An Australian fortress

Sri Lanka head in to the two-Test series against Australia in quest of their first win in the country, something that they haven't achieved on eight previous attempts. Australia have only lost one Test against Sri Lanka till date, in Kandy in 1999.

Sri Lanka's task is even more challenging when one considers this fact: Australia have not lost a Test in the venues for this series - the Gabba in Brisbane and the Bellerive Oval in Hobart - in nearly 20 years. The last time Australia lost at the Gabba was in November 1988, while they have never lost one at the Bellerive Oval. Incidentally, Sri Lanka were Australia's opponents in the inaugural Test at the Bellerive Oval, a match the hosts won by 173 runs.

The consolation Sri Lanka can take is that they have managed a draw in the solitary Test they have played at the Gabba.

Sri Lanka do possess a potent bowling attack - Chaminda Vaas, Lasith Malinga, Dilhara Fernando and Muttiah Muralitharan - that could trouble Australia. Since 2005, Sri Lanka's bowling unit has been the best in terms of average and strike-rate.

However, the figures are slightly misleading, as Sri Lanka have played seven Tests in that period against Bangladesh, managing 137 wickets at 18.19 apiece. If you exclude figures against Bangladesh, Sri Lanka average 30.65 per wicket and Australia 27.26.

The upcoming Test series will also be the first for Australia after the retirements of Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne. The impact that McGrath and Warne have made is well reflected in the Australia's win-loss ratio over the past few years in matches with and without them.

Of the four series that Australia didn't manage to win this decade - against India away in 2001, against New Zealand at home in 2001, against India at home in 2003-04 and the Ashes away in 2005 - Warne and McGrath played in the entire series only twice, in 2001 against India and New Zealand. While both McGrath and Warne missed the home series against India, a freak injury before the start of the second Ashes Test meant McGrath only played two of the last four Tests.

However, if the recent records of the Stuarts - MacGill and Clark, the two who will take over from Warne and McGrath - are anything to go by, Ricky Ponting need not panic over the absence of his strike bowlers.

The batsmen have tended to do well at the Gabba, the venue for the first Test, with both spinners and the pace bowlers not having much success in Tests of late.

Sri Lanka's batsmen will need to string together partnerships at the Gabba, something which the visiting teams have failed to do in recent years.

With the retirement of Justin Langer, Matthew Hayden will have another left-hander - Phil Jaques - as his partner at the top of the order for Australia. Hayden has been involved in the two most successful partnerships in the 2000s - with Langer and Ponting. Sri Lanka's likely opening pair - Atapattu and Sanath Jayasuriya - figure in the top five while the middle-order pair of Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara are in sixth place.