Matthew Hayden and Ricky Ponting

Sydney: The return of slips specialist Matthew Hayden should fix Australia’s recent catching problems, captain Ricky Ponting said on Thursday.

The Australians have been uncharacteristically sloppy in the field over the last few weeks, dropping a series of routine catches in the slips cordon.

But Ponting believes the return from injury of Hayden, who normally fields at first slip, will solve the problem.

“The sooner we can get Matty back into the side and give us a bit more structure back around our slips cordon the better,” Ponting told reporters on Thursday.

“The catching is a concern, no doubt about it. We put a few down in the Test series (against India) and the other night was pretty poor as well, with two going down in the slips.

“We’ve had guys moving all over the place in the cordon. Andrew Symonds coming in, Michael Clarke moving around first and second, me the other night being probably a specialist second-slipper finding myself at first slip and I put one down there.”

Ponting said Hayden, who has been troubled by a hamstring problem, had been cleared to play in Friday’s one-dayer against Sri Lanka at the Sydney Cricket Ground, if the match goes ahead.

For Sri Lanka, the problem is to do some rethinking on how to bowl in the slog overs. The islanders had India on the mat at 83 for four at one stage in their previous rain-abandoned game but conceded 105 runs in the last 10 overs to allow the opposition to put a competitive total on the board.

Sri Lankan vice-captain Kumar Sangakkara admitted after the match that his side needed to do a bit of rethinking on how to bowl in the slog overs.

“We have something to work on to keep the scores less in the last 10 overs,” he said.

The first two games in the triangular series were washed out in Brisbane and there is a danger Friday’s match will also succumb to the foul weather after a week of torrential rain.

The met office has predicted partly cloudy conditions with chances of rain during the day. The Australian players were forced to train indoors on Thursday with Ponting undergoing a longer than usual batting session to iron out any kinks in his injured back.

The skipper missed last week’s Twenty20 against India because of pain in his lower back but is confident of playing through the rest of the Australian summer.

“My back has been better, I must admit, but it’s just something that I have to get on top of,” he said.

The Australians have also indicated that Brett Lee, who has bowled brilliantly right through the Test series against India, will be given a break at some stage.

Teams

Australia (from): Ricky Ponting (capt), Adam Gilchrist (wk), Matthew Hayden, Michael Clarke, Andrew Symonds, Michael Hussey, Brad Haddin, James Hopes, Brad Hogg, Brett Lee, Ashley Noffke, Nathan Bracken.

Sri Lanka (from): Mahela Jayawardene (capt), Sanath Jayasuriya, Kumar Sangakkara, Chamara Silva, Tillekeratne Dilshan, Chamara Kapugedera, Fervez Mahroof, Lasith Malinga, Muttiah Muralidharan, Chaminda Vaas, Upul Tharanga, Nuwan Kulasekera, Chanaka Welegedara, Ishara Amarsinghe.

Match starts: 8.45am (IST)