“Everyone is looking forward to the opportunity to play Australia,” said Sri Lankan captain Mahela Jayawardene on Thursday evening. “It's always a challenge to play Australia, and to challenge ourselves. We have enjoyed coming to Australia, and the players have been able to find something extra when we play Australia.”

Jayawardene added that his team was desperate to get a game on the morrow. “We just need to kickstart our tournament. We have been in Australia for 10 days now, and we have not had a tournament game so far. The guys are eager to finish a game, we are pretty excited about it. Hopefully, we can get some play tomorrow and try and make a game of it, but we can't control the weather.”

Sri Lanka have had good success at the SCG. “It's a venue where as a team we have done well. Maybe that's why they don't give us a Test match here,” Jayawardene joked. “It has always helped our spinners as well as our batsmen.” Lasith Malinga, Jayawardene said, could have a part to play at the SCG as well. “He has worked really hard and has not dropped pace despite the workload. If the ball gets roughed up — I had a quick look at the pitch and it was dry — then Lasith can be a handful. He is bowling as well as I have seen him bowl.”

Ponting wary
Ricky Ponting sounded more than a little wary as he cast an eye on the wealth of talent in the Sri Lankan ranks. The Aussies are scheduled to meet Sri Lanka at the SCG on Friday, and even if that game is a wash-out, the teams will run into each other at least three more times in the next three weeks.

"They have got some very high-quality batsmen -- Jayasuriya, Sangakkara and their skipper (Jayawardene) obviously he is a very good player in both forms of the game," the Aussie skipper said. "Put in Vaas in there, he has played a lot of cricket and taken a lot of wickets, and Murali, who is as good as any bowler in Test cricket and one-day cricket around the world -- they are a fairly formidable line-up. I have been pretty impressed by one of the young quicks -- Amerasinghe looks like he has had a very good start to his campaign here in Australia and Malinga is dangerous as well, particularly in conditions here in Sydney where the ball might reverse swing later in the game. They are a dangerous side and we know we have got to be at our best tomorrow if we are going to win."

This is Adam Gilchrist's last international outing, and Ponting pretty much said the stumper would play every game.

"It will be pretty hard to tell Gilly to have a rest through this series," the captain observed. "It is his last hurrah and we want to make sure we are doing the right thing by Gilly and make sure he goes out on the right note. He is just enjoying every game and every training session."

Looking forward to a Gilchrist explosion, Ponting went on, "It will happen somewhere. Gilly is that sort of a player anyway. When he gets in and relaxes, anything is possible.”