As his team seeks to acclimatise to South African conditions, Angelo Mathews will stress to his young seam bowling unit the importance of not getting carried away with the pace and bounce of South African pitches.
The Sri Lankans headed straight to Potchefstroom on Sunday afternoon, to begin what Mathews described as an important 10 to 12 days of acclimatisation, ahead of a three Test-match series against the high flying Proteas that starts in Port Elizabeth on Boxing Day.
Sri Lanka have brought five fairly young fast bowlers as part of their tour party and Mathews highlighted the importance of maintaining discipline as they prepare for the first Test.
“I don’t want my seamers to get carried away on these wickets. I want them sticking to the basics,” said Mathews who has captained Sri Lanka in 31 of the 62 Tests he’s played.
“Even when the conditions suit the bowlers, you’ve still got to get the ball in the right spots without getting carried away…the same thing applies whether you’re bowling in South Africa, England or New Zealand.”
Sri Lanka has won just one of the 10 Tests it’s played in this country. That triumph came on their previous visit here five years ago in Durban thanks to centuries from Thilan Samaraweera and Kumar Sangakarra and a nine wicket haul for left-arm spinner Rangana Herath.
They’ve lost eight times on these shores, four of those defeats by an innings even when they’ve contained some modern greats of the game. In contrast to previous teams from that country, this year’s squad is, Mathews admits, very inexperienced.
Still in Dhananjaya de Silva and Kusal Mendis they have two excellent young batsmen, who both played starring roles in the recent whitewash of Australia in Sri Lanka. The 25 year old De Silva topped the run scoring charts in that three Test series with an aggregate of 325 runs, scoring the two centuries in the process, while 21 year old Mendis produced what many Sri Lankan cricket historians believe is one of the great innings’ for that country which turned the match and even the series in their favour against Steve Smith’s side. Arriving at the crease with his side in trouble at 6/2 in the second innings of the first Test in Pallekele, Mendis stroked 176 to set Sri Lanka on the path to victory.
“They are extremely good players,” Mathews said of his two young stars. “But we’ve got eight batters in the squad, all of them can get a hundred at anytime in any situation.
"We don’t want to burden those two younger players with a lot of pressure. It will take a collective effort, we will share it, we don’t want to burden anyone excessively.”
Mathews said his side will lean heavily on former Proteas coach Graham Ford who is currently at the helm for the tourists. “There is no better person than Fordy, he’s got so much experience coaching various teams in different conditions. We are all looking forward to picking his brains about what it will take to succeed in these conditions.”
Ford coached the South African team for just under three years after the end of 1999 World Cup, through until 2002 when he was fired after losing back-to-back series’ against Australia.
In addition to Ford’s ‘insider knowledge’ Mathews says the onus will be on him, Dinesh Chandimal and the seemingly ageless Herath to guide a young squad. “For most of the other players, it’s their first time in South Africa but we are looking forward to some good and challenging cricket.”
Sri Lanka will play a three-day warm-up game in Potchefstroom starting Saturday against an SA Invitation side. In addition to the three Tests, they will also play a trio of T20 Internationals and a five-match ODI series.
Sri Lanka Squad:
Angelo Mathews (capt), Dinesh Chandimal, Kusal Mendis, Kusal Perera, Dimuth Karunaratne, Kaushal Silva, Dhananjaya de Silva, Upul Tharanga, Lahiru Kumara, Vikum Sanjaya, Nuwan Pradeep, Dushmantha Chameera, Suranga Lakmal, Dilruwan Perera, Rangana Herath