Australia's quest for overseas success in 2016 will start at home, with the inclusion of Steve O'Keefe as a second spinner made with an eye towards the tour of Sri Lanka later in the year.

Sunday will thus be the first time the hosts have plumped for twin spin in Sydney since the days of Shane Warne and Stuart MacGill in tandem, and they will be doing so with clear goals in mind. Victories away from home will require team compositions more varied than the five batsmen, one allrounder, three pacemen and one spinner formula usually favoured by the coach Darren Lehmann, making O'Keefe a key part of plans for later in the year.

England's strong start in South Africa and a looming return series away to New Zealand also affords Australia the possibility of climbing to No. 1 in the Test rankings should results fall their way, so adaptability and versatility is paramount. All these factors made it convenient for Peter Siddle to carry a sore ankle to Sydney and rule himself out after an exploratory bowl on match eve - the captain Steven Smith admitted he was unlikely to play in any event.

"His ankle still isn't 100%," Smith said. "He felt it wasn't best for him to come into this Test match the way he is at the moment. He's a great team man and felt he would be letting the team down [if he played]. But we were probably going to go the two spinners option anyway. We think it's going to turn so we were going to go that way anyway.

"He's going to have a rest for a couple of weeks I think and hopefully get himself right for New Zealand. But we're happy with the side and the two spinners, we think it's going to turn and we're ready to go. It's going to spin and it gives us an opportunity now to see Steven and see how he goes.

"Obviously we've got a tour of Sri Lanka coming up where two spinners is a pretty good possibility. Nathan Lyon has done a terrific job for Australia since [O'Keefe] has been playing. He's an experienced player now and he's our No.1 spinner. I think everyone around the country knows that, including Stephen. He's got an opportunity now to become the second spinner."

Smith made no secret of his desire to get Australia back to the top of the ICC rankings - his is not the only side seeing an opportunity as South Africa appear increasingly shaky in their move towards a period of transition. "Huge motivation," Smith said. "That's what we want to do, to be No. 1 in all three formats, we're working extremely hard to get there.

"It'd be nice to win this week and wrap the series up 3-0. It's been a good summer for us so far, so we'd like to finish on a high and then New Zealand is going to be another big challenge for us. Playing away from home is a challenge for all teams around the world at the moment.

"That's one of the biggest ways we're going to be judged - how we play away from home. It's a big challenge for us in New Zealand but I'm confident if we continue playing the way we are, hopefully we can have a lot of success over there."

To that end, Smith's rediscovery of something like his best at the MCG was a tonic for the new year. It is a testament to the difficulty of batting that even as he finished 2015 as the most prolific run maker in Test cricket, Smith was experiencing another period of doubt about his technique and rhythm, having slogged through other miniature slumps at the start of the World Cup and then in the midst of the Ashes in England.

"I felt pretty good last week. it was nice to just spend a bit of time in the middle again," he said. "All of my movements and my swing and everything were back in sync. I went back and looked a bit of footage before the Melbourne Test and noticed my bat face was a little bit closed.

"I was looking at footage from last summer actually, where I was scoring a lot of runs, and I think last week I got my bat face back to where I wanted it to be and everything felt really good. Hopefully I can score a few more this week."