Aussies surprised by SL pitch switch

Having seen the way the dry, slow Dambulla pitch behaved in last Sunday's ODI and noting the pristine, green-tinged strip being prepared alongside it on the wicket block, Australia's selectors had a clear idea of who would line-up in tomorrow's return match against Sri Lanka.

But that thinking was tossed out the window when the tourists arrived for today's pre-game training session to find that the new pitch that looked like a belter of a one-day wicket was being kept as a display item only.

And game four of the five-match series, in which Australia now holds the ascendancy after a scrappy and ultimately hard-earned win on Sunday night, will instead be played on the tired surface where batting had proved so challenging three days earlier.

"I'd like to give you an answer for the (make-up of tomorrow's) team, but unfortunately rocking up today I thought we were going to play on the other wicket," a clearly surprised Australia captain David Warner said upon arriving at Rangiri International Stadium to find the old pitch was also filling in as the new pitch.

"So I think we'll need to have another look tomorrow and re-assess from there.

"The selectors did have a team if we were playing on the other wicket that was prepared, that we initially thought we were going to play on."

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The Australians first heard whispers on Monday night that the plans to roll out a fresh pitch for game four of the series had been revised and the strip on which Sri Lanka laboured to 226 on Sunday – and on which Australia struggled to chase it down with just two wickets to spare – would instead be recycled.

That switch was confirmed during the Australians optional training session at the ground today, and it is understood the reason for not using the new pitch was that something had gone awry with its preparation and it was rendered unsuitable.

Australia snuck home last Sunday on the back of a four-pronged seam attack that shared seven of Sri Lanka's 10 wickets, while the home team again loaded up on specialist spinners and spin-bowling allrounders.

Who, in turn, accounted for six of the eight Australian wickets to fall.

But the likelihood of a dry, bare and now worn wicket for tomorrow's game that Sri Lanka must win to remain alive in the series has seen them add yet another spinner to their squad – left-arm orthodox and left-hand Pathirana –  to cover the retirement of opening batsman and former ODI captain Tillakaratne Dilshan.

It therefore increases the chance of off-spinner Nathan Lyon returning to the starting XI, with Usman Khawaja almost certain of playing his first game of the tournament now that fellow top-order batter Shaun Marsh has been forced to return home with a fractured finger.

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"The poor fella hasn't had much luck in the past 12 to 24 months, so we wish him a speedy recovery," Warner said of Marsh's latest injury setback, the result of a fielding mishap on Sunday.

"He's a very good player of spin bowling and Usman comes in for his place.

"We all play spin on its merit, we're all capable of playing it.

"In one-day conditions it's a little bit different, you're trying to actually improvise a little bit.

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"You would have seen George (Bailey) and Wadey (Matthew Wade) reverse sweeping and sweeping a lot.

"That's always part of our repertoire as well.

"A lot of us do that and a lot of us play spin very well in these conditions in the one-day format."

Warner, who currently boasts a 100 per cent winning record as skipper and equalled the number of international victories that Steve Smith oversaw as captain on this tour before he returned home last week for a break, said he thoroughly enjoyed his maiden 50-over international leadership experience.

Even though he admitted to feeling "a bit nervous" as Australia lost late wickets in its faltering run chase, and getting through the full 50 overs within the allotted three and half hours was a challenge with four specialist pace bowlers.

And with a howling Dambulla wind that meant his instructions for specific field placements were occasionally lost on the breeze.

And while he claimed to have "loved every minute" of his Australia captaincy debut and felt quite at ease in the role, there is an element of his game that he hopes to turn around with immediate effect tomorrow.

As was shown when he batted in the nets during today's training session and berated himself if he poked indecisively at the bowling, telling himself to "hit it, hit it" before launching into a full-blooded stroke next ball.

"If you can find me an answer, I'll take it," Warner said when asked what measures he was taking to rectify his current batting average of 6.33 in this ODI series, that followed an average of 27 in the preceding 3-0 Test series loss.

"That's just what happens with cricket, sometimes you're in form, sometimes you're not.

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"I feel like I'm hitting the ball well.

"I've had some good dismissals and I've had a couple of poor shots here and there.

"They're the challenges you face over here in these conditions, you always have to back your game plan and back your skills.

"Unfortunately, I haven't go the runs on the board that are necessary but I'll be aiming to come out here and still trying to play my role as I normally do, come out and try to have that intent from ball one.

"Hopefully the times change."

Even though the pitch remains the same.