Veteran Sri Lanka batsman Sanath Jayasuriya has told his younger team mates to ignore threats of a short-pitched barrage from Australia's pace attack during next month's two-test series. "Whenever we come to Australia these are the sort of things we hear, so we just have to ignore them and do whatever we practice in the middle," he told reporters on Friday.
"If the short ball is there to hit, we play positive cricket." The 38-year-old Jayasuriya added that the Sri Lankan camp were confident the batsmen would adapt to the lively test pitches expected in Brisbane and Hobart.
"It is quite different to what we play on in Sri Lanka, so we need to get used to the conditions with practice and match practice too," he said, adding that the tour matches in Adelaide and Brisbane would help the side's preparations.
"Sometimes it is difficult but most of the team have played here, so we know what the conditions are like. We will adapt very soon." This tour will be Jayasuriya's last to Australia and comes 12 years after his first visit in 1995/96.