Kurtis Patterson’s hard work finally paid off as the middle-order batsman earned a maiden Test call on Monday (January 21) to Australia squad for the two-match Test series against Sri Lanka at home.

The New South Wales batsman Patterson got the nod on the back of his brilliant show in the warm-up match against the Islanders at Hobart, where the left-hander cracked two hundreds (157* & 102*), though the practice match ended in a draw on Saturday (January 19).

Australian selector Trevor Hohns told media, “Kurtis has joined the squad in Brisbane today to commence our preparations for the first test starting on Thursday. We have been asking batters around the country to score hundreds if they want to be considered for selection.”

He signed off by saying, “Given Kurtis’s consistent performances for NSW and his two unbeaten centuries in last week’s tour match against our upcoming opponent, Sri Lanka, we believe he deserves to be added to the test squad.”

Noteworthy, the uncapped Kurtis has played 58 first-class matches, in which he has scored 3,813 runs with six centuries and 26 half-centuries at an average of 41.

Australia Test squad Vs Sri Lanka:

Tim Paine (captain), Jhye Richardson, Joe Burns, Pat Cummins, Marcus Harris, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Will Pucovski, Matt Renshaw, Mitchell Starc, Peter Siddle, Kurtis Patterson.

(With Reuters Inputs)