Sri Lanka will draw on past success in Australia as they seek to combat the World Cup hosts’ on-song pace attack and a spate of injuries.
The visitors will be forced to make at least two changes for Sunday’s crunch World Cup clash in Sydney.
Spinner Rangana Herath has been ruled out after splitting the webbing between his spin fingers in the side’s last-start win over England.
Batsman Dimuth Karunaratne will miss the rest of the tournament after breaking his finger on Thursday.
“It’s always tough. This is the third guy we have lost from our original 15 in the space of four weeks,” Mahela Jayawardene said on Friday.
“But we have some experienced players to back them up.”
Sri Lanka’s old hands have no shortage of experience playing in and against Australia, with Jayawardene in the midst of a fifth and final World Cup campaign.
The 37-year-old has being touring Australia since 1999, when he was flown in to replace Aravinda de Silva.
The first of his 19 ODI centuries came at Adelaide Oval during that tri-series, in a match best remembered for umpire Ross Emerson’s decision to no-ball Muttiah Muralitharan for throwing.
Jayawardene has seen plenty since, including an inspired Mitchell Johnson breaking the bones of two teammates in the Boxing Day Test of 2012.
When asked whether the feats of Johnson had left some mental scars, Jayawardene had a retort ready.
“I remember us hitting a few of their boys as well,” he said.
“Those scars won’t be there.
“They (Australia’s pacemen) are quick, but we’ve faced other quicks this tournament.
“If they’re not accurate, you can go for runs as fast as they bowl.”
Jayawardene added his teammates had plenty of “good memories” from past tours of Australia, referencing ODI wins at the SCG and MCG.
Sri Lanka have won a staggering six of their past nine ODI games at the SCG, including a washout in 2013 when they were asked to chase 223.
“Every time I have toured here I have thoroughly enjoyed it,” Jayawardene said.
“Nothing is going to change and hopefully Sri Lankans will outnumber the Australians (in the crowd). It’s fantastic to play in that atmosphere.”
