Lehmann's century lifts Australia
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka -- Darren Lehmann scored his fifth test century to help Australia reach 314-6 at the close on the opening day of the third test against Sri Lanka.
Australian captain Ricky Ponting, whose side has already clinched victory in the three-match series, missed out on his first century of the series when he lobbed a simple catch to Muttiah Muralitharan on 92.
Lehmann finished unbeaten on 104 after a 121-run fourth wicket stand with Ponting.
That lifted the tourists out of trouble after they had slipped to 96-3 shortly after lunch.
"It was hard work all day for obvious reasons -- the field settings, the pitch spun a fair bit and it was quite slow, so it was hard to get into any rhythm," said Lehmann.
Opener Justin Langer was caught for 19 off Chaminda Vaas, and Thilan Samaraweera then had Matthew Hayden caught for 25.
Vaas returned to capture the wicket of Damien Martyn for 14, as well as ending Ponting's innings, before Muralitharan's off-spin caught out Simon Katich and Adam Gilchrist cheaply.
Vaas finished the day with the best bowling figures, taking 3-76 from 20 overs.
