The tall left-armer will be a crucial weapon during Australia's three-Test tour of Sri Lanka, with the tourists now settling into Colombo ahead of this week's opening warm-up match.

Starc, 26, made a successful return from ankle surgery during the recent one-day series in the Caribbean. He has 91 wickets at 30.58 in 25 Tests, with four five-wicket hauls, and has accepted the role of being the bowling leader since Mitchell Johnson retired last summer.

Lehmann said Starc, who can extract swing and bounce, has the capacity to join the likes of Brett Lee and Johnson in the 300-wicket club.

"If he stays on the park, he could. He plays all formats – that is the hardest part for him, managing him through that is going to be our challenge as a coaching staff and selection panel, making sure high-priority Test tours, one-day tours, World Cups and all that, are going to be high on the agenda, and making sure he is fit and available for those," Lehmann said.

Australia will hope Starc adds to his booty with the new and old ball against a Sri Lankan batting unit still finding its way after the retirements of Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara.

The tourists will hope to rattle batsmen with reverse swing, and Starc is a master with the old ball, particularly when his searing yorker finds its groove.

"He obviously has air speed, which is going to be important when the ball goes reverse. It's important that we keep him fit and playing. We know how good he can be," Lehmann said.

"It's all up to him. His ability to knock over good batsmen and also knock over the tail quite quickly. For us, that is a really important thing when you are trying to get 20 wickets in a space of time."

Lehmann, who was given time off from the West Indies trip, said he was delighted with how Starc had returned from an extended lay-off, having had surgery in December.

"Happy he got through. I spoke to him about it – he said he was a little bit rusty early but felt better as the tournament went on. It's a good sign," he said.

"He has had a big lay-off. For him to come back and then do what he did, as always, he gets wickets … for us it was a pretty good tick-the-box exercise where he got through and looking forward to the next phase of Test cricket."

While the fast bowlers will have a key role, the tourists will also need spinners Nathan Lyon and Steve O'Keefe to have an impact. Lyon, Australia's most prolific Test off-spinner, needs five wickets to join the 200 club, and will be more of an attacking option than O'Keefe, whose style as a left-arm finger spinner has drawn comparisons to Sri Lankan veteran, Rangana Herath (304 wickets at 30).

"I think they will attacking at times and holding at times, you can mix and match that. O'Keefe is probably more of a holding spinner if you like, stump to stump, very much like Herath, if you like. If he ends up with a record like Herath, he has done pretty well," Lehmann said.

"Lyon is more of a traditional off-spinner. He is working hard on his different speeds and variations. He is probably more of an attacking spinner for us. He bowls his best when he is actually bowling maidens as well. So it's a catch-22. We have enough variety.

"Spin is going to be important, new ball is going to be important, and reverse swing is going to be important. That's been the same way over there for a long time."