When Sri Lankan cricketers have nightmares, they must see Mike Hussey.
The veteran Australian continued an astonishing run against the island nation with his unbeaten 115 in the first Test at Bellerive.
He now averages 125.28 against the Lankans after five tons in six matches.
The 37-year-old is only 98 runs behind Ricky Ponting as the heaviest scorer in Tests between the two nations with 877.
But, incredibly, Ponting played eight more matches for his 975 runs at 46.42.
“Sometimes you just have a team that you seem to score runs against and there’s other teams that you sort of struggle against,” Hussey said.
“I don’t know why. It just seems to happen.”
Hussey’s innings had been chanceless until, on 96, he skied a pull shot straight to Sri Lankan allrounder Angelo Mathews.
Mathews dropped the catch, the ball rolled to the boundary and Hussey was celebrating yet another century.
“I guess when you get in the 90s your mind starts playing tricks on you,” he said.
“Certainly my heart-rate was raised and you do some silly things when you’re under pressure like that.
“I couldn’t believe it when I picked him out.
“Sometimes in this game it just happens to be your day.”
His superb game continued when he removed key man Kumar Sangakkara with a sharp catch in the gully.
Sri Lanka coach Graham Ford had a simple explanation for the West Australian’s success against his side.
“Because he’s a bloody good player,” Ford said.
“We didn’t really have the firepower to get through his defences and he’s a good player of spin.
“He is a good player and he has a good record full-stop.”
With fellow veteran Ponting gone and the clock ticking loudly for Indian maestro Sachin Tendulkar, Hussey doesn’t know how much longer he has at the top of the game.
“I’ve been thinking for the last few years if I could just get through this year I’d be happy,” he said.
“I’m not really thinking too much further than this year at the moment.
“I know that I can’t play forever so every single opportunity that you get to score a hundred, you really want to grasp that chance.”