Match starts Thursday 0000 GMT
Muttiah Muralitharan has Shane Warne's record in mind as the two-Test series with Australia begins on Thursday.
The 35-year-old needs nine wickets to eclipse Warne's 708 scalps.
Sri Lanka, who have never won a Test in Australia, were beaten by Queensland in a three-day warm-up match last week and are without injured Kumar Sangakkara.
The Australians, who have not played a Test since the Ashes in January, begin a new era minus star bowlers Warne and Glenn McGrath and opener Justin Langer.
Muralitharan, now fully fit after a series of shoulder problems, has played 10 Tests for Sri Lanka against Australia, taking 50 wickets.
Only two of those matches have been in Australia, in which he took three wickets, and he last played a Test there in October 2005 when representing an ICC World XI at Sydney, when match figures of 5-157 failed to prevent the Aussies winning by 210 runs.
It would be particularly ironic if the record was achieved down under as he was twice called for throwing by Australian officials, firstly by Darrell Hair in the Boxing Day Test at Melbourne on the 1995-6 tour then by Ross Emerson on the 1998-9 trip.
Given a Test record of six defeats and two draws on Australian soil, with a 1-0 series defeat on their last tour in 2004, a four-wicket defeat against Queensland on Sunday will not have done much for Sri Lankan confidence.
Their star batsmen failed to spend as much time at the crease as they would have liked, Sanath Jayasuriya had scores of one and two, Mahela Jayawardene made nought and 35, Marvin Atapattu 48 and seven and Thilan Samaraweera seven and three.
However, some final day resistance with the bat from Chaminda Vaas, who fired 84, helped set a target of 141 and Farveez Maharoof and Lasith Malinga unsettled the Queenslanders with five wickets between them.
That included Andrew Symonds, who was caught by Jayawardene off Maharoof for only three.
The Sri Lanka skipper remained in good heart and said: "We don't fear Australia, we've improved as a group over the past two years, especially away from home.
"The last time we came we had a very good batting line-up but the bowling was too young. To face Australia right now, with the players we've got, we've got the right blend."
Sangakkara, who suffered a hamstring tear in that match that will keep him out of the side in Brisbane, also rejected claims that the Sri Lankans would wilt under a barrage of pace.
"There's been a bit of talk about people from the sub-continent not being able to play on bouncy tracks," he said. "That's a myth, our guys have learned to deal with it."
Warne and McGrath took 1,271 Test wickets between them and Ponting admitted he would expect to change his tactics with a new-look bowling attack.
"They were great at building pressure," he said. "Now we might have to come back to sheer pace to get our breakthroughs."
Stuart MacGill fills the considerable leg-spin void left by Warne, and the 36-year-old, who has taken 198 wickets in 40 Tests, was given a vote of confidence by his captain.
"His wicket-taking is second to none," the skipper said. "We know we've got options."
Aside from Brett Lee who has played 59 Tests, the Australian seam attack is far less experienced than Sri Lanka's, with Mitchell Johnson making his debut and Stuart Clark only nine matches into his career.
Ponting, however, is confident that left-armer Johnson, who took 1-47 and scored 50 for Queensland in the tour match, will quickly become a fixture in the Test line-up.
"I've been really excited about Mitchell over the last couple of years," Ponting said. "He'll be a bit nervous, but he's got everything there to be successful at this level. He can bowl at 150kph and swing the ball."
Australia:
R Ponting (capt),
M Hayden,
Pl Jaques,
M Hussey,
M Clarke,
A Symonds,
A Gilchrist (wkt),
B Lee,
M Johnson,
S Clark,
S MacGill.
Sri Lanka (probable):
M Jayawardene (capt),
S Jayasuriya,
M Atapattu,
M Vandort,
T Samaraweera,
C Silva,
P Jayawardene (wkt),
C Vaas,
D Fernando,
L Malinga,
M Muralitharan.
No comments:
Post a Comment