Damien Martyn scored his seventh Test century as Australia reached 320 for five before torrential rain washed out play for the day

The Wisden Bulletin by Charlie Austin18-Mar-2004Australia 120 and 320 for 5 (Martyn 104*) lead Sri Lanka 211 by 229 runs
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Darren Lehmann struck a few blows, but failed to do anything significant© Getty Images
Damien Martyn batted studiously throughout the first half of the third dayto keep Australia in front in the second Test at Kandy. Australia lost twowickets in the morning – including Adam Gilchrist’s for 144 – and anotherafter lunch, but Martyn ensured that the innings didn’t fall away with hisseventh Test century, an epic of patience and concentration. Australiareached 320 for 5 before torrential rain washed out play for the day.Australia’s lead – already a sizable 229 considering that Sri Lanka haveonly successfully chased over 200 on two previous occasions in theirhistory – is not yet large enough to guarantee the series on a pitch thathas grown increasingly placid but Sri Lanka, who have indicated that theywould be satisfied chasing 300, are fast running out of time.Martyn’s marathon 104 not out spanned nearly seven hours and 273 balls. Herode his luck – he was dropped on 0 and 65 – and battled hard for his runs,content to play the anchor role as his colleagues scored more freely. It washis second consecutive hundred of the series and provided furtherjustification for Australia’s selectors’ reluctance to dump him during his century-less25-month spell.Australia started the morning cautiously, wary of the pitch after torrentialrain last evening. The surface remained dry, though, and there was littleassistance for Sri Lanka’s bowlers. Nevertheless, Martyn, on 65, was missedfor the second time in the innings by Mahela Jayawardene, who failed tolatch on to a ball that came low to his right.Martyn soldiered on, almost entirely in defensive mode. But MuttiahMuralitharan provided the breakthrough that Sri Lanka needed, as AdamGilchrist missed a ball that straightened, and was adjudged lbw. Gilchristhad scored 144 from 185 balls and hit 19 fours and three sixes, a finereturn to form after a wretched start to the series that included twoconsecutive ducks (226 for 3). Gilchrist’s wicket ended a 200-run stand for the third wicket, a record for Australia against Sri Lanka.Sri Lanka pressed for another wicket, but Darren Lehmann was once again inan aggressive mood, cracking four fours in his 36-ball 21. But HashanTillakaratne’s first bowling change of the morning did the trick, asChaminda Vaas, operating off a short run with a 70-over old ball, foundsufficient movement to beat Lehmann’s bat and trap him in front (255 for 4).Ricky Ponting (29) came out to bat at No. 6 after intensive treatment on his strained upper back. He did not appear to be inconvenienced by the injury, though, as he danced down the track to Muralitharan and launched into a lofted drive over the corrugated iron-roofed stands at long-on.Sri Lanka took the new ball in the 88th over of the innings, about 10minutes before the lunch break. The harder ball did the trick too, althoughsomewhat fortuitously as Dave Orchard, the umpire, detected a thin Pontingedge when television replays indicated that Vaas’s delivery had just brushedhis midriff (304 for 5).Sri Lanka pressed for another wicket to expose Australia’s tail butAndrew Symonds, playing and missing frequently against the seamers, hung onfor close to an hour for his six runs as Martyn inched towards his century. Martyn eventually reached his hundred with a thick edge, before play was suspended, first for bad light and then for heavy rain.Play will resume at 10am on Friday.