“It’s great to have them around in the squad,” Morkel said of Rana and Prasidh. “I think they add a lot of variation to their attack, especially Harshit, who bowls at a good pace, finds a way to also extract some bounce out of the surface.

“It’s their first tour, Prasidh had a bit of experience with India A tour where he had a bit of game time, but for Harshit it’s a bit of an unknown. My message to him was just, when I toured my first time here, playing in Australia, an intimidating place, to listen to the stories, take their advice. But for me it’s just staying in your own bubble and finding those experiences, work them out for yourself.

“[Reddy] is one of the young guys that we’ve mentioned, he’s got that sort of batting, all-round ability. He’ll be a guy that can sort of hold that one end up first. He hits the bat a little bit harder than you think. So on these sort of conditions where there might be a little bit of seam movement up front, especially the first couple of days. He’ll be a very accurate wicket-to-wicket style of bowler. It’s a lovely opportunity for him to hold that allrounder spot.

“Any team in the world always wanted the allrounder to take that load off your fast bowlers, just to give them an extra bit of breathing time. So how we use him, how Jasprit is going to use him, with maybe the spinner, to give himself, whoever’s going to be the other quicks, time to catch their breath a little bit is going to be important. He’s a guy that is a player you can keep your eye on in this series.”

India’s batting may also be reliant on some of their newer players coming through. There is a chance that the XI they put out on Friday – if Devdutt Padikkal makes it at No. 3 and Dhruv Jurel at No. 6 – could be their youngest, in terms of combined age, to start a tour since the 1947 series in Australia.

“It’s going to be great learning for these guys,” Morkel said. “It’s young guys that can come up and front up against a quality Test bowling pack. Australia’s not going to bowl you many bad balls, but in saying that, you know, there’s good leadership within the group that can help and settle the nerves for that. So I think as a group we’re all excited for the challenge, we know what’s sort of to come, we know the wicket’s going to be fast, it’s going to be bouncy, and it’s up to the individual now to formulate their game plans, and get themselves in a mental sort of battle state, that for the next 43 days it’s going to be a tough cricket.”

India could wait for Gill’s fitness until ‘the morning of the match’

“Shubman is improving every day, obviously picked up a nasty blow in the mock game, in the squad game. I think with him it’s going to be a day-to-day sort of process, fingers crossed for that improvement, but I think they’ll wait, make a call with him up until the morning of the other day’s match.”

Gill was at training on Wednesday but that was the extent of his participation even as the rest of the squad got in a full workout under the sun. He just hung out with Rishabh Pant for a while and then left. The chances of him playing in Perth in two days’ time are still slim. Padikkal, who has been added to the squad now after being asked to stay back in Australia following his work with the India A team, is shaping up as a stop-gap No. 3 batter.

Hopkinson, England’s long-standing fielding coach, joined the men’s set-up in 2018 and was involved in each of England’s most recent victories in ICC global events; the 50-over World Cup on home soil in 2019, and the T20 World Cup in Australia in November 2022.

Dawson, who played seven Tests as an offspinner between 2001 and 2003, was head coach of the Young Lions team that reached the Under-19 World Cup final in 2022, and joined the senior coaching team ahead of the 2022 T20 World Cup.

Hopkinson said: “It has been a career highlight not only to be part of the England coaching set-up for the past seven years but also to be involved in two historic World Cup victories, which is something I’ll always cherish.

“After starting as National Lead Fielding coach I worked alongside Richard Dawson to help the England Men U19s reach their first World Cup final for 24 years. It has been exciting to see young players we worked with at the World Cup grow into full England internationals as well as more recently helping some of the best white-ball players in the world continue to develop.”

Dawson said: “I have enjoyed every minute in the England environment and working with some of the best white-ball players in the world as well as great people in the coaching team and backroom staff from the U19s to senior team.

“Being head coach of the England U19 team that reached the World Cup final was a career highlight while it has been a pleasure working with some of the top spinners in the world while also developing the strength and depth of spin bowling talent from across the country. I look forward to seeing the white-ball team continue to progress and hopefully win more trophies.”

Rob Key, England Men’s managing director, said: “Hoppo and Daws are two outstanding coaches who have played important roles in the success of our white-ball teams.

“In addition to their coaching expertise with our senior teams they have also developed young players through the age groups to help set up the next era of our white-ball teams. England Cricket is in a better place because of them and I wish them well in the next chapter of their careers.”

Sri Lanka 210 for 7 (Mendis 74*, Theekshana 27*, Bracewell 4-36) beat New Zealand 209 all out (Chapman 76, Hay 49, Theekshana 3-31) by three wickets (47 overs a side)

But on a surface where nearly every spinner proved threatening to some degree, it was always going to take a special batting effort to separate the two sides. And Kusal provided that in spades.

Having come into bat at the fall of the first wicket inside the fifth over, it wasn’t long before Kusal decided on a more conservative approach. The first ball he faced spun sharply past his forward defence, and then an attempt at his escape shot – the slog sweep – saw a top edge that looped safely over the keeper.

A couple of overs later Kusal was under the microscope once more, after a tight lbw shout went in his favour – a decision that was only upheld on review courtesy of an umpire’s call on impact. These nervy moments meant that Kusal wouldn’t get his first boundary until the 26th delivery he faced. In fact, in total across his innings he would score just the six boundaries; instead, this was an innings marked more by his grit, with 46 singles and two doubles – 67% of his runs – an abnormally high percentage of non-boundary runs for a Kusal Mendis innings.

That he did so while struggling with cramps, or quite possibly a groin strain, for most of his innings speaks volumes towards his effort on the night.

But this was not a match Mendis could have won on his own. Aside from five-run stand with Kamindu Mendis, Kusal put together meaningful contributions with each of his other partners – 18, 19, 28, 39, 31 and 47 – with each pushing Sri Lanka a little further towards the finish line.

One of the most important came with Janith Liyanage, as the pair came together in the 22nd over with Sri Lanka precariously poised on 93 for 5, and Kusal already being impacted by cramps. With New Zealand seeking further breakthroughs, and the pair of Glenn Phillips and Ish Sodhi bowling well in tandem, Liyanage proved the ideal partner to keep rotating the strike and the spin threat at bay.

This helped stabilise the innings, but when Liyanage fell, gloving a bouncer from Nathan Smith through to the keeper, Sri Lanka were still 78 off their target.

But Theekshana, who had been unable to see it through in that game, showed far more metal the second time, striking three boundaries in total including a critical six over deep backward point, to help see the game through.

Such a nerve-wracking finish was hard to imagine at the halfway point however, after Sri Lanka had done extremely well on either side of two first-innings rain stoppages to strangle the New Zealand innings.

The catching was undoubtedly the highlight, where despite dropping some tough chances, Sri Lanka held on to even tougher ones. Avishka Fernando was at the forefront of this excellence, completing two nearly identical grabs, diving forward in the deep to scoop the ball centimetres off the ground, to dismiss both Phillips and and Chapman.

And he was not done yet, taking another stellar catch on the run and slide to remove Bracewell. Pathum Nissanka too threw his name in the hat for catch of the match, with a stunning sprint from long-off towards mid-off, culminating in a full-length dive to hold on to a skier from Santner.

Sri Lanka’s ground fielding too was on point – even with the caveat of a few sloppy boundary giveaways – with the infielders in particular smothering the visiting batters, and competing for every run. This was highlighted by an astonishing 157 dot balls being played out across the course of the innings – one that had already been shortened to 47 overs due to rain.

New Zealand’s best period of the innings came after they had stumbled to 98 for 4 in the 24th over. Here Chapman and Hay put in the time to rebuild the innings, but such was the strangle being exerted by the spinners during the early part of this stand, they scored just 13 runs in the first 41 deliveries faced. But by the end of it, though, the partnership had soared to 75 off 78, as both batters eventually began to take some risks.

Sixty-two runs were scored between the 30th and 36th over, as New Zealand might have been eyeing up a total in the region of 250. However on a spinner’s deck, it was Asitha who had the most decisive say, returning for a double-wicket strike to see the backs of Chapman and Bracewell.

From that point on, it was a trudge for the visitors as Hay sought to battle it out with the tail. He was the last batter to fall, one short of a maiden ODI fifty.

Victoria 373 (Rogers 76, Crone 62, Handscomb 56) and 122 for 2 (Harris 56*, Handscomb 56*) beat Western Australia 167 (Murphy 4-37) and 325 (Curtis 119*, Cartwright 78, Elliott 4-47)

Rocchiccioli bowled Ashley Chandrasinghe and Campbell Kellaway with his first two deliveries to have the hosts 19 for 2. Two days earlier he had Peter Siddle caught by Cameron Bancroft with the last ball of the first innings.

The door was ajar for an unlikely Western Australia win after Rocchiccioli’s heroics but Handscomb was having none of that. The skipper negotiated the hat-trick delivery and went on the attack. Harris was a willing accomplice and made sure there was no miracle win for the three-time reigning Shield champions.

Curtis remained unbeaten on a brilliant and defiant 119 to add to the list of wicketkeepers in fine fettle with the bat in Australian domestic cricket.

Allrounder Sam Elliott took four wickets in another impressive display. It was the bowlers who set the win up for Victoria with paceman Fergus O’Neill taking six for the match and spinner Todd Murphy chiming in with four first-innings wickets to help dismiss Western Australia for 167.