Aussie spinners not bothering Sri Lanka

AAP: Sri Lanka captain Tillakaratne Dilshan has had a look at Australian spin duo Nathan Lyon and Michael Beer and doesn’t seem too concerned either will pose too many problems for his team.

Dilshan firmly believes his experienced and talented batting line-up can easily account for one-Test player Beer and South Australian rookie Lyon, should one or even both get picked for the first Test starting in Galle on Wednesday.

The pair played in Australia’s tour match against a Sri Lanka Board XI last weekend in Colombo and Dilshan saw nothing from either bowler that had him worried.

Advertisement: Story continues below “They bowled well in the practice game, the off-spinner and the left-arm spinner, but the thing is we’ve faced (Shane) Warne in the last series here against Australia,” Dilshan told reporters on Tuesday.

“Against India, we played Harbhajan Singh. We’ve played one of the best spinners in Asia.

“I think our guys can handle these two spinners (Lyon and Beer).”

Sri Lanka’s batting line-up is one of the team’s strengths with stars such as Dilshan, Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara being joined in the Test squad by established players such as middle-order batsman Thilan Samaraweera.

“I’m really confident in my batting line-up after Thilan and Prasanna Jayawardene come into the middle order,” Dilshan said.

“We have a solid batting line-up and different tactics. I think both teams have a different challenge now.

“We still have to play good cricket to beat Australia. They’re still one of the best teams in Test cricket.”

Sri Lanka have cut their pool of players for the first Test back to 13 with quicks Shaminda Eranga and Dhammika Prasad as well as leg-spinner Seekkuge Prasanna missing out on the game.

But that still means Dilshan could go into the match with three spinners with Suraj Randiv, Ajantha Mendis and Rangara Herath available.

“It’s an important match starting tomorrow here and I want to try and play the experienced guys who’vebeen playing well for us the past few months,” Dilshan said.

“Might be a good chance (of three spinners) but the thing is I can also bowl and give some help for the spinners and, if I can bowl 10-15 overs every day, it might be that I don’t need a third spinner.

“We have to decide that and come back with a team tomorrow.”