Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene insists injuries to key Australian bowlers has left the tri-series tournament hosts short on options going into their ODI clash in Perth on Friday.

The skipper believes the absence of James Pattinson, Brett Lee, Mitchell Johnson and Pat Cummins has significantly weakened the bowling attack, an area which Sri Lanka plan to target.

"Right now, the bowling probably," Jayawardene said when asked where he saw Australia's weakness.

"(Ryan) Harris has come back after injury, he is a decent bowler, but they are still missing quite a few front-line guys. That's an area we can target."

After losing their opening match to India by four wickets on Wednesday, Jayawardene knows his team needs to improve significantly in order to beat the Australians.

"We have to be smart to beat them," he said.

"We know what their strengths are. We know what our strengths are. It's all about how you are going to apply on the day.

"You get into different situations in a match. Certain situations we didn't handle better than India. That's why they won the game. Against Australia we will be in certain situations again, we have to handle them in a much smarter and better way. Try and be on top of them, and try and finish a game off."

Meanwhile, Friday will only be the second match for Sri Lanka under new coach Graham Ford, while Jayawardene himself is also only one match into his new tenure as the captain.

Tillakaratne Dilshan and Geoff Marsh were both given the axe following a tough tour of South Africa, and Jayawardene is still uncertain about the future of Sri Lankan cricket, but insists he will do all he can to get it back on track.

"All that (the long-term future) is far ahead," Jayawardene said.

"I haven't given it much thought. The decision to take over was a very tough one. The easiest thing for me was to say no. But the situation we are in right now I felt I needed to take that responsibility. And try and do my best and see what happens. Spoke to the usual people that I speak to about the game, they all felt the same way. It took me 24 hours to take the call."