Australia captain Michael Clarke insists Shane Watson's long wait for a third Test century will end soon, after the all-rounder missed another chance to notch a big score.
Clarke (106) and Watson (83) shared in a superb 194-run partnership to put the hosts in a strong position on day two of the second Test against Sri Lanka at the MCG.
Australia finished the day at 8 for 440, with Mitchell Johnson plundering runs at the death with a stylish 73.
Clarke surpassed Ricky Ponting's record of most runs by an Australian in a calendar year on his way to yet another century, but following his dismissal, Watson failed to kick on and was dismissed soon after.
After Clarke was caught at second slip, Watson succumbed to nerves to hit a careless pull shot to Thilan Samaraweera in the deep.
But Clarke says Watson was simply unlucky, and his long-awaited third Test ton is just around the corner.
"Watto doesn't need to change anything, he's batted really well today," Clarke told Grandstand.
"He was unlucky today, the pull shot's one of his strengths and unfortunately he's hit it straight down the guy's throat.
"Nine times out of 10, Watto hits that for four or six.
"Full credit to him, I thought he played really well and if he keeps batting like that, hundreds will come."
The Test captain said it was an honour to surpass Ponting's record of 1,544 runs in a calendar year.
"It's very special, I didn't know it at the time, I didn't know how many runs I needed," he said.
"To me Ricky Ponting's one of the all-time great players Australia's ever had, so to beat Ricky at anything is a fantastic achievement. I'm very proud."
Clarke spoke of his relief at scoring his first ton at the MCG and praised his side's overall batting performance, singling out Johnson for his late cameo.
"It's always nice to make runs and always nicer to make a century for Australia and put us in a pretty good position," he said.
"I thought the boys played really well today. Watson was outstanding, Mitchell Johnson was really good at the back end of the day.
"It's nice to get that monkey off my back, that's for sure. There was a little bit in the paper in the few days leading up to this Test making it clear that I hadn't scored a hundred [at the MCG].
"It's certainly something that's been on my mind for a while now considering it's a beautiful ground and I love playing in Melbourne. It's nice to finally have made a hundred here."
Following Clarke and Watson's quick dismissals, Matthew Wade (1) was out almost immediately as the Aussies endured a mini-collapse, before Michael Hussey (34) and Johnson steadied the ship with a 61-run partnership.
Hussey was dismissed spectacularly as he top-edged a Tillakaratne Dilshan delivery, only to see Rangana Herath pouch a diving one-handed screamer at deep midwicket.
The catches for the cameras continued as Peter Siddle (13) edged one to Jayawardene in the slips late in the day, with the Sri Lankan captain diving well to his left.
Sri Lanka's batting coach Marvan Atapattu praised the two catches, saying they will hopefully give his players some confidence ahead of their second innings.
"It was two fantastic catches. Hopefully the catches Mahela has taken will give him confidence when he comes out to bat the next time around," Atapattu told Grandstand.
"Herath has been really good in the outfield. You see the same person doing the same old thing again when he was here in January, his performance in the field has been very good."
He says the injury news remains bad for the tourists, with Prasanna Jayawardene nursing a bruised thumb and paceman Chanaka Welegedara straining a hamstring.
"Welegedera doesn't seem to be looking too good at the moment," he said.
"We have Prasanna Jayawardene ... having a bruised thumb, the X-ray shows a hairline fracture, so he probably won't take any further part in terms of wicketkeeping.
"But hopefully in terms of batting he'll contribute.
"We've got batsmen who have made big scores, batted for such a long time. I expect them to put up a good show."
Tags: cricket, sport, melbourne-3000, vic, australia, sri-lanka First posted December 27, 2012 19:05:26
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