9 am local: Three days ago, Australia celebrated a 2-0 series win in the red-ball format of the game against Sri Lanka and both teams are back today for the first of two ODI matches these are the only games that'll serve as preparations for the Australians ahead of the upcoming Champions Trophy and they've been left with very little time considering the number of personnel changes that they've been forced. Mitchell Starc pulled out of the tournament due to personal reasons, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood were already ruled out, Marcus Stoinis announced his ODI retirement and Mitchell Marsh joined in the injury club. It means that an entirely new-look Australian bowling attack will be on show in these two games. On the other hand, Sri Lanka are not part of the CT jamboree and will use these matches as a launching pad ahead of the 2027 50-over World Cup. They've a fairly settled unit and two games in Colombo will wind up what has been a pretty average season for them. Toss and team updates coming up shortly..
Squads:
Australia Squad: Matthew Short, Travis Head, Steven Smith(c), Josh Inglis(w), Marnus Labuschagne, Glenn Maxwell, Cooper Connolly, Nathan Ellis, Adam Zampa, Tanveer Sangha, Spencer Johnson, Mitchell Starc, Sean Abbott, Alex Carey, Ben Dwarshuis, Aaron Hardie, Jake Fraser-McGurk