After an unexpected 106-run loss in Kandy, Smith is hoping his bowlers can help Australia level the three-match series. "It would be nice to see the ball reversing this game," Smith told the media. "I've heard it does, so it would be nice if we can get that going. I dare say they're only going to play the one quick again (plus three spinners).
"They're 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 be playing bowl at a good pace as well. Hopefully we can exploit that with their batters a little bit."
Smith said the pitch looked dry and expected it to heavily favour the spinners. "There's quite a big breeze so I think it will (also) drift a lot for the spinners," he said.
While Australia will need to counter the dangerous Rangana Herath and Lakshan Sandakan, Smith is banking on Galle's reputation of assisting pacemen. Morne Morkel and Dale Steyn, the South Africa quicks, claimed 16 wickets between them to spearhead the Proteas to a 153-run victory in Galle two years ago.
"Talking to (Australia's bowling consultant) Allan Donald who was here with the South African team in that game, he said the ball reversed quite significantly from both ends," Smith said. "Morne Morkel had it going away from the right-handers and Dale Steyn had it going into the right- handers.
"So we've got Mitchell Starc who can do (away swing to right-handers) and Josh Hazlewood can do (inswing). Mitchell Marsh bowls good reverse swing as well, so we've got the bases covered."
Smith said Australia would miss injured spinner Steve O'Keefe's but believed his bowling attack needed to collectively improve. "It's about keeping things a little bit tighter," he said. "We are bowling too many loose balls."
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