Mitchell Johnson bags 200th wicket

Mitchell Johnson claimed four wickets on the first day against Sri Lanka (EPA)

Mitchell Johnson put in a timely pre-Ashes performance with a four-wicket haul to take him to 200 career scalps and help dismiss Sri Lanka for a paltry 156 on the first day of the second Test in Melbourne.

With fellow new-ball bowler Mitchell Starc rested from the Australia line-up and paceman Jackson Bird making his debut, the onus was on Johnson to perform. And as the home bowlers dominated Sri Lanka, despite Kumar Sangakkara's defiant 58 that included his 10,000th Test run, he was overjoyed to make his mark.

"It makes me very happy to be in that 200 club now, but the main result out here today was the way we performed and the way we went out and did it," Johnson said.

Warner fired a 46-ball 62 for Australia to give the home team a solid platform to their first innings, before he was caught by Dhammika Prasad off Angelo Mathews. Phil Hughes was then dismissed in an embarrassing run out when he found himself at the same end as batting partner Ed Cowan, who was out the next over off a Prasad delivery.

Captain Michael Clarke was a last-minute inclusion after declaring himself fit, having recovered from a hamstring strain in the previous Test.