Australian all-rounder Cameron White says his side is fully focused on Sunday's Twenty20 International against Sri Lanka despite the looming Ashes series.

The game has been overshadowed by England's imminent arrival, but the Twenty20 vice-captain said Australia had plenty of time to think about the Ashes after Sri Lanka's tour.

White said everyone in the Twenty20 team for the Perth match understood they would be able to use domestic cricket after the Sri Lankan games to prepare for the Ashes and make a case for selection.

"Any game you get to play for Australia is an important one," he said.

"There's no doubt that this is a pretty young side Twenty20 side and everyone that has been given the opportunity will be really concentrating on playing well in this game."

"There's a fair bit of talk about the Ashes, but not from inside the team at the moment."

Australia also meets Sri Lanka in three one-day internationals following the Twenty20 clash in Perth, which White said would be a great chance for the younger squad members to prove their worth in the limited-overs format.

The Victorian captain also said he was pleased to see five of his interstate team-mates in the side for Sunday's clash.

"We've had good team success with Victoria so for those guys it's a good opportunity for them to really step up at this level," he said.

White said he wasn't surprised England captain Andrew Strauss told his players not to get too friendly with the Australian team during the Ashes series and expected the home side to approach the series similarly.

"There's always a rivalry there. It will be played in the right spirit, but with a little niggle along the way," White said.

Sri Lankan vice-captain Mahela Jayawardene said the match was a fantastic opportunity for his side.

"Every time we play Twenty20 we've been pretty good, so we don't want to lose that momentum, especially heading into the three one-day matches," he said.

"Playing Australia is always going to be a tough one for us, but there's a few things that we want to try. With a few of the younger boys here for us we want to give them a go against tougher opposition and see how they come up."

The veteran batsman said his team would look to experiment on the tour as they try to find the right combinations heading into the 2011 World Cup on the sub-continent.

© 2010 Sportal