Australia had resumed on 8-440 at the MCG in reply to Sri Lanka’s 156.

Chasing his second Test hundred, Johnson moved from 73 to 83 before Nathan Lyon (one) made the poor decision to try a pull shot and was caught at mid-wicket in the third over of the day at 9-451.

No.11 Jackson Bird was bowled for a duck nine runs later.

Johnson hit seven boundaries in his 184-ball knock and almost joined Australia’s No.4 batsman Shane Watson on two centuries.

In any case the left-arm quick, who claimed 4-63 including his 200th victim in Sri Lanka’s first innings, has made a strong case for his selection for the Sydney Test.

Michael Clarke (106) and Shane Watson (83) shared an MCG-record partnership of 194 for the fourth-wicket.

Clarke pushed his tally of Test runs for the year to 1595 runs at a Bradmanesque average of 106.33, passing Ricky Ponting’s Australian record of 1544 set in 2005.

“To beat any record that Ricky holds is very special,” Clarke said.

Pace-bowling allrounder Watson is unlikely to bowl in Sri Lanka’s second innings after suffering his second calf injury of the summer.

Watson is in doubt for next week’s Sydney Test which would mean the vice-captain had played only three matches in the six-Test summer against South Africa and Sri Lanka.

Shaminda Eranaga and Dhammika Prasad took three wickets each for Sri Lanka who trail one-nil in the three-match series and face an uphill task to make Australia bat again.