"We don't look to change our composition too much," Mathews said. "We are forced to make a couple of changes because Rangana and Dimuth Karunaratne are out of the team. But you know our current combination has worked for us so far, so we don't want to change a lot of things. The batters are doing pretty well, so hopefully whoever comes in can do it in the same manner."
That would appear to be a hint that Upul Tharanga - the only other batsman in the squad - will likely take Karunaratne's place in the order in a like-for-like swap. There is more competition in the spin ranks however, with legspinner Seekkuge Prasanna and offspinner Sachithra Senanayake seemingly in a race to fill Herath's position. Mathews suggested Prasanna may be preferred, because "out of the eight batters, Australia have got seven right-handers,"; but also said Senanayake had been ironing out the weaknesses that saw him exposed during the series against New Zealand in January.