It took six Tests but Joe Burns and Travis Head have become the first Australian batsmen this summer to stake their claims for Ashes berths, smashing the hosts to 384-4 against Sri Lanka on day one in Canberra.
After Sri Lanka had Australia wobbling a 28-3 inside Friday’s first hour, Burns and Head hit centuries in a record-breaking 308-run fourth-wicket stand in the second Test – the first to be played at Manuka Oval.
Burns went to stumps unbeaten on 172, becoming the first Australian opener to bat through the first day of a Test in more than two years. Kurtis Patterson is with him on 25no, but only after Head had compiled a stylish 161 including a run-scoring spree after tea of 63 runs from 50 balls.
Batting together for the first time in a Test, the pair took few risks early but punished anything loose from a Sri Lankan attack, missing their three quicks from the Gabba through injury.
Burns was particularly strong off the back foot, pulling all three of their replacement quicks for boundaries through mid-wicket after getting off the mark with two cover drives for four.
He brought up his fourth Test century with a drop-and-run off Kasun Rajitha, taking a load of pressure off Australia’s otherwise barren top order in the process.
The Queenslander has put forward the strongest case possible for a ticket to the Ashes in August, when he might push to open with David Warner or bat in the middle order like he had done on debut.
Head looks a certainty to be there, with his maiden hundred coming after three half-centuries earlier this summer.
He again cut extremely well – with eight of his 21 boundaries coming through the point region – while he brought up his century when he danced down the wicket to Dilruwan Perera and whacked him to the boundary.
His downfall eventually came when he was trapped lbw to Vishwa Fernando (3-99), but not before he and Burns had combined for the team’s highest partnership against Sri Lanka in Australia.
Sri Lanka were also their own worst enemies, dropping Burns and Patterson once each and Head twice – all from relatively simple chances at Test level.
But still, the pair’s runs came after Marcus Harris, Marnus Labuschagne and the out-of-form Usman Khawaja failed to impress in their last Tests before the Ashes.
Harris was out for 11 when he drove Fernando to point, Khawaja for a third-ball duck when his feet failed to move edging the same bowler, before Labuschagne nicked off to debutant Chamika Karunaratne for six.