A review of the 3-0 series defeat, in which batsmen floundered against spin, is being conducted with a sense of urgency with a four-Test tour of India less than six months away.

But with little more that can be done to prepare for the rigours of the subcontinent in the intervening period, a more broad process of introspection has been foreshadowed, principally investigating why players are failing to adapt to foreign conditions when they are spending more time than ever playing in that part of the world.

Speaking at the SCG where CA announced it would tip an extra $500,000 towards the recently launched Growing Cricket for Girls fund, Sutherland said the Sri Lanka review would extend beyond a debrief of the tour to questions about whether there were inadequacies in the organisation's high-performance set-up.

"Are some of the fundamental things that we are doing to prepare our players to perform well and be highly competitive in subcontinental conditions passing the test?" Sutherland told Fairfax Media.

"I think that's where the review gets a little bit more meaty and challenging and more fundamental, going right down into questioning our high-performance systems as well."

Sutherland's comments come four days after former Australian batsman Matthew Hayden claimed in a stinging attack that head coach Darren Lehmann and CA's team performance manager Pat Howard had too much power over the team and labelled the influence of the high-performance sector as "absolute horseshit".

The CA boss has been a big supporter of Howard, who like national selector Rod Marsh is off contract midway through next year. But there is growing frustration at Australia's trend of underperformance in subcontinental conditions.

Howard has forecast that a "horses for courses" squad would be selected for the tour of India next year although it is not clear who will fit that category and be deemed most capable of adjusting to conditions.

While Australia sends players in A teams and under-19 squads to the subcontinent regularly, as well as to a pace bowling academy in Chennai, Sutherland said CA had to address its systems so that "in 10 years' time when we tour India there is a pool of hundreds of players that could be on that tour".

"To be a bona fide international cricketer in this day and age you need to be able to adapt to conditions in Australia, conditions in England, conditions in the subcontinent ... wherever you play," he said.

"And that adaptability is something that needs to be reviewed because some are adapting and some aren't."

Sutherland defended the withdrawal of captain Steve Smith midway through the one-day series in Sri Lanka to rest.

"It's obviously far more preferable for him to stay and see that through but the nature of international cricket today and the calendar is that at times we need to make decisions that are in the best interests of the individual and the team," he said.