Martyn: 'this was the hardest innings of all'

Damien Martyn completed an emphatic return to form with his second hundred in consecutive matches against Sri Lanka, as Australia manoeuvred themselves into a strong position on the third day at Kandy. And afterwards he was a contented man when he spoke to the press.

"The sub-continent is always a tough place to play your cricket," he said, "but these have to be two of the hardest hundreds I have ever made. But it is satisfying to have done it in the second innings when it has really mattered.

"You need a bit of luck," he conceded, after being dropped in the morning session," and you know you are going to play and miss a few times. You've just got to take the good with the bad, and it was satisfying that I spent a long time at the crease."

Despite a healthy lead of 229 at the close of play, Martyn accepted that Australia's approach to Muttiah Muralitharan would be crucial to their chances of sealing the series. "We have all got different gameplans against him," he said, "depending on whether he is bowling over or round the wicket. All the batsmen have played him pretty well. We have been positive but patient, which you have to be over here.

"Every innings on the subcontinent is a learning curve," added Martyn. "It's one of those frontiers that is great to make runs on, especially against quality spin bowling. I will take the good things from this innings and go forward hopefully to score more runs in the future."

With two days remaining, a result is highly probable, even though the third day was cut short by rain. "We want to get as big a lead as possible," said Martyn, "because we know it is going to be hard for them to bat last. It is definitely going to spin still and if you hit the seam on a good length there is still something in the wicket."

Sri Lanka's coach, John Dyson, conceded that it had been a tough day for his bowlers, but insisted that his side were not out of the running just yet. "Today's cricket was really tough," he said. "There were no easy runs or wickets out there. But if we get one out early tomorrow morning then we are right back in the game. For me, this match is still on a knife-edge, and hopefully the break will freshen up our bowlers for tomorrow."