Michael Clarke has defended Australia's bowling attack for the Commonwealth Bank Series following criticism from the Sri Lankan camp in the lead-up to Friday's match between the two sides.
Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene labelled Australia's bowling group as their weakness and said they would target them throughout the one-day international tri-series.
But the Australian captain rejected those claims and said the attack, which featured Ryan Harris, Mitchell Starc, Clint McKay and Xavier Doherty in addition to all-rounders David Hussey and Daniel Christian in their 65-run series-opening win against India, was performing well.
"That's Mahela's opinion and he's a very good player who has played against a lot of very good opposition teams," Clarke said.
"But I think we started really well in the first game against India, there were lots of positive signs."
"This attack has played one game together. So we'll see over time [how good they are]. It's two very good one-day oppositions that we're playing against and they're going to give us a real test."
"There's plenty of work to do to get to where we want to get by the end of this series but we're off to a good start."
Clarke said the final XI for Friday's game at the WACA Ground hadn't been confirmed on Thursday afternoon, although he did say Doherty would hold his spot as the lone specialist spinner.
Coach Mickey Arthur said on Wednesday they were likely to retain the same bowling attack from the India game, but Clarke didn't rule out Ben Hilfenhaus returning for his first ODI in more than two years at the venue where he took eight wickets in a match during the Test series against India.
"Hilf's bowled very well this year. He's showed that in Test cricket, but he's bowled well in one-day cricket for Tasmania for a while now so he's a very good option for us," he said.
Clarke said he was happy with the bowling depth Australia has developed over the summer, including 20-year-old paceman Alister McDermott.
The son of former Test quick Craig took 7-24 in the second innings of Queensland's Sheffield Shield match against WA on Thursday, helping the Bulls come agonisingly close to snatching the most unlikely of victories.
"I think he's a wonderful talent," Clarke said.
"He's had a really good year for the Bulls and bowled really well in the Twenty20 as well. His yorker is probably as good as there is in domestic cricket at the moment."
"It's nice to see him putting in consistently good performances on the board."
"He's got plenty of time, but I'm sure he's got goals to represent Australia in whatever form he can. And if he keeps performing like that, it'll be hard to keep him out."