Teams Status

Australia

Australia are currently dealing with the aftermath of head coach Justin Langer’s departure. The highly successful tenure that saw the Aussies win their maiden T20 World Cup and whitewash England 4-0 in the Ashes ended on a sour note as it emerged that the players weren’t very fond of Langer’s intense style of coaching.

Thus, the home series against Sri Lanka will be the first post-Langer assignment and the man overseeing the team’s coaching needs will be senior assistant Andrew McDonald.

Also absent for Friday’s series opener will be batter Travis Head, who will instead be playing a Sheffield Shield match for NSW. Daniel Sams has been called in his place.

Among other surprises, names are Big Bash star Ben McDermott, veteran allrounder Ben McDermott, and uncapped wicketkeeper-batter, Josh Inglis.

David Warner has been dropped whereas Mitch Marsh, who had picked up an injury prior to BBL final, has been rested.

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka were most recently active in the ODI format against Zimbabwe at home. Considering it was their own turf where tracks are tricky, they were expected to clean sweep but they lost a game and won the series only 2-1.

It took them a decent amount of effort to put away a weak Zimbabwe at home, which means that facing Australia in Australia is going to be super difficult for them.

They’ve recalled Danushka Gunathilaka and Kusal Mendis for the series but wicketkeeper-batter Niroshan Dickwella still remains out. All three were suspended for breaking Covid protocols in England last year.

Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Kusal Perera and Dhananjaya de Silva have all been dropped. In their place, the uncapped trio of Nuwan Thushara, Janith Liyanage, and Kamil Mishara have been added. Dinesh Chandimal and Jeffrey Vandersay are also back, thanks to strong showings in the Lanka Premier League.