Lasith Malinga will play his first international match since February 2016 © Associated Press
Sri Lanka’s captain Upul Tharanga won the toss and chose to bowl first against an Australian side sporting three debutants in the Twenty20 international at the MCG.
Michael Klinger, Ashton Turner and Billy Stanlake were all named for their first T20 appearances for Australia but there was no room for Ben Dunk and only three specialist batsmen selected – Aaron Finch, Travis Head and Klinger.
The visitors included the left-arm wrist spinner Lakshan Sandakan, who was so effective against Australia in the Test series in Sri Lanka last year. Lasith Malinga was also included for his first full international appearance since February last year. Seamer Vikum Sanjaya was handed a debut.
Australia 1 Aaron Finch (capt), 2 Michael Klinger, 3 Travis Head, 4 Moises Henriques, 5 Ashton Turner, 6 Tim Paine (wk), 7 James Faulkner, 8 Pat Cummins, 9 Adam Zampa, 10 Billy Stanlake, 11 Andrew Tye.
Sri Lanka 1 Niroshan Dickwella (wk), 2 Upul Tharanga (capt), 3 Dilshan Munaweera, 4 Asela Gunaratne, 5 Milinda Siriwardana, 6 Chamara Kapugedera, 7 Seekkugge Prasanna, 8 Nuwan Kulasekara, 9 Lakshan Sandakan, 10 Lasith Malinga, 11 Vikum Sanjaya
Daniel Brettig is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo. @danbrettig
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Source: ESPN Crickinfo