New Zealand v Sri Lanka 1st Test Preview: Black Caps will look to tame the Lankans

New Zealand was one of the last major landmasses settled by human beings, and the Sri Lankan team will be eager to mark it as their territory. This may not be a final frontier for the island nation, but beating New Zealand at home will surely be a daunting task. It’s been three straight summers and no visiting side could breach into the fortress. Sri Lanka will be touring New Zealand for the second consecutive summer, this time, they would look to set the records straight and fly back with a trophy in their bag.

New Zealand

Martin Guptill and Mark Craig will look to justify the faith that has been shown on them, as the hosts retained them in the squad. Skipper Brendon McCullum won’t take the visitors lightly, even though Sri Lanka will be without the services of Dhammika Prasad and wicket-keeper Kusal Perera. Tim Southee and Trent Boult will be licking their fingers to have a go at a comparatively inexperienced Sri Lankan side while Mitchell Santner would look to cement his place in the side after an impressive debut.

Ross Taylor is fresh from the historic marathon knock, playing at home he would be even more dangerous a prospect for the visiting Sri Lankan team to deal with. Bradley-John Watling who failed in the opportunities will be desperate to grab this with both hands.

Though New Zealand lost the recent series to Australia, down under, but they have always been a formidable side at home and having the better of them in conditions that they know on the back of their hands isn’t the easiest.

Sri Lanka

Captain Angelo Matthews will have his task cut out, as the visitors will want to put up a spirited show and spring a surprise. Sri Lankan is into post Sangakkara-Jayawardene era and kick started it on a promising note, having beaten West Indies at home but even a cricket’s layman knows that this will be a different ball game in New Zealand.

Having lost 2-0 last December, the Lankan’s know the importance of winning sessions. The current side is little short on experience, with left-arm spinner Rangana Herath (65) and Mathews (54) the only players with over thirty Test appearances. The onus will be on Dinesh Chandimal and skipper Matthews to steady the ship in terms of batting while Rangana Herath will lead the bowling pack.

The Sri Lankan batsmen should be mentally prepared for it, they will see the ball zip and zap past their bat, the conditions will look alien. They are not used to playing with such lateral movement; in Southee and Boult the Kiwis have two master swing bowlers and how capably the Lankan batsmen deal them is what will set the tone of the series.

Form

New Zealand- W W L L W 

Sri Lanka- L D L W L

Stats:

• New Zealand have won five of their last six Tests at home, and are unbeaten in the country since March 2012.
• Four of the six Tests played at University Oval have been draws – most of those rain-affected.
• 2015 has been Kane Williamson’s best year yet by a distance. He averages 90.40 after 12 innings so far. Sri Lanka are also his favourite opponent. He has struck 559 runs at 93.16 against them – thanks in large part to the career-high 242* at the Basin Reserve in January.
• Rangana Herath needs 7 wickets to become the second left-arm spinner to complete 300 Test scalps, after former New Zealand skipper Daniel Vettori.

Squads

New Zealand:

Brendon McCullum (Captain), Trent Boult, Doug Bracewell, Mark Craig, Martin Guptill, Tom Latham, Mitchell Santner, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor, Neil Wagner, BJ Watling, Kane Williamson.

Sri Lanka:

Angelo Mathews (Captain), Kusal Mendis, Udara Jayasundera, Dinesh Chandimal, Kusal Janith Perera, Milinda Siriwardana, Kithuruwan Vithanage, Dimuth Karunaratne, Dhammika Prasad, Nuwan Pradeep, Suranga Lakmal, Dushmantha Chameera, Rangana Herath, Dilruwan Perera, Jeffrey Vandersay.