In-form Patterson added to Test squad

NSW batsman Kurtis Patterson has been confirmed as a late addition to Australia's Test squad on the back of his twin centuries in the Cricket Australia XI tour match against Sri Lanka over the weekend.

Patterson struck unbeaten knocks of 157 and 102 in two innings for the CA XI at Hobart's Blundstone Arena during the three-day match at the back end of last week, and National Selector Trevor Hohns said that innings helped selectors decide to make a late addition to the previously announced Test team.

"Kurtis has been pushing his case for selection for some time, he has been a consistent top order player for New South Wales, was a member of the Australian A tour of India prior to the commencement of our summer, and was most recently selected to compete in the day night tour match against Sri Lanka in Hobart," Hohns said in a statement.

"We have been asking batters around the country to score hundreds if they want to be considered for selection, and given Kurtis's consistent performances for NSW and his two unbeaten centuries in last week's tour match against our upcoming opponent, Sri Lanka, we believe he deserves to be added to the Test squad.

"Kurtis has joined the squad in Brisbane today to commence our preparations for the first Test starting on Thursday."

Patterson joins Joe Burns, Matthew Renshaw and Will Pucovski as new faces in Australia's Test squad from the side that lost 2-1 to India.

That trio, along with Marnus Labuschagne, who hit a second-innings 50 in Hobart, were the leading names in a top-flight Cricket Australia XI match.

It was touted as having no bearing on selection for Thursday's Gabba Test match with a 13-man squad having already been picked for that game, but was played in front of national selector Greg Chappell, while Australia Test captain and Hobart native Tim Paine was in attendance.

The 25-year-old Patterson, who added an unbeaten 167 in a white-ball 50-over match in NSW Premier Cricket the weekend before the tour match to underline his rich vein of form, now becomes the 14th man in the Test squad according to reports.

The Hobart tour match did not have first-class status, but Patterson has scored 428 runs at 47.55 so far in this summer's JLT Sheffield Shield, with one century and three fifties.

Patterson, who has 26 fifties and six hundreds in a six-year first class career, had previously edured criticism for failing to turn half-centuries into hundreds. After his first-innings ton in Hobart he spoke of the "monkey off his back" after hitting an unbeaten 107 in a Shield match against Western Australia, and has since scored a further three hundreds across all formats.

The two Queensland openers vying to partner Marcus Harris at the top of the Australian order failed to impress in the match after they both fell cheaply in both innings. Burns scored 4 and 22 while Renshaw hit 7 and 10 in his two knocks. 

Promising young talent Will Pucovski hit 22 in the first-innings before he fell into a short-ball trapped and top-edged a hook to fine leg, but was strong in the second innings in making an unbeaten 33 before the CA XI declared in a match designed to give Sri Lanka pink-ball preparations.

The Australia squad assembled in Brisbane over the weekend and they have their first training session at Allan Border Field today.

Domain Test Series v Sri Lanka

Australia: Tim Paine (c/wk), Joe Burns, Pat Cummins, Marcus Harris, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Kurtis Patterson, Will Pucovski, Matt Renshaw, Jhye Richardson, Mitchell Starc, Peter Siddle

Sri Lanka: Dinesh Chandimal (c), Dimuth Karunaratne, Lahiru Thirimanne, Kusal Mendis, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Dhananjaya de Silva, Roshen Silva, Niroshan Dickwella (wk), Kusal Perera, Dilruwan Perera, Lakshan Sandakan, Suranga Lakmal, Lahiru Kumara, Dushmantha Chameera, Kasun Rajitha

Jan 17-19: Tour match, CA XI v SL, Hobart (D/N)

Jan 24-28: First Test, Gabba (D/N)

Feb 1-5: Second Test, Canberra