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Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke are aim to put an finish to a bad run in Test cricket when Australia face Sri Lanka in the three-Test series, starting Wednesday.
The visitors will be dependent on Captain Clarke and his precursor, Ponting, to claim the series. This will be Australia's first since the uncomfortable 3-1 Ashes defeat to England in January.
However, it will not be easy to regain form under hard conditions. The duo has struggle in the longer version of the game for close to two years now. They will be eager to make compensation when the first Test opens at the Galle International Stadium.
The 36-year-old Ponting is the third-highest run-getter in Test cricket at the back the Indian duo of Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid, with 12,363 runs from 152 matches. He has 39 centuries to his credit, though he has not hit a ton in his last 20 outings. His 209 against Pakistan at Hobart, in January, 2010, was his last develop.
Clarke, 30, has fared no better, going with no a hundred in 10 matches after hitting 168 against New Zealand in Wellington in March, last year. But a circle in the fortunes of the tourists' captain and elder statesman may be just an innings away.
Ponting, who made way for Clarke as captain after the World Cup in April, scored 53 and 90 not out during the earlier one-day series next to the Sri Lankans which Australia won 3-2.
Clarke also chips in with two half-centuries in the series and then scored 104 in a three-day put into practice match in Colombo last week ahead of the first test.
Clarke, who begins his reign as a full-time Australian Test captain on Wednesday, said he was keen to score Test runs again.
"My form has not been as good as I would like in Test cricket," Clarke told the travelling Australian media.
"For me, Test cricket is the final, the pinnacle, and I want to be at my best. I could not have asked for better training, but now I have got to do it when it counts. It's significant to make runs every time I bat but I would favor a hundred in the first Test."
Clarke, regard as one of the finest players of spin bowling, has scored 4,742 runs in 69 Tests at an average of 46.49 with 14 centuries.
Ponting admit Australia's Ashes loss, when he was captain, had overstated his batting and now looked forward to doing well as the team's forefront batsman.
"The team's presentation had started to play on my mind and it almost certainly dragged my batting down a little bit," Ponting told a website in a recent interview. "I have got to score runs that are going to be sufficient to win for Australia and that's my main objective for the instant future."
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