Lehmann makes left-handed opening pair with Hayden

PERTH, Dec 21 AAP - Darren Lehmann will open with fellow left-handed batsman Matthew Hayden in Australia's day-night cricket match against Sri Lanka on Sunday in Perth.

Australian one-day captain Ricky Ponting said he had left it up to Damien Martyn and Lehmann to decide who would walk out to the crease with the big Queenslander at the WACA Ground.

"He's done it before for us as had Damien Martyn, but I just left it up to those two guys to see who wanted it the most and Darren was the one," Ponting said.

Lehmann, 32, will also shoulder the vice captaincy in the absence of Adam Gilchrist who is sitting out the match with niggling injuries.

It will be just the fourth time the South Australian has opened the innings for Australia in 84 internationals.

Ponting said the match against the struggling Sri Lankans would be a good test for the home team without injured spin king Shane Warne and Gilchrist.

He said it would be a good opportunity to grab a psychological edge over the tourists before next year's World Cup in Africa.

The last time the two sides met Sri Lanka defeated Australia in the semi-finals at the ICC Champions Trophy in Colombo in September.

They meet this time with contrasting form with the men from the subcontinent being thrashed in South Africa and losing their opening two matches of the tri-series in Australia to England.

Meanwhile, Australia has been untouchable this summer.

"Not having Gilly and Warney around, two of the more senior members, will be a little different for me," Ponting said.

"But saying that, we still have a lot of very experienced guys in the team like McGrath and Bevan and Lehmann - it will be a test for all of us tomorrow," he said.

The tourists have been disappointing in their opening two one-day matches with batsman struggling on bouncy wickets at the WACA and the Gabba, and fieldsmen missing eight regulation catches in two matches.

Classy left-arm paceman Chaminda Vaas and young right-arm quick Dilhara Fernando were excellent in their side's 95-run loss to England last night but were badly let down in the field.

Sri Lankan coach Dav Whatmore bemoaned his team's dropped catches which included a straightforward opportunity to dismiss century maker Paul Collingwood on 11.

He said the team's lack of confidence in the field was spreading like cancer while captain Sanath Jayasuriya looked totally devastated after last night's loss.

"We are just not playing well at the moment, the confidence is down obviously," Whatmore said.

"It is almost like a cancer isn't it, it just runs through a team and we've all experienced it before."

Jayasuriya said his team had no excuses for not adapting to the lively WACA pitch despite being used to the much flatter tracks of their homeland.

"We have played well here before, we have won matches here before and I think there are no excuses that we can't play well here at the moment," he said.

England lead the tri-series competition by a single point but have played two more games than both Australia and Sri Lanka.