Sri Lanka won the toss and chose to bat against Australia in the second Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Wednesday.

Skipper Michael Clarke passed a fitness test on an injured hamstring to lead the Australian side, while paceman Jackson Bird will make his Test debut with Mitchell Starc named 12th man.

Clarke is the leading run scorer in Tests this year and needs another 56 runs to beat Ricky Ponting's national record of 1,544 set in 2005.

Sri Lanka included medium pacer Dhammika Prasad for injured fast bowler Nuwan Kulasekara (ribs).

Australia lead the three-Test series 1-0 after beating Sri Lanka by 137 runs in last week's opening Test in Hobart.

Teams:

Australia - David Warner, Ed Cowan, Phil Hughes, Shane Watson, Michael Clarke (capt), Michael Hussey, Matthew Wade, Mitchell Johnson, Peter Siddle, Nathan Lyon, Jackson Bird. 12th man: Mitchell Starc.

Sri Lanka: Dimuth Karunaratne, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Mahela Jayawardene (capt), Kumar Sangakkara, Thilan Samaraweera, Angelo Mathews, Prasanna Jayawardene, Dhammika Prasad, Rangana Herath, Shaminda Eranga, Chanaka Welegedara. 12th man: Dinesh Chandimal.

Umpires: Aleem Dar (PAK), Nigel Llong (ENG)

TV umpire: Tony Hill (NZL)

Match referee: Chris Broad (ENG)