Match facts July 26-30, 2016 Start time 10.00 local (04.30 GMT)Big Picture Once upon a time, Sri Lanka beat Australia in a Test series. Like most fairy tales, it was a little bit gruesome - Steve Waugh and Jason Gillespie met grisly fates during Sri Lankas win in the first Test - and somewhat miraculous - persistent rain in the second and third Tests ensured draws that gave Sri Lanka a 1-0 victory. In the coming years, their achievement took on even more mythic proportions. Immediately following that series in 1999, Australia won a world-record 16 consecutive Tests. For a good couple of years, Sri Lanka were the last of the giant-killers.Yet the happy ending of that tour was just that - an ending. Never again have Sri Lanka beaten Australia in a Test, let alone a series. They lost 0-3 at home in 2004 despite the presence of champions such as Muttiah Muralitharan, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene, Chaminda Vaas and Sanath Jayasuriya. In 2011, Sangakkara and Jayawardene were still there and Australia were ripe for plucking; having suffered an Ashes debacle at home, Australia had slipped to fifth on the Test rankings, below the fourth-placed Sri Lanka. But still Australia emerged with a series win.Now, the last of those legends have faded into retirement, and everything seems stacked against Sri Lanka. Australia are back on top of the Test rankings, Sri Lanka have slipped to seventh. Australia have more or less a full-strength squad; Sri Lanka have several bowlers injured. Even Muralitharan, he of 800 Test wickets, has changed camps and is coaching the Australians on this tour. But there is one solitary link back to that 1999 triumph - that was the series in which Rangana Herath made his Test debut, and Sri Lankas hopes rest largely on his stocky shoulders this time.Australia are yet to lose a Test under Steven Smiths captaincy, and he will be desperate to ensure that continues on his first tour of Asia as skipper. He will have his strike weapon Mitchell Starc back after a long injury lay-off, and a twin spin attack likely at his disposal. Smith himself is the No.1-ranked Test batsman in the world and his fit-again vice-captain David Warner is eighth. And thats without even mentioning the bloke averaging 95.50. If Sri Lanka want another fairy tale, theyll need a touch of the miraculous once again.Form guide Sri Lanka: DLLLL (last five completed matches, most recent first)? Australia: WWDWWIn the spotlight To overcome Australia, the Sri Lankans may just need something special from a one-man band. Fortunately, they have the Mike Oldfield of cricket. In the past five years, no Test player has accumulated more five-wicket hauls or ten-wicket matches than Rangana Herath. And only one man - Stuart Broad - has equalled him for Man-of-the-Match awards in that time. At home, Herath is an ever-present threat, and no player is more important to Sri Lankas chances in this series. There is no Dhammika Prasad, no Dushmantha Chameera, no Shaminda Eranga. But while Herath remains, Sri Lanka can dream.Last time Australia played a Test series in Sri Lanka, Nathan Lyon was as green as the Adelaide Oval outfield, on which he had not long finished working as a groundsman. He began the tour with five first-class matches to his name and was thrust in at Galle as the latest in a long line of spinners tried since Shane Warnes retirement four years earlier. It would be Lyon who would finally end the spin cycle, signalled by his taking Sangakkaras wicket with the first ball of his career. He returns as Australias most successful Test offspinner of all time, with 195 wickets to his name. Almost certainly on this trip he will become the 16th Australian to the milestone of 200 Test wickets.Team news By naming a squad of 15, Sri Lanka have given themselves plenty of options. A debut for either Dhananjaya de Silva or Roshen Silva seems likely, while the make-up of the attack needs to be determined with so many bowlers unavailable due to injury. Suranga Lakmal is doubtful due to hamstring tightness, which could mean a debut for Vishwa Fernando.Sri Lanka (possible) 1 Dimuth Karunaratne, 2 Kaushal Silva, 3 Kusal Mendis, 4 Dinesh Chandimal (wk), 5 Angelo Mathews (capt), 6 Dhananjaya de Silva, 7 Kusal Perera, 8 Dilruwan Perera, 9 Rangana Herath, 10 Vishwa Fernando, 11 Nuwan Pradeep.Australias XI has been confirmed, with the only question-mark in the lead-up having been whether they would opt for two spinners. Steve OKeefes work in the warm-up match - he took 10 wickets and scored an unbeaten 78 - extinguished any doubts, and on match eve Smith announced that OKeefe would be part of the XI.Australia 1 David Warner, 2 Joe Burns, 3 Usman Khawaja, 4 Steven Smith (capt), 5 Adam Voges, 6 Mitchell Marsh, 7 Peter Nevill (wk), 8 Steve OKeefe, 9 Mitchell Starc, 10 Nathan Lyon, 11 Josh Hazlewood.Pitch and conditions A couple of days out, the Pallekele pitch had a slight covering of grass but that was expected to be shaved off before the Test. It is expected to spin as the match wears on, though perhaps not so much as as it does in Galle.Stats and triviaThe all-time head-to-head record between these two teams is 26 Tests played, 17 wins to Australia, eight draws, and just a single victory for Sri LankaAcross all formats this year, Sri Lanka have won just a single game against Test-playing opposition: a T20 against India back in FebruaryAustralia would need to win at least 2-0 to ensure they do not drop any points on the Test rankings tableQuotes I have trust in all 11 players, but unfortunately our top bowlers are unavailable. But we cant refuse to play the game because of that. We hope the players who do play can do the job. Well have to play very well to beat the No.1 team.Angelo Mathews, the Sri Lanka captainThe challenge for us is batting long periods of time. We know thats what wins games in these conditions.David Warner on Australias challenge in Sri Lanka Travis Zajac Jersey . 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Creighton is set for its first true road game Wednesday, but the Bluejays dont have to stray far from home for their initial challenge in a hostile environment.The 10th-ranked Bluejays will travel just under 60 miles west on Interstate 80 to play in-state rival Nebraska at Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln.It is the first time in program history that Creighton is a Top 10 team in either poll in consecutive weeks. The Bluejays (8-0) remained No. 10 in the Associated Press poll while moving from No. 12 to No. 10 in the USA Today coaches poll Monday.The annual showdown for bragging rights has been lopsided in Creightons favor in recent seasons, and Bluejays coach Greg McDermott has never lost a game to a Tim Miles-coached team.Bluejays guard Khyri Thomas, a sophomore from Omaha, said the Creighton coaches are more into the rivalry aspect than he is.Now that Im at Creighton, its starting to become a big deal, Thomas said. Last year I got a little taste of it, but this year were going there. The coaches are always amped up about it, so I guess I have to get amped up as well.Its just another game. Im ready to play, get the win and on to the next game.While the Bluejays played three games away from CenturyLink Center, all of those were at a neutral site in the Virgin Islands. McDermott expects to know much more about the Jays by the time the game ends late Wednesday night.I wish we would have had one other true road game before to get out feet wet, but were going to go into the fire right away, McDermott said. Im going to learn a lot about our team on Wednesday, whether we can go into an environment like that, where its loud and there are plenty of distractions because of the energy and the crowd. We have to be able to focus our way through it.Nebraska (5-3) took an 11-point loss to No. 2 UCLA at Paauley Pavilion and a two-point setback to Clemson in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.dddddddddddd McDermott said Miles has the Huskers on the right track.Hes got them playing well, McDermott said. Theyve got a couple of near-misses against some really good teams.Two Huskers specifically mentioned by McDermott as having good starts to the season were Glynn Watson Jr. and Tai Webster. Those pair are averaging a combined 30.7 points per game, with Webster setting the pace at 16.9.How the two teams get things done on offense and defense are vastly different. Creighton is the only team in the country that is shooting better than 50 percent from the field in all its games, and the Bluejays average 90.2 points per game.The Huskers are making shots at a clip of 42.5 percent through their first eight games while averaging 69.1 points per outing. Nebraska is giving up 62.5 points per game, while Creighton surrenders 73.9 each time out.McDermott said the Huskers arent a team the Bluejays can take lightly. He noted that none of Creightons current starters have played in the rivalry game in Lincoln.Theyre playing with a lot more confidence, McDermott said. Nebraskas a very capable basketball team, and were going to have to have our A game if we going to go in there and expect to win.The Wednesday contest begins a rough week for Nebraska, which plays at No. 3 Kansas on Saturday.Its a big week for us to come prepared and play our game and execute what Coach Miles wants us to do, Watson told huskers.com. Its big. Its a chance for us to show our game and show that we can play with the best teams, also. Its big, but weve got to prepare and execute whatever weve got to do to get the W. ' ' '