The batting order in Galle looks set – but absence of Cummins and Hazlewood leaves decisions on the variety of spinners

Australian Test teams have had a shift in their relationship with Sri Lanka, a country they tour rarely but for a long time toured with success. In five trips from 1983 to 2011, the visitors only lost one Test, which was enough to decide their only series loss after the second and third matches were heavily washed out.

But in 2016 a pretty handy Australian side got whitewashed 3-0, after first dropping the ascendancy in a remarkable turnaround in Pallekele. Then in a shorter series in 2022, after a sizeable win on a surface that spun big, Australia got pummelled by an innings in the second match, while the country they were visiting was in upheaval with massed crowds on the streets causing the popular overthrow of a broken government.