Lankans upbeat as Mendis faces x-rays

In-form Sri Lanka batsman Kusal Mendis will have x-rays in Hobart Friday with the visitors desperately hoping to confirm there is no broken bone in the ring finger of his right hand.

Mendis was left in agony after being struck on the hand by a full-blooded pull-shot from Jake Doran on the first afternoon of their day-night tour match against a Cricket Australia XI at Hobart's Blundstone Arena.

Mendis was fielding under a helmet at short leg and had ducked to protect himself as Doran shaped to smash Dilruwan Perera's full toss and took the blow on the ringer finger of his right hand.

Sri Lanka coach Chandika Hathurusingha said Mendis was "in quite a lot of pain" but it had improved after icing, raising confidence among the visitors' medical staff that there was no break.

"He can't hold the bat so hopefully in 24 hours' time we'll know more," Hathurusingha told reporters after play. 

"He was in quite a lot of pain but now he's okay after icing it a couple of times."

Hathurusingha remains hopeful Mendis will be able to bat in what is the Sri Lankans only warm-up ahead of next week's first Domain Test which will also be played under lights at the Gabba.

Asked if his heart had skipped a beat at seeing the injury, Sri Lanka's coach replied: "Definitely, he's the one who has been in the runs lately and he's a key player."

Mendis was a middle-order mainstay for Sri Lanka in their two-Test series with New Zealand that preceded this tour. He hit an unbeaten 141 in the second innings of the drawn first Test in Wellington and followed that with 67 during the Boxing Day Test to top-score in Sri Lanka's second innings.

The injury to the key batsman was the most pressing of issues facing Sri Lanka, but it was not the only one after the side again struggled with front-foot no balls, delivering 12 in the first innings.

"It's a big concern. We need to get that right because it's happened to us again," Hathurusingha said.

"The spinners also bowled no-balls in the England series and we got, I think, three wickets off no-balls so it's a big concern. We need to get it right soon."

The Sri Lanka coach said the onus for rectifying the problem lay, quite literally, the feet of his bowlers.

"It's about being aware of the right line in front of you, basically," he said.

"I think they are trying a bit too hard when the ball gets softer to get the ball through. It's a mental thing so they need to adjust knowing they have to stay back."

Sri Lanka played two day-night Tests previously – against Pakistan in Dubai in October 2017, and last June against the Windies in Barbados. That's more recent than Australia's previous pink-ball Test in December 2017 against England, although next week's Gabba Test will be the fifth the Aussies have hosted, and second in Brisbane.

"We got a lot of information about the pink ball as well because we are playing with it after a long time," Hathurusingha said.

"he last time was in Barbados with Duke balls and this ball is different, it got softer very quickly.

"I thought our guys bowled really well at the start then we need to find how to be in the game when it gets softer.

Sri Lanka reduced the CA XI to 3-25 inside 11 overs, removing Test squad members Joe Burns, Matt Renshaw and Marnus Labuschagne for single-figure scores.

Kurtis Patterson lead a rebound, with a 63-run partnership with Will Pucovski (23) and then a mammoth 219-run effort with Jake Doran (102*) that took the home side through to their pre-arranged declaration point of 75 overs, where Patterson walked off with an unbeaten 157 against his name.

Touring sides have not generally faced Test players in warm-up matches in recent times, and Hathurusingha welcomed the chance to get in an early psychological blow against players his side is likely to face in Brisbane next week.

"It's always good to put a little bit of doubt in their mind coming into the Tests rather than coming in with a lot of runs so it's a good effort by the bowlers to make use of the new ball."

Sri Lanka resume day two in Hobart on 0-38 after openers Dimuth Karunaratne and Lahiru Thirimanne survived a few scares in 13 overs before the close.

The match will be live streamed on cricket.com.au and the CA YouTube channel from 2pm AEDT.

Domain Test Series v Sri Lanka

Australia: Tim Paine (c/wk), Josh Hazlewood (vc), Joe Burns, Pat Cummins, Marcus Harris, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Will Pucovski, Matt Renshaw, Mitchell Starc, Peter Siddle

Sri Lanka: Dinesh Chandimal (c), Dimuth Karunaratne, Lahiru Thirimanne, Kusal Mendis, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Dhananjaya de Silva, Roshen Silva, Niroshan Dickwella (wk), Kusal Perera, Dilruwan Perera, Lakshan Sandakan, Suranga Lakmal, Nuwan Pradeep, Lahiru Kumara, Dushmantha Chameera, Kasun Rajitha

CA XI: Joe Burns (c), Kurtis Patterson (vc), Scott Boland, Jake Doran (wk), Jon Holland, Marnus Labuschagne, Michael Neser, Will Pucovski, Jason Sangha, Matt Renshaw, Chris Tremain

Jan 17-19: Tour match, CA XI v SL, Hobart (D/N)

Jan 24-28: First Test, Gabba (D/N)

Feb 1-5: Second Test, Canberra