"We've got to prove to ourselves that we can play in these conditions." Such was the simple message from Australian captain Steve Smith ahead of the third Test against Sri Lanka in Colombo.

In Kandy, the Australians might only have been frustrated at letting a winning position invert to a loss. But Galle was the kind of thrashing that can harm a team's development. The risk of that makes the last contest all the more important.

"To win the last Test match, that will give us a little bit of confidence," said Smith. "We're going to hopefully play with a little bit more freedom and courage and be willing to take the game on to hopefully get ahead of the game."

For opening batsman Joe Burns, one of several players whose place in the side could be at risk, the motivation was also emotional.

"Mate, it would mean a hell of a lot. The series has gone now but you're playing for your country. There's so much pride to play for in the third Test, not just for the country but as a group," he said.

I loathe the term 'dead rubber', both as an ugly bit of language and as a concept. It's contrary to what Test cricket is about.

With Jon Holland's debut last week, 444 Australians have played the game. A dozen reached a hundred matches. David Warner recently became the fiftieth to fifty. Exactly half of Australia's Test cricketers only notched single figures.

Once you start dismissing certain matches as irrelevant, you erode a substantial part of any player's achievement.

Series are a by-product of matches. Like pennies and pounds, take care of the matches and the series will look after themselves. Every Test is a contest between the best of one country and the best of another. Every Test is played in the same uniform, recorded in the same scorebooks. Every match matters.

When Burns spoke to the touring media in Colombo his arms were torn up, covered in crusted scabs from where he'd sanded his skin off by repeated dives into the Galle pitch.

He laughed that most of the rebounds he'd caught at short leg weren't even close enough to draw appeals from his teammates. He'd gone for them nonetheless.

It has become a running joke to talk about how Burns hates his fielding position, the most dangerous position in the game, especially with spinners operating and batsmen lining you up on the sweep.

But, he countered, "I don't hate it because I feel like I'm always in the game in the subcontinent.

"At times it is quite painful and scary. You can sometimes hear the ball fizzing past you. But whenever you get scared you just look at the badge on your helmet and it makes it all worthwhile."

This is the pride these Australian cricketers have in their job. It shouldn't be questioned on this tour, even though the results have been lopsided. No one wants to become part of a batting collapse. They happen anyway.

This is a young team learning its way. Much has been made of the No.1 ranking, with the trophy presented to Australia before this series and liable to change hands again shortly.

As Smith pointed out, the rankings span four years. "I said when we got to No.1 we had seven retirements recently [counting Peter Siddle, who is injured but not retired] and they were a big part of why we got to No.1. We're a pretty new side as such. We still have a lot of work to do."

It's certainly true in Asia. Usman Khawaja played two Tests in Sri Lanka in 2011. Warner, Smith and Mitchell Starc played in India in 2013, Mitchell Marsh joined those three in the UAE in 2014.

Lyon is the most experienced campaigner, having played in all those series, but even that left him a total of eight Tests in Asia spread over five years before this series.

The team's deep-end education will involve another tough exam in Colombo. After their pre-match-day inspection, the captains were in agreement about the conditions.

"Traditionally it has been a batting track," said Sri Lanka's Angelo Mathews, eyeing off a series whitewash. "In the last few games we've played here against South Africa and Pakistan it was a turner. It looks pretty dry once again.

"We hope it will take a bit of turn once again from day one and it's going to be a spinners' paradise."

Exactly as you'd expect after Galle, where debutant pace bowler Vishwa Fernando delivered two overs for the match. Nuwan Pradeep is apparently going to return, though Sri Lanka could probably have picked an extra batsman. Or a specialist fielder. Or a specialist sledger. Or a comedian to keep spirits up. Or a sandwich artist to perk up the lunch offerings. Perhaps the curator deserves an honorary spot in the XI.

Tough conditions are the home side's right: just ask visiting teams to the Gabba in the last eternity. Developing the skills to counter them takes time, and for most players the manic nature of modern touring may effectively make it impossible.

Whatever the difficulties, Burns remains eager to take them on.

"That's why everyone wants to get back out there and prove it to ourselves, prove it to the world, that we are good enough to take the game on and to adapt our game and have success globally."

For the future of this inexperienced team, proving it to themselves remains the far more important part of the equation. Series gone or not, the final chapter matters just as much.

(ABC)