Gaji
Australia 316 and 209 for 3 (Hughes 122*, Herath 3-54) lead Sri Lanka 473 (Mathews 105*, Dilshan 83, Sangakkara 79, M Jayawardene 51, Siddle 4-91) by 52 runs
Phillip Hughes scored his first Test century in two-and- a-half years to give Australia every prospect of playing out a series-winning draw at the SSC. But at the end of a day that began with a Sri Lankan crawl as Angelo Mathews ate up valuable time in success his maiden Test hundred, Rangana Herath had disturbed Australia's top order sufficient to give Sri Lanka some hope of victory.
Sri Lanka must win the match to level the series, and their fate hinges on whether they can run through Australia's middle order early on the final day. At stump on the fourth afternoon, Australia was 52 runs in front, with seven wickets in hand, and they had a well-set Hughes still at the crease on 122 next to the captain Michael Clarke on 8.
If time does beat Sri Lanka, they will be apologetic their slow march on the fourth morning, when they added 45 runs to their during the night total but took more than an hour and a half to do so. By tea, Australia had all but knocked off the 157-run first-innings deficit and they were in no hurry during the final session, happy to bat as much time out of the match as possible.
Not that Hughes had been slow. He bring up his century from his 141st release with a push through the off side for two, and his celebration was visibly muted: there was a small fist pump and raise of the bat but none of the helmet-kissing that has marked Australian milestones in recent years. He knew that the selectors had shown great faith in him by dropping Simon Katich.
Hughes hadn't approved fifty in any of his past ten Test innings, and not since his twin hundreds in Durban in March 2009 had he reach triple figures for his country. He took 22 balls to get throughout the nineties, which built-in a nervous moment on 99 when he survive an lbw review after getting in a tangle trying to dab behind gully; the ball had hit the flap of his pad before bat, but outside the line.
Earlier, Hughes had been in fine form and his driving throughout cover whenever the seamers over pitched were particularly strong. He also cleared the midwicket boundary with a slog off Herath and brought up his fifty with another slog-sweep, this time off Tillakaratne Dilshan, from his 67th delivery. Importantly, he had support all the way.
His partnerships with Shane Watson, Shaun Marsh and Ricky Ponting were all worth sixty-something. Herath worked hard to remove all three batsmen, the removal from office of Ponting for 28 late in the day a key blow when the ball turned sharply and kissed the batsman's gloves on the way through to Mahela Jayawardene at slip.
Phillip Hughes scored his first Test century in two-and- a-half years to give Australia every prospect of playing out a series-winning draw at the SSC. But at the end of a day that began with a Sri Lankan crawl as Angelo Mathews ate up valuable time in success his maiden Test hundred, Rangana Herath had disturbed Australia's top order sufficient to give Sri Lanka some hope of victory.
Sri Lanka must win the match to level the series, and their fate hinges on whether they can run through Australia's middle order early on the final day. At stump on the fourth afternoon, Australia was 52 runs in front, with seven wickets in hand, and they had a well-set Hughes still at the crease on 122 next to the captain Michael Clarke on 8.
If time does beat Sri Lanka, they will be apologetic their slow march on the fourth morning, when they added 45 runs to their during the night total but took more than an hour and a half to do so. By tea, Australia had all but knocked off the 157-run first-innings deficit and they were in no hurry during the final session, happy to bat as much time out of the match as possible.
Not that Hughes had been slow. He bring up his century from his 141st release with a push through the off side for two, and his celebration was visibly muted: there was a small fist pump and raise of the bat but none of the helmet-kissing that has marked Australian milestones in recent years. He knew that the selectors had shown great faith in him by dropping Simon Katich.
Hughes hadn't approved fifty in any of his past ten Test innings, and not since his twin hundreds in Durban in March 2009 had he reach triple figures for his country. He took 22 balls to get throughout the nineties, which built-in a nervous moment on 99 when he survive an lbw review after getting in a tangle trying to dab behind gully; the ball had hit the flap of his pad before bat, but outside the line.
Earlier, Hughes had been in fine form and his driving throughout cover whenever the seamers over pitched were particularly strong. He also cleared the midwicket boundary with a slog off Herath and brought up his fifty with another slog-sweep, this time off Tillakaratne Dilshan, from his 67th delivery. Importantly, he had support all the way.
His partnerships with Shane Watson, Shaun Marsh and Ricky Ponting were all worth sixty-something. Herath worked hard to remove all three batsmen, the removal from office of Ponting for 28 late in the day a key blow when the ball turned sharply and kissed the batsman's gloves on the way through to Mahela Jayawardene at slip.
