Ponting has won the toss and has chosen to bat.

The wicket is a typical slow Bellerive wicket, but is providing some early movement off the seam, and should provide a fair bit of spin throughout the entire test. Sangakkara and Malinga have been brought back in which should give the Sri Lankans a boost.

Score just after lunch: Australia 1-104 Jacques 64*, Ponting 17*

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Slater just criticised Jacques as a batsman, describing hin as a "one pace player" in so far as he hits to high a proportion of boundaries to singles. Slater thinks he has to learn to use softer hands so he can hit more singles.

Should Jacques, who has hit up 10 000 first class runs to the point of making it to the Aussie test team, suddenly change the way he plays to suit Slater? Or should have Slater have worked on his own shortcomings as a player, to give him enough credibility to be worth listening to?

I've decided on the former, so am turning off channel 9 and am going to switch on ABC Grandstand..........

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Jaques brings up another ton. Congradulations!!

Im listening to Kerry O'Keef worst laugh ever

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Bill Ponsford - The only one who could play in Bradman’s company and make it a duet.

Test tons are easier to get than Pura cup tons - the Pura cup being of a higher standard and quality than the international test scene, but i reckon these two tons he has scored are the sweetest for him

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Hey were saying on ABC Grandstand that his average firstclass hundred is over 170. So when he gets a start he goes on with it.

I would agree with you seamer, if Sri Lanka didnt have Murali they would not have a better bowling line up than any of the state sides

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Bill Ponsford - The only one who could play in Bradman’s company and make it a duet.

I beg to differ, i think playing at a International Test Game is a lot grander and theres a lot more pressure. Therefore making these tons a lot more significant than his Pura Cup ones.

Why did Sri Lanka drop Vaas and keep Fernando in?

Well done Jaques and Hussey on back to back tons.I guess the Aussies will look to declare around teatime tomorrow and put the Sri Lankan batting under severe pressure again.

I didn't watch any of Jaques innings but Ian Harvey said it was a much better innings than at Brisbane which is no surprise as you rarely get a brilliant innings when someone makes their first test ton (Slater apart) and once that is out of the way the players play with greater freedom.He is a quality player and i still can't believe that Yorkshire let him go to another county.

As i said during Brisbane,the batting isn't a problem,it is the bowling that needs to be tested,sadly in this series it doesn't look like it will be.I will reserve judgement on the bowling until the end of the winter schedule and they will have played away from home as well.

I have been bemused by Sri Lanka over these last two Test. They are a side with the potential bowling attack to restrict Australia, the pace of Malinga, the experince and guile of Vaas and Murali!!

Yet, they have not put these three guys on the field at the same time. How did Mahroof or Fernando get ahead of Vaas!! Why did they let Malinga sit out the last Test!!

And then I read this:-

"Fernando was playing with a niggling ankle injury, which he has been carrying for the past four-five months."

and I am even more baffled... for me the coach should not be blaming his bowlers, but looking no further than his own selection policy!! I know the guy has only been in the post since June, but in that time he has lost a home ODI series to England and looks like getting completely humiliated in this series, questions will have to be asked about whether he is up to the job.

I agree that there is a lot more pressure - crowds and TV coverage aside, there are 6 figure paypackets at stake. And of course test tons carry far more significance - thats what every kid that takes up the game strives for.

I am talking in terms of quality. How many guys currently walking around in Pura cup with no chance of a test callup, would walk into most other test teams in the world. The quality of batsmanship breeds quality bowlers and vice versa. I reckon if you went through all of the Aussies that have played regularly for Australia over the last 15 years, you will find that their test averages are superior to their Pura cup/Sheffield shield averages.

It would be interesting to see actually, i might check them out when i get some time

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Well Seamer, this is a bold statement even from an Australian. While you are checking the averages, could you do me a favour and check what Ian Harvey averages with both bat and ball in Australia. How many hundreds does he have. I know for a fact that he was very successful in county cricket but we all know that the standards in county cricket are not that great. Ian Harvey played for my local side here in Cape Town for 1 season about 2 years ago. I must say that he was pretty awful and could not buy a run or a wicket. He was a total flop and in the end his contract was not renewed due to poor performance. He did not dispute this and even agreed to cancel his lucrative contract. Then he goes to England and starts scoring 100's in his sleep.

I agree that the Pura cup is a very high standard but it does not mean that successful players in the Pura cup are necessarily better than test players. I give India as an example. Considering that their domestic setup is not really in the league of County cricket or Pura cup cricket, why is it that they are capable of producing batsman all the time. Every new batsman comes in and looks comfortable at international level. Look at Gambir and Uthappa. Now are you saying that certain Pura cup players would just walk into the Indian team over the last 5 to 10 years. I seriously doubt it.

Our competition here in SA only incldes 6 sides as well and I think that our standard is quite high. In fact if it was not for the strength of the pound(results in a lot of our talented players leaving for England) it would be even stronger.

I think that you overate the Pura cup. While I agree that the competition is immensely strong and probably the strongest inter state/provincial competition, I think that the lower levels (grassroots etc) are responsible for the high Australian standards. I believe that the cricketing structure, coaching etc, at school and junior levels are outstanding in Australia and talented players are recognized at a young age. The academies are also excellent. Thus young cricketers in Australia have far more opportunities than other young cricketers.

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434, world record for the shortest period. Whos choking now?