CAIRNS, July 7: Experienced Test opener Sanath Jayasuriya has urged Sri Lanka's batsmen to ignore talk of being 'bounced out' of the second cricket Test against Australia here this week.

The Cairns wicket for Friday's Test looks hard and grassed with the prospect of extra bounce and lift than the seaming drop-in pitch in last week's Darwin Test wrapped up by the Australians inside three days.

First-change bowler Michael Kasprowicz, who claimed 7-39 in Sri Lanka's second innings of 162 in Darwin, inspected the Cairns pitch on Wednesday and predicted a bouncy strip with plenty of carry behind the wicket.

"A bit of bounce will be nice. Last year it had a bit of bounce in it (against Bangladesh) and if you've got good consistent bounce and you're hitting the deck hard you do get something out of it," Kasprowicz said.

"It's pretty similar to the Gabba (Brisbane) wicket. It's got a good hard crust underneath it, there's a little bit of grass there, and it will be important to bowl a touch fuller, but certainly part of our game plan is to hit the deck hard.

"The Sri Lankans are used to the wickets playing lower and our bowlers are taller than their's, so if there is going to be some bounce, then we're going to find it." Talk of a short-pitched attack from Australia's giant pace trio, Glenn McGrath, Jason Gillespie and Kasprowicz, does not concern Jayasuriya, who will be padding up for his 90th Test appearance on Friday.

"We are quite used to (short-pitched bowling) and we don't have to worry about those things, that's part of the game, we just have to play our natural game," Jayasuriya told reporters.

"It looks a good wicket and we have to be more positive. There's nothing to worry about the wicket as long as we do our own thing and we just go out and bat." Jayasuriya, who had scores of 8 and 16 in Darwin and ran out batting partner Kumar Sangakkara for a duck in a crucial second innings dismissal, said Sri Lanka must look at building batting partnerships.

"What we lack right now are good partnerships, the players have realised what went wrong in the last game and that we need strong partnerships," he said. "Australia are bowling well, you can see that from the last game, they bowled in the right areas most of the time, that's the difference and we know they bowled well but what we want is for someone to go in and score big runs."

He said he had confidence that Sangakkara would bounce back from his two poor scores in Darwin and test himself against Australia's strong bowling attack. "Kumar has the experience to come back, he's a class cricketer. I am confident he will perform at his best," Jayasuriya said. "He was unlucky in his last game to be run out in the second innings."

Jayasuriya said there will be changes to the Sri Lankan, but would say no more. "There will be some changes for this week's Test, but I am not sure about who will come in or who will go out. I'm not the captain."

Kasprowicz, playing in his home state of Queensland this weekend, said he was feeling more at ease in his second spell in the all-star Australian team. "I'm feeling good at the moment. Everything's going well, so it's just great to show that at this level," he said.

"That's one of the things in my time out of the side I tried to change a little bit. "The big changes for me have been adaptability on the different surfaces. Swing the ball when conditions allow and hit the deck hard, that's the strengths of my game and an area where I've certainly turned it around." Kasprowicz has taken 47 wickets in 21 Tests and is firmly stating his case for retention while Brett Lee recovers from ankle surgery. -AFP