Australia coach Mickey Arthur confirmed on Monday night that pace bowler Ben Hilfenhaus had been ruled out of the second Test against Sri Lanka on Boxing Day because of a side strain.

Hilfenhaus, who missed the third Test against South Africa which ended in Perth earlier this month with a sore knee, took 1-30 from 12.2 overs in Sri Lanka’s first innings of the first Test in Hobart before breaking down with a side injury on Sunday morning.

Hilfenhaus made a duck in Australia’s second innings but didn’t take the field in Sri Lanka’s second innings and scans have confirmed a side-muscle injury.

“Ben Hilfenhaus has a side injury,” Arthur told a news conference on Monday night.

“He’s certainly not a starter for Boxing Day and we’ll see after that.”

Australia’s pace-bowling stocks have suffered a series of mighty blows already this summer with James Pattinson, Ryan Harris, Patrick Cummins and Josh Hazlewood among those on the sidelines.

Mitchell Johnson, who was named 12th man for the Hobart Test after playing in the previous Test in Perth, is likely to be recalled to the side.

Arthur said uncapped Tasmania quick Jackson Bird was a contender for a call-up to the squad for the Melbourne Test.

“All I can say is we’ve had a list of bowlers leading into our summer, and we’re well down the list at the moment,” Arthur said.

“But it’s going to be a fantastic opportunity for a couple of those guys.

“The names that have been on everyone’s lips are a guy like Jackson Bird.

“It could be Nathan Coulter-Nile, and that will form part of the discussions we have tonight.”

We’ll find out plenty about Shane Watson if he takes over as captain of Australia in the Boxing Day Test against Sri Lanka, Australia coach Mickey Arthur says.

The home side was on Monday night bracing itself for bad news after Michael Clarke was taken to hospital for scans on a hamstring injury the skipper suffered earlier in the day while scoring a brisk 57 in Australia’s second innings.

The absence of Clarke – the leading run-scorer in Test cricket in 2012 – would be a hammer blow to Australia’s hopes of winning the three-match series against Sri Lanka who will be confident of success in the Melbourne and Sydney Tests on pitches assisting star spinner Rangana Herath.

Herath claimed 5-95 in Australia’s second innings of 278.

Sri Lanka will resume on Tuesday’s final day of play on 2-65, requiring a further 328 runs to win.

Sri Lanka’s two all-time leading run-scorers Kumar Sangakkara (18) and skipper Mahela Jayawardene (five) are at the crease.

Clarke managed to lead his side onto the field after the tea break on Monday and Arthur hinted the skipper would do the same on Tuesday.

“He will get all the treatment he needs,” Arthur told a news conference on Monday night.

“He will get that after hours tonight and he will get that tomorrow between breaks.

“You would have to cut Michael’s leg off for him not to be out there. He certainly wants to marshal the troops and he wants to be there if hopefully sometime we can clinch a win.

“We don’t know exactly the extent of the injury just yet.”

Australia will rely heavily on vice-captain and allrounder Watson on Tuesday with the ball and Arthur says the 31-year-old could face the biggest moment of his career on December 26.

“It (Watson as captain) is a distinct possibility,” Arthur said.

“It would be a really good challenge for Shane. We’ll learn a lot about Shane and his leadership ability.

“I’m confident he will come through it very well. If it does materialise, it will be a really good opportunity for him.”

On a troubling day for Arthur, one of the challenges for his side is taking another eight wickets with a bowler short, after paceman Ben Hilfenhaus was ruled out of bowling again in the match and taking part in the Melbourne Test with a side strain.

However the presence of pace-bowling allrounder Watson, who missed the Adelaide Test with a calf injury when Australia narrowly failed to bowl out South Africa last month after quick James Pattinson broke down during the match with a side strain, is giving Australia extra hope of victory.

“The wicket is playing a little bit more deceptively now. I feel we are in a better shape in terms of our attack simply because we have ‘Watto’,” Arthur said.

“We only had two quicks and (spinner) Nathan Lyon in Adelaide, so the similarities I guess are there but full confidence that we have the attack that has an ability to get eight wickets.”

Mitchell Johnson and uncapped duo Nathan Coulter-Nile and Jackson Bird are among the candidates for the Melbourne Test squad following the withdrawal of Hilfenhaus.

Arthur named Brad Haddin, Usman Khawaja, Rob Quiney and Alex Doolan as possible contenders to replace Clarke.

Play is scheduled to start at 10.10am AEDT on Tuesday.

Impressionable Victorian golfer Daniel Popovic set his sights on winning a major just minutes after pulling off one of the most stunning victories in Australian sport.

His win may not quite have been on par with John Daly’s shock victory as an alternate at the 1991 US PGA but for a player ranked 1251st in the world a week ago, it was something very special.

“My goal with golf is to win a major championship. I don’t feel it’s that far off,” said an excited Popovic after a closing with a three-under-par 69 for a four-shot win over faltering Queenslander Rod Pampling at the Palmer Coolum resort.

His victory as a 400-1 bolter in such a high-profile tournament has fast-tracked him onto the world golf stage.

Greg Norman was one of the first people to call his mobile to congratulate him.

“I’m going to walk away thinking if I keep doing this, I’m going to get there,” said the 26 year-old, who has cancelled his spot in next week’s Q-school qualifying.

Popovic (64-70-69-69) thought about his ill-father Radi, who has incurable bone cancer, all week.

“He’s the reason (I won) because of what he’s going through,” said an emotional Popovic.

“I’ll come home after a bad round and say to him `golf is a hard game’ and he’d say `look what I’m going through’.

“It puts things into perspective.

“When I stood over some putts and had some doubts, I thought of his words. They got me back on track.

“My dad is why I am more confident and back myself and push so hard on the golf course.

“I can’t wait to give him a big bear hug.”

Popovic’s career was set back by a jet ski accident in which he suffered two bulging discs.

He financed his golfing dream by putting toppings on pizzas and working as a traffic controller as a teenager.

Pampling (71-67-69-69), who hasn’t won since the 2008 Australian Masters, was disappointed after such a hot start in which he birdied his opening six holes.

“I knew I had to make a birdie on the last to put some pressure on him, I was trying to win it,” he said of his approach to the last green which found the water.

Pampling surrendered four shots in his last three holes to fall back into a tie for second with Anthony Brown (73-68-64-71) on 12 under.

Geoff Ogilvy (67-69-72-69), who just couldn’t get a round going, finished tied for fourth on 11 under with Brad Kennedy, who had four sub-par rounds.

Peter Senior couldn’t replicate his final-round heroics of last week’s Australian Open but his closing round of 77 was enough to secure him his fourth order of merit title and a start in next year’s British Open Championship at Muirfield.

Sri Lanka lost one wicket and Australia lost one bowler in the first two sessions of day three of the first Test in Hobart on Sunday as paceman Ben Hilfenhaus broke down with a side strain.

Sri Lanka resumed on day three on 4-87 in reply to Australia’s 5-450 and moved to 5-249 at tea with a mixture of careful defence and loose off-drives on a docile pitch.

Tillakaratne Dilshan was unbeaten on 132 at tea after sharing a record fifth-wicket stand of 161 with Angelo Mathews (75).

Pace spearhead Peter Siddle finally broke through in the 86th over and sixth with the second new ball when Mathews was out lbw at 5-248.

Siddle fought on admirably to claim 2-44 from 22 overs with Hilfenhaus out of the attack.

The aggressive Dilshan posted his 15th Test hundred and second against Australia in nine matches, belting 19 boundaries 19 from 257 balls.

Prasanna Jaywardene is yet to score.

It was a tough day for the small crowd of 3735 who braved the elements, with heavy rain causing umpires to call an early lunch at noon with the score on 4-187.

David Warner missed two run-out opportunities after lunch, firstly when Dilshan was on 114 and then when Mathews was on 53.

Wicketkeeper Matthew Wade launched a half-hearted appeal for caught-behind against Dilshan on 125 from the bowling of Siddle and was turned down.

Channel Nine’s replays showed a nick which would have been upheld if Australia captain Michael Clarke had called for a referral to the video umpire.

Hilfenhaus grimaced in pain after delivering the second ball of his fourth over of the day and after consultation with Clarke, the swing specialist walked slowly from the field and was taken to hospital for scans.

The Tasmanian joins Test quicks Ryan Harris, James Pattinson and Pat Cummins and 21-year-old Test hopeful Josh Hazlewood on the sidelines.

Left-arm quick Mitchell Johnson – 12th man in Hobart – would be the obvious candidate to replace Hilfenhaus for the Melbourne and Sydney Tests over the Christmas-New Year period.

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.”

A former hero at one A-League club thwarted his old side as Melbourne Victory drew 1-1 with Brisbane Roar – but it wasn’t Ange Postecoglou.

Roar goalkeeper Michael Theo, a two-time championship winner at Melbourne Victory before joining Brisbane, stole the show at AAMI Park on Saturday night with several important saves.

Victory coach Postecoglou’s hopes of securing a win over his former club were scuttled virtually single-handedly by Theo in a superb goalkeeping performance.

Two important stops from Marco Rojas shots in the first half were followed by a world-class save in the 74th minute to deny Gui Finkler – and what would have been a win for the Victory.

The Victory totally controlled the opening 20 minutes, with Rojas running amok and the Roar looking clueless.

But the Victory’s wobbly defence – their problem all season – found a new and inventive way to leak a goal against the run of play after 24 minutes.

Fullback Diogo Ferreira’s fresh air swing at a ball across goal gave Roar striker Ben Halloran a half-chance, and he punished the Victory with the superb finish they had been unable to find to that point.

The Roar controlled the remainder of the first half and maintained their 1-0 lead to halftime, before the home side equalised four minutes after the break.

Midfielder Mark Milligan’s thunderous shot from the edge of the 18-yard-box from a Finkler pass levelled the scores and again changed the momentum of the game.

The Victory had the best chance to win it, but after Finkler brilliantly turned a defender in the box, he was denied by Theo’s remarkable one-handed save from point-blank range.

Then Theo stood up again to block Archie Thompson’s shot just minutes later, and ensure the Roar a share of the points as their defence held firm under a late match onslaught.

The Roar’s night was soured with injuries to star striker Besart Berisha and midfielder Mitch Nichols – Berisha’s shoulder looking particularly concerning.

The Albanian landed awkwardly in a second-half tangle with Victory centre-back Adrian Leijer, and Roar coach Rado Vidosic said the injury “doesn’t look good”.

Berisha is likely to have scans when the team arrive back in Queensland on Sunday.

Postecoglou said he wasn’t dwelling on what were perhaps two points dropped, rather the quality of football his side played for most of the match.

“Our football was great. I thought in general terms it was a step forward for us, which was important,” Postecoglou said.

“(The goal) was an individual mistake. It didn’t come from structure, it was one of those things that can happen on the football field to anyone.

“The first half-hour was as good as we’ve played all year.

“The real goal for us is to continue to develop our football so that when it does all click and it gets to the business end of the year and we’re amongst it, we’re playing some good football.”

Bellerive’s much talked-about wicket showed few gremlins as Australia reached 4-299 against Sri Lanka but batsman Phil Hughes says it could play a few tricks yet.

Australia will resume with captain Michael Clarke unbeaten on 70 and Mike Hussey 37 after the home side tamed the nation’s most talked about 22 yards on day one of the first Test.

“It was a little bit slow overall,” said Hughes, who top-scored for Australia with 86.

“There were a couple that kept low through the day so it could play tricks later on in the game which could make for a very good Test match.”

There were some anxious moments for the Australians as the Sri Lankan medium pacers bowled accurately, but nothing like the doomsday scenarios on a relaid pitch that has taken time to settle.

Sri Lanka will take some encouragement out of having Australia 4-198 at one stage and now hope to keep the locals below 400.

“Our bowlers will be fresh in the morning and if we can get (Clarke) out early, we can keep them to fewer than 100 more runs,” paceman Chanaka Welegedara said.

Hughes said Australia had the momentum for a big first innings total after Clarke and Hussey’s unbeaten partnership of 101 threatened to take the game away from the Lankans.

“Overall I think … the ball’s in our court,” Hughes said.

“Pup and Huss at the end out there putting on a hundred really gives us momentum going into tomorrow.”

Morning rain has been forecast for Hobart on Saturday.

Born-again Test batsman Phil Hughes is out to make the Australian No.3 position his own after an impressive return to the international arena.

Hughes repaid the faith of selectors and reaped the reward of a massive amount of work, with Australia’s top score of 86 on day one of the first Test against Sri Lanka.

Returning to the scene of his darkest hour, the diminutive South Australian Redback looked a picture of form and confidence in a 166-ball innings that included eight fours and a six.

Hughes was dropped for the second, and many thought the last, time after a double failure against New Zealand in Hobart last summer.

But this time, as champion No.3 Ricky Ponting was driven off Bellerive in the ute he had farewelled fans from, the 24-year-old is determined to make a top-order position his.

“I’ve always opened but I really enjoy batting three,” Hughes said.

“Going forward I’d really love to cement that position and make it my own.”

That seems likely after Hughes notched the highest score by an Australian first drop in 28 innings.

His knock was chanceless until he was caught behind on 77 from a massive Chanaka Welegedara no ball.

He was out nine runs later for his highest Test score in Australia when an inswinging Welegedara delivery bowled him.

“I’ve worked on my game, no doubt about that,” he said.

“My technique, I knew I had to (improve).

“I have had to work on my leg-side play and … I feel like it’s in decent order at the moment.

“I thought I was a lot more patient through periods of my innings than I had been 12 months to two years ago.

“Mentally, knowing that I’ve been here before’s probably a good thing as well.”

Missing out on a fourth Test hundred couldn’t cloud Hughes’ relief at being back.

“I’m just pleased to get out there and back in the colours again and the smile’s on my face,” he said.

“It would have been nice to get to three figures and a few more but that’s cricket, that’s how it goes.

“To get 80-odd was a good thing for my confidence going forward now.”

David Warner was run out for 57 on the final delivery before lunch as Australia reached 2-97 on day one of the first Test against Sri Lanka at Bellerive Oval.

The mix-up between Warner and Phil Hughes (27 not out) was a shattering blow for the home side who had fought back from 1-18 to look in control of proceedings in overcast conditions.

Skipper Michael Clarke won the toss on Friday morning and chose to bat on a green-tinged pitch despite a series of low scores for teams batting first in recent Sheffield Shield matches in Hobart.

Warner lost his opening partner in the sixth over when Ed Cowan (four) top-edged a pull shot to mid-on from the bowling of Chanaka Welegedara.

Hughes, the former opener who has returned to the crucial No.3 position after a year-long absence from the Test team, has hit three fours from 59 balls.

While Hughes looked composed in his first Test for a year, Warner was the player who appeared set for a big innings after crunching eight fours in his 89-ball knock.

Cowan had made a tentative start and was dropped at third slip from the first ball that he faced and the second delivery of the day, bowled by Nuwan Kulasekara.

Tasmania’s Cowan almost fell for golden ducks in consecutive Tests after his first-ball failure against South Africa in Perth.

While Cowan enjoyed the best series of his short career against South Africa, scoring 228 runs, the 30-year-old left-hander’s average has dropped to under 33 in his 11th match following Friday’s failure with the bat.

Fourth-gamer Shaminda Eranga was introduced in the 10th over of the day and Hughes shook off any nerves about his Test comeback by blasting two superb cover drives to the boundary in the seamer’s first over.

Hughes and Warner registered their half-century stand but Warner had a stroke of luck on 37 when he inside-edged a ball from Welegedara to the boundary.

In Welegadara’s next over, Warner edged through the vacant third slip to move to 49 and reached his half-century next ball with a pull shot for two.

Former opener Hughes returns to the side at No.3, replacing Australia’s all-time leading runscorer Ricky Ponting who has retired.

Tasmania’s Ponting, 37, was given a lap of honour at the lunch interval on Friday before heading to Melbourne to play for BBL team Hobart Hurricanes on Saturday night.