Beer draws benefits from tour match

Michael Beer put in 30 tireless overs across Australia's drawn three-day tour match against the Sri Lankan Board XI and emerged all the more savvy of sub-continental conditions.

With Nathan Hauritz injured, Xavier Doherty and Jason Kreja out of favour and Steven Smith out of form, Beer is the tourists' senior spinner on tour and on Saturday insisted he will be up for the challenge come the first match of their three-Test series against Tillakaratne Dilshan's men.

                                                      

                                                     Beer - Lyon's partner in spin

Proving particularly unstinting in the face of Lahiru Thirimanne's unbeaten century, the 27-year-old welcomed a thorough lesson across conditions typical of the sub-continent as the P Sara Oval churned out a low and slow affair.

"We gained heaps. The way the game was played, everyone in the team benefitted, especially myself, having bowled on day and on day three." said Beer.

"It was a good trial against the different batsmen and the way they play. It was a good trial in some very different conditions to those back home.

"Thirimanne batted well, but we varied out pace, varied things and went from there. I took a lot out of this game."

Relatively familiar with some of the country's other grounds, Beer admitted that the Galle International Stadium - the venue for the first Test, which gets underway on Wednesday - will require a change of approach, with even less bounce and slower turn expected next week.

"Galle will be a different pitch obviously to the one here at the P Sara Oval. I've trained at the R Premadasa Stadium and the Sinhalese Sports Club in Colombo and Galle is going to be different to those two, but we will just look to adapt as quickly as possible and go from there," he added.

Beer backed himself and fellow slow bowler Nathan Lyon too put in a good fight against Dilshan and company despite a lack of experience against Sri Lanka's star-studded line-up, which also includes former captains Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara.

"We've watched a lot of footage of the opposition. We have done our homework and that research will continue. We will back ourselves and back what we have been working on and hopefully do our job," he concluded.

The Sri Lankan Board XI, 258 all out in their first innings, settled on 174 for two a second time around in reply to the visitor's 393 all out as the Colombo clash ended in a stalemate.