Australia A captain Darren Lehmann says his side will be out to avenge its sole loss of the summer when it takes on Sri Lanka in a day-night match at the Adelaide Oval today.

The A-side has been a testament to Australian cricket's depth so far this season, outplaying England in a three-day match in Hobart in November, then beating England and Sri Lanka in one-day matches in December.

But Sri Lanka finally handed Australia A its first defeat of the season in Melbourne on New Year's day, when opener Marvan Atapattu scored an unbeaten 101 to guide his team to a five-wicket victory.

Lehmann said the second-string Australian side wanted to reassert its authority over the visitors today.

The match will also double as a fitness test for Lehmann, who is recovering from a bacterial infection which hospitalised him in late December.

"It's an important game for a lot of reasons, personally and teamwise," Lehmann said.

"We lost to Sri Lanka on New Year's day, which was disappointing, so we'll be looking to try to avenge that and play well here in Adelaide.

"There's still a lot of issues for the players, we've got to play well and keep our hand up for those blokes that missed out on the World Cup (squad).

"For the blokes that aren't going it's important to play well and keep their names right up there so if something goes wrong with those 15 in the World Cup they're the first name picked out of the ranks."

Lehmann was also hopeful of getting the chance to face Sri Lankan off-spinning wizard Muttiah Muralitharan, although he is likely to be rested until Thursday's SCG match against Australia as he continues to recover from a hernia operation.

"It would be good to see him play," Lehmann said.

"It's good for the blokes that haven't played against him before or haven't seen him to actually face him."

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