Steven Smith set to return for Test series against Sri Lanka

Steven Smith, who had to miss the last three One-Day Internationals (ODI) against Sri Lanka due to a quad injury says that he will be fit in time to play the first Test in Galle, which will get underway on Wednesday (June 29).

However, fast bowler Mitchell Starc faces race against time to be fit for the game after sustaining a finger injury during the first T20 International (T20I) against Sri Lanka. He has not played since.

"If we were still playing one-day cricket, I would be touch and go, but Test cricket, I will be fine," Smith told AAP. 

"Test cricket is a bit easier [on the quad]. I field in the slips, won't be doing a great deal of running around in the field. And then in these conditions, there's not a lot of hard running.

"They usually have a few sweepers, and it's four or one quite often. So there's not a heap of hard running."

His teammate Starc will however not be allowed to take field with his fingers taped. However, he can tape it back if he cuts his finger during the match.  "We have tried to give it as long as we could, because it is (the cut] in probably the worst spot," Starc said. 

"It's where the ball comes off last. It's certainly not to my advantage [bowling with tape on], because it takes away from my grip."

Traditionally, the finger spinners have fared better than the wrist spinners in Galle. As a result, Ashton Agar was a firm favourite to make a Test return, but his side strain has ruled him out of contention, but could find a place in the second Test, also in Galle, if he recovers.

Australia have Jon Holland and Matthew Kuhnemann as cover, but head coach Andrew McDonald did nto rule out giving leg-spinner Mitchell Swepson a go. "A lot of the suggestions from around the traps is that finger spin tends to work better here than wrist spin," McDonald said. 

"But it's not to say wrist spin can't work.

"We're not as clear if we were to go with a finger spinner [on who it would be] as we would have been with Ashton. We feel like Ash would have given us good control, and that would have been a positive for the team if he was selected."