Patterson ton puts duo in historic club

Kurtis Patterson scored his maiden Test hundred on Saturday and in doing so may have ushered in a new era of Australian batsmen not seen for three decades.

Patterson joined Travis Head in scoring his first Test century in the historic second Domain Test in Canberra, marking the first time in 30 years since two Australian batsmen have scored their first hundred in the same Test innings.

It was at Leeds in 1989 when Steve Waugh and Mark Taylor each scored their maiden Test hundreds, sparking incredible careers in the Baggy Green and beginning the resurrection of what was then Australia's maligned Test outfit.

Both Waugh and Taylor would go on to captain their country, win Ashes series home and abroad and compile mountains of runs for Australia as the world's dominant cricket nation.

Now Patterson and Head have the chance to cement their place in Australia's Test team, a side which has undergone severe turbulence in the past 12 months, and with an Ashes series less than six months away.

Following on from Head's dashing 161 on day one, Patterson was calm and composed as he confidently cruised to his maiden century for his country.

Like Head and Burns – the other Australian to post three figures this innings – Patterson was given a life, the lanky left-hander dropped at bat-pad from the first ball he faced.

After that initial good fortune, the 25-year-old's innings was chanceless.

Of the 13 fours and one six he struck en route to his century, the most commanding strokes were off the back foot; dominant pull and hook shots that raced to the boundary from the bowling of Sri Lanka's second-string attack.

But it was a sweetly-timed cover drive that brought the three runs he needed to reach 100.

The only thing more warming than Patterson's smile when reaching the milestone was the sight of his family in the stands, overcome with joy as he joined an elite group of Australians owning a Test match hundred.

Patterson is in a rich vein of form having posted twin hundreds against Sri Lanka in their sole warm-up fixture to catapult himself into the Test XI for the Gabba clash late last month.

In Brisbane he made 30 in difficult conditions under lights against a swinging pink ball, but in Canberra he was fluid and carefree.

Nerves might have got the better of him at the Gabba but the southpaw was much more comfortable in his second Test.

"To be honest, I probably overthought it I reckon, going into the first Test," he told cricket.com.au on Friday.

"Once I got out there it felt like another game of cricket with a few more people in the stands.

"That was a positive for me, to go out there and feel like it was another game of Shield cricket.

"I'm hoping this is a nice experience down here in Canberra for the first Test and once you get out there the initial nerves calm down and it's just another game of cricket."

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, Jhye Richardson, Peter Siddle, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis

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, Kasun Rajitha, Chamika Karunaratne, Vishwa Fernando

First Test: Australia won by an innings and 40 runs

Second Test: February 1-5, Canberra