South Africa is the number one Test team in the world. Unfortunately, the scheduled test series against Sri Lanka was cancelled, thanks to the SLPL, which incidentally, is also headed into the trash bin.
What we are left with is a limited overs series of 5 ODIs 3 T20s.
The Proteas have never won an ODI series in Sri Lanka. In fact, they have beaten the Lankans at home only once before. Of course, this is only the 3rd time that they are touring the country, so there is not much history to go on. AB de Villiers and his men however, will be looking to create some, this time around.
Both teams have recently started to put emphasis on blooding in new talent to the side. However, whilst Sri Lanka still have the experience of T M Dilshan, Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara to fall back upon in this series, South Africa are entering this tour without Graeme Smith, Jacques Kallis and Dale Steyn. Their squad comprises of a lot of fresh faces, and captain AB de Villiers has stated that identifying their combinations is one of their main goals, as they keep an eye on the 2015 world cup.
They have also been hindered by an injury to Morne Morkel, who was set to led the Proteas pace attack in Steyn’s absence. It is unclear whether Morkel will be fit for the first match, and it will be a blow to South Africa if he is not. Sri Lanka have also been hampered by the unavailability of captain Angelo Mathews, who is sitting out a two match suspension.
The first two games will be a test of Dinesh Chandimal’s character. He has been in terrible form in the recent past, yet the selectors have seen fit to hand him the added pressure of captaincy for the first two games. Chandimal is set to be Sri Lanka’s youngest ever One Day captain and it remains to be seen whether the added responsibility will galvanize him to produce some good innings with the bat.
Jehan Mubarak is the surprise addition to the Sri Lankan squad. Although he has a formidable domestic record, being the top-scorer in Sri Lanka’s inter-provincial List A competition in January, with an average of 60 and a strike rate of 120.96, he has failed to impress during his short stints at the international level. At 32 years of age, it also seems unlikely that he would be able to achieve a permanent spot in the lineup. It is starting out to be a puzzling trend by the selectors, who also picked the 33 year old Dilhara Lokuhettige (dropped for this series) for the tours in England and the West Indies, based on a few recent domestic performances. Lokuhettige only got one game however, in which he was unsuccessful, and it remains to be seen whether Mubarak will make the final playing eleven.
A far more anticipated selection was that of Angelo Perera. He is an uncapped youngster who has been talked about for quite a while now. A powerful middle order batsman with a List A strike rate of over a hundred, he has already been earmarked as a future star of Sri Lankan Cricket. With some of the other youngsters not making the most of the chances given, this series will be the ideal time for him to state his case for an extended run, if he gets the opportunity to play.
Once again the Sri Lankan younger brigade have got a perfect opportunity to showcase themselves with the more comfortable home conditions, it remains to be seen which of them will grab this occasion to seal their place in the side.
It will be interesting to see what Sri Lanka’s batting lineup for the first game will be. With Dilshan expected to be fit, and Mathews not being available to bolster the middle order, it is possible that the Lankans will open with Dilshan and Upul Tharanga and ask Jayawardena to move back down the order. Mahela has been prolific when opening for Sri Lanka, but this will probably be another case of having to put the team’s needs first. Another option will be to rest one of the four seniors and give a youngster a chance, but it remains to be seen if the selectors will be brave enough to do so.
From South Africa’s point of view they will want captain AB De Villiers to lead his young squad from the front. The Proteas captain is the most destructive batsman in his side, and will also take over the keeping duties for the 50 over games. Middle order batsman JP Duminy also came good in the warm up game, and Hashim Amla is generally a relentless run machine. The Lankans will hope to keep them quiet and attempt to capitalize on a somewhat weakened bowling line up.
The tour kicks off on the 20th of July with the first ODI taking place at the R Premadasa Stadium.
