener Ryan Campbell added only five to his overnight score of 30 before cutting a Nathan Bracken delivery straight to Shawn Bradstreet at gully. The visitors were 2-48 but Katich, resuming on six, and Martyn took care of the NSW attack with an array of cracking drives, powerful pulls and a few neat late cuts to the vacant third-man area.

Bracken (2-57) is the only NSW wicket-taker.