I’m thinking
Head
Konstas
Khawaja
Lab
Smith
Webster
Carey
Starc
Lyon
Murphy
Kuhnemann
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That’s the XI I reckon, just a question of what they choose to do with the opening position. Handy part time finger bash from Bin Lid and wrist spin from Marnus.
That’s what they should do. We do have a long storied history of playing more seamers than we need in the subcontinent though. Wouldn’t surprise me in the least if they went with Starc and Boland + Webster.
Unless it’s a complete dust bowl I reckon they will go with Boland over Murphy.
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They are always complete dust bowls in Galle. Conventional wisdom from Aus coaches/selectors in the past would’ve always been to go with the two front line seamers. I think McDonald and Cummins are more progressive in their thinking and tend pay more attention to what the data tells them, so hopefully they see sense enough to just go with Starc (for his ability to swing the new and old ball) and Webster.
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I stand corrected here, I was under the impression Starc had a pretty poor record in Sri Lanka - but it’s actually very good
Re reverse swing, it’s interesting was listening to Jarrod Kimbers podcast a while back and he mention that reverse swing across the board has drastically decreased since 2018 and this is put down to two things
-
Test teams are more reluctant to ball tamper since sandpaper gate
-
Wobble ball means teams don’t work on the ball (legally) as much as they used too
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Just had a look at the most recent Test series over there and both New Zealand and Sri Lanka went with 2 pace and 2 spinners (plus 1 or 2 part timers)
Both tests are at the same venue. I wonder if it will be the same strip for both tests!
If so then if you weren’t playing the three front line spinners for the first test you sure as hell would for the second haha 
They (Sri Lanka) don’t really have as viable an all round option with the new ball as we have with Webster or Green if he was fit. And Jayasuriya was bowling by the 3rd over of the innings.
Does Angelo Matthews not bowl anymore?
Not really. He’s bowled about 25 overs since 2018.
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Suspect he’s there due to his batting to a certain extent. If your only going to need a quick for 10 overs an innings you might as well have one who can handle the stick to a reasonable level.
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In Australia they’ve put additional lacquer on the Kookaburra , which tends to delay the reverse swing.
There’s probably also a factor in that Test sides are more incapable of batting across 90+ overs for their innings ( but are scoring faster ) and the games are progressing much quicker. We keep seeing 3 day test matches…
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Selections on the sub continent are always so interesting. (Especially when we react crazily to a loss).
Starc has a great record in Sri Lanka, will play. It will be interesting to see if Konstas keeps his spot or they go with Head to open and bring in more spin bowling
I think it will be:
Khawaja
Konstas
Labuschagne
Smith (c)
Head
Webster
Carey
Starc
Lyon
Murphy
Boland/Kuhnemann
There might be a temptation to do something like the below, Head opening, Abbott to be the 2nd quick (logic being whilst inferior to Boland with the Ball, a better bad) and have 3 frontline spinners:
Khawaja
Head
Labuschagne
Smith (c)
Webster
Carey
Abbott
Starc
Lyon
Murphy
Kuhnemann
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Absolutely you’re right, also kookaburra changed the seam so it’s more pronounced now. I think it’s interesting the change in the kookaburra doesn’t seam (pardon the pun) to get talked about as much re the lower scores in Australia over the last few years - all the focus appears to be on the pitches
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Kyle Reimers!
Speaking of Galle, Jayasuriya has a decent record there;
8 matches 71 wickets @21
What about play CC instead of Murphy?
Or not playing SK and playing CC at 5, with Head and Uzi opening?
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Or take that lineup and switch out Murphy for Connolly?