COLOMBO, SEPT 30: Openers Greg Blewett and Michael Slater hit half-centuries and shared their second successive century partnership to help Australia to a healthy score on the first day of the third and final Test against Sri Lanka.Blewett made a defiant 70 and Slater a well-compiled 59 as they put together a stand of 126 off 53 overs after Steve Waugh had won the toss and elected to bat on a pitch which is already taking spin.The stand was broken by part-time spinner Russel Arnold when he had Slater stumped by Romesh Kaluwitharana ending his 191-minute stay. Slater who took the man-of-the-match award in the drawn Galle Test with a knock of 96, hit six fours.After the stand was broken, Australia suffered a minor collapse when they lost four wickets for 71 runs as Sri Lanka spinners spearheaded by Muthiah Muralitharan redressed the balance to some extent.Blewett was out shortly after tea, when his intended on-drive off left-arm spinner Rangana Herath ended up in extra cover's hands. He batted 228minutes and hit nine fours. Both openers were given lives by poor Sri Lankan catching, Blewett at 26 and 68 and Slater at 38.Sri Lanka grabbed two further wickets for the addition of only one run when Muralitharan had the out of form Mark Waugh caught at short leg for 13 and then had Justin Langer edging a catch to Arjuna Ranatunga at slip at 32.Mark Waugh was unfortunate to be given out by Kandiah Francis, standing in his final test when TV replays showed the ball being caught off his pads.Steve Waugh survived a confident catch behind the wicket off Herath when umpire Peter Willey turned down the appeal before the players came off for bad light, 45 minutes before scheduled close.Australia trail Sri Lanka 1-0 in the three-match series.SCOREBOARDAustralia (1st innings): G Blewett c Atapattu b Herath 70, M Slater st Kaluwitharana b Arnold 59, J Langer c Ranatunga b Muralitharan 32, M Waugh c Arnold b Muralitharan 13, S Waugh batting 10, R Ponting batting 11. Extras (nb-8) 8.Total (for 4 wkts, 88.2 overs) 203.Fall of wickets: 1-126 (Slater), 2-147 (Blewett), 3-182 (M. Waugh), 4-183 (Langer).Bowling: Vaas 12-2-32-0, Zoysa 6-4-8-0, Herath 23.2-7-64-1, Muralitharan 32-3-83-2, Jayasuriya 8-2-13-0, Arnold 7-4-3-1.
