Australia complete Test preparations in Galle

After tapping into Muthiah Muralidaran's spin bowling knowledge leading into the first Test in his home city of Kandy, the Australians have now sought insights from former South African speedster Allan Donald ahead of the vital second match in Galle.

Skipper Steve Smith, who today confirmed a solitary change to his Test XI with a like-for-like replacement of left-arm spinner Jon Holland for injured Stephen O'Keefe, said Donald's experience as bowling mentor to his former team has been invaluable over recent days.

Jon Holland, Australian Test cricketer No.444 in waiting // Getty

In particular, the wisdom that Donald – now working as interim fast bowling coach for Australia during this two-month Test and limited-overs tour – gleaned during his involvement in the Proteas' thumping Test win over Sri Lanka at Galle two years ago.

A 153-run victory that came in defiance of conventional wisdom about bowling on spin-conducive subcontinental pitches given it was orchestrated by South Africa's dual-pace attack of Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel who shared 16 of the 20 Sri Lankan wickets to fall.

Steyn's match figures of 9-99 were the best recorded by a fast bowler at the Galle International Cricket Stadium, which is buttressed by the imposing edifice of a 16th Century fort but also buffeted by strong winds howling in from the Laccadive Sea that crashes relentlessly into the island's south coast.

Quick Single: Steyn rips through Sri Lanka

And it was the way that South Africa's bowlers used the ball, as opposed to the misgivings they held about a Galle pitch that was as dry and slow as it is expected to be for the second Test starting here on Thursday, that proved the difference in that gruelling and controversial Test.

"There's always pace in the air," Steyn noted wryly at the end of that match in which Proteas' seamer Vernon Philander was fined 75 per cent of his match fee for 'intending' to alter the condition of the ball after television footage emerged of him scratching its surface.

Quick Single: Philander tamper sheds new light

It was the South Africans' ability to extract reverse swing once the new-ball sheen was lost that was a significant factor in the outcome.

And Donald spent almost an hour working with pace bowlers Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Coulter-Nile during an extended centre wicket session during Australia's major pre-Test training run at Galle yesterday.

Donald and Starc at training // Getty

"He said the ball reversed quite significantly from both ends (in 2014)," Smith told reporters in the seaside city today as he recounted the insights that Donald brought to the Australians whose previous visit to Galle five years ago delivered their only Test win in Asia for the past decade.

"Morkel had it going away from the right handers and Steyn had it going into the right handers, so we've got Starc who can do (away swing to right handers) and Hazlewood can do (in swing).

"And Mitchell Marsh bowls good reverse swing as well, so we've got the bases covered, it's just about going out there and making sure we do the right things this Test match."

Smith expects that Sri Lanka will enter this Test, as they did in the series opener at Pallekele, with only two front line seamers.

Nuwan Pradeep has been given until the morning of the match to prove his fitness after suffering hamstring soreness. Should he be ruled out, 24-year-old left-arm seamer Vishwa Fernando is likely to make his Test debut.

Even though Sri Lanka were able to post a match winning second innings of 353 in the opening Test thanks almost entirely to Kusal Mendis's epic 176, Smith believes that Australia's fast bowling stocks remain a clear point of difference between the teams.

Pressure on Mendis to back up his Kandy effort // Getty

The fact that Australia's seamers accounted for four of Sri Lanka's top six batters in both innings at Pallekele adds credence to the Australia captain's theory, and the prospect of conventional swing with the new ball then reverse swing with the older one carries considerable appeal.

"It would be nice to see the ball reversing this game," Smith said after his quicks engaged in a lengthy session to familiarise themselves with the weather and pitch conditions.

Quick Single: Aussie spinners' time to shine

"They (Sri Lanka) are not going to have too many guys that are going to be able to reverse the ball, so I guess that's a point of difference.

"The guys we'll have playing (Starc, Hazlewood and Marsh) bowl good pace as well, and that also is a bit of a point of difference.

"Hopefully we can exploit that with their batters a little bit."

The other key element in South Africa's 2014 win at Galle was that the Proteas batters steeled themselves to bat for as long as possible in the first innings and squeeze every available run before the pitch became a haven for the home team's spinners.

After their skipper Hashim Amla won the toss, the Proteas batted for almost 170 overs before declaring at tea on the second day with a total of 9-455.

Quick Single: Lankan wizards ready to wreak havoc

It's a template, if not quite a tempo that Smith has urged his fellow batters to follow should the coin fall in his favour and he gains first use of a pitch that is bone dry and is expected to take spin from early in the Test.

"I think our first innings is going to be crucial," Smith said.

"It's going to get harder and harder to bat as the game goes on.

"Starting (an innings) is probably the hardest part in these conditions, it's just about making sure once you've got started you continue doing the same things and don't get complacent and just be willing to grind out and get a big score.

"You do that in the first innings then you set the game up."

Herath heroics too much for Australia

Looming large as obstacles to that aspiration are veteran Sri Lanka left-arm spinner Rangana Herath and rookie left-arm wrist spinner Lakshan Sandakan who – like Steyn and Morkel at Galle two years ago – shared 16 wickets in the first Test.

Smith believes that his team will be better equipped to cope with the previously unseen Sandakan now that they've had a chance to study him close up, and that the work they've undertaken facing left-arm finger spinners in the nets over recent days will help them counter Herath.

As self-evident as it sounds, a key to the latter will be ensuring the batters look to make contact with the ball where it is headed rather than where they believe it will be if it grips and turns.

Enter Sandakan: mystery spinner's stunning debut

Most of Herath's nine wickets at Pallekele were a result of players pushing forward thinking the ball would spin sharply from leg stump to off (for the right handers) only to find it going straight on, past the inside of the bat and on to the pad or the stumps.

"It's obviously different to batting against spin back home (in Australia), you can trust the bounce and trust what the ball's going to do," Smith said.

"Looking at the dismissals in the first Test match, the balls that skid on are generally not half volleys, they're generally pretty good length balls.

"In saying that, it's hard to sometimes distinguish which ball's going to skid and which ball's going to spin, so it's about trying to get the bowlers off their lengths as much as you can, and make them a little bit uncomfortable.

"But at the same time, if they do get in a good rhythm and you are playing from the crease, particularly against someone like Rangana, it's about playing for that ball that is going to skid on.

"If it spins and you nick one, so be it.

"But we didn't lose any wickets on the outside of the bat in the last Test match, so I think you can live with that."

Australia XI: Warner, Burns, Khawaja, Smith (c), Voges, M Marsh, Nevill (wk), Starc, Hazlewood, Holland, Lyon.