Sri Lanka Tour of New Zealand

          Challenge of New Zealand will test Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka had a very good test and one day series against West Indies after having two consecutive test series defeats against Pakistan and India. West Indies series wasn’t a difficult series for Sri Lanka because West Indians have their own issues to solve and not the best side on earth. However it will give Sri Lanka the well needed confidence booster to face Kiwis assignment next in December. New Zealand series is going to be the real challenge for Sri Lanka. They don’t have good memories of last New Zealand tour which was concluded only a year ago. They lost the two match test series 0 – 2 and lost the seven match one day series 2 - 4. We had Sanga for both tests and one day matches and Mahela for one day matches. Even with those players, Sri Lanka couldn’t make any impact there.

It is more to do with conditions where Sri Lankans are not used to play. There are extra bounce on the wickets, swinging and seaming bowling as well as cool weather conditions that make life difficult to Sri Lankans. But Sri Lankans have to be up for this challenge. Experience players like Mathews and Herath will have a big role to play there. Our fast bowling department has been quite impressive over the last one and half years. Dammika Prasad, Nuwan Pradeep and Suranga Lakmal have been consistent and very impressive. The new inclusion, the 22 year Dushmantha Chameera is a real talent as par as face bowling is concerned. He can touch the 140s quite regularly and a rare talent we should manage well. He can be a match winner in the future. They all will have very friendly conditions in New Zealand where they would love to bowl in than in Sri Lanka.

On the other hand, New Zealand team has been in tremendous form over the last two years and has become a strong opposition to any team in the world. New Zealand pace attack includes dangerous duo Tim Southee and Trent Boult. They have been consistent performers for Kiwis. In addition to that Matt Henry, Doug Bracewell, Neil Wagner and Adam Milne are very good fast bowlers in Kiwis armory. They will be more difficult to deal in their own conditions where assisted with more pace and swinging conditions. The batters like Kane Williamson (the run machine for New Zealand), Ross Taylor and BJ Watling have been scoring very heavily for them. Under the captaincy of Brendon Mccullum, they continue their winning streak.

New look Sri Lanka side is going to face these challenges and tested highly. On the other hand, Kiwi assignment is good for them because they can measure their skills and show the world what they are really made of. Two new faces for test arena Udara Jayasundera and Jefry Vandersy have been included in test squad for Sri Lanka. Udara Jayasundera is in great form after having completed a very good tour against New Zealand A team where he notched up 165 runs in two tests with an average of 41.25. He also scored 142 runs against West Indians in a warm up game in Colombo. The 25 year old Jeffrey Vandersay is also amongst the wickets. He had a very good tour for Sri Lanka A against New Zealand A where he got 12 wickets in two test matches on seamer friendly wickets. They also have a big task on their hands. Altogether this new look Sri Lankan side has a big challenge ahead in New Zealand. They weren’t really tested during the West Indies tour in their own backyard. But Kiwis will test them up for sure.