“[It’s a] bit more of a precaution,” Aaron Finch said of Head. “Especially, where he fields in the outfield, he does quite a lot of kilometres and the ground is quite heavy. Not sure what he’s looking like for the Test matches. Just one more to add to the list at the moment. Starcy is still not right with his finger. Where it is, the stitching is still not quite 100% healed. Without being able to bowl without tape on, he’ll be out as well.”
Australia have endured a lengthy casualty list during the white-ball leg of the tour. Sean Abbott (broken finger) was ruled out before the matches began to be followed by Marsh who has since recovered from a calf strain, Kane Richardson (hamstring), Marcus Stoinis (side), and Ashton Agar (side) along with Starc and Smith.
Reflecting on the ODI series, which Sri Lanka secured with their four-run victory two days ago, Finch picked out the fact Australia had not been able to build a big partnership to take them deep into the innings with plenty of wickets in hand as a deciding factor. They have fielded a long batting order in the last two matches with Cameron Green at No. 8.
“Anytime we’ve started to get any momentum in the game, we lose a wicket and in these conditions, once you lose one, they go back-to-back pretty quick,” he said. “Think, just maximising that main partnership where you can get to the 40th over maybe three down, has hindered us a bit.”
After Friday’s final ODI, Australia’s next 50-over cricket will be the series against Zimbabwe and New Zealand starting at home in late August. Unlike these matches against Sri Lanka, those contests will carry World Cup Super League points. There remains uncertainty whether their other home series, against South Africa in January, will go ahead after CSA requested for it to be moved, so they can launch their new T20 league.