South Africa vs Sri Lanka, 1st Test, Preview and predictions: Hosts’ eye complete domination
South Africa and Sri Lanka are set to clash in a three-Test series in the land of the safari. The first Test will be played at Port Elizabeth on the auspicious occasion of Boxing Day. South Africa will be lead by the ever-controversial skipper Faf du Plessis, while Sri Lanka will be skippered by their maverick Angelo Mathews. Du Plessis will want to maintain South Africa’s winning momentum, this time at home after a successful tour of Australia last month. Sri Lanka, on the other hand, are coming off an impressive series win against Zimbabwe.
Traditionally, the pitch at Port Elizabeth has been a ‘bat–first’ wicket with its low and slow nature. South Africa with an all-out pace attack may be at a disadvantage but will prey on the inexperienced batting line-up of Sri Lanka to make mistakes in the process. Sri Lanka, will bank on Rangana Herath to rattle South Africa’s batsmen on a supposedly spin-friendly pitch. South Africa have a fairly decent record at Port Elizabeth with 6 wins and 4 losses.
Live Cricket Scorecard, South Africa vs Sri Lanka, 1st Test at Port Elizabeth
Sri Lanka will be happy to see the sight of Mathews, Dinesh Chandimal and Dushmantha Chameera back in the playing XI. Mathews’ expertise in bowling will add a bit of assistance to the visitors, whereas Chandimal’s wicketkeeping skills will be a boon to the side. In-form batsmen Kusal Mendis, Dimuth Karunaratne and Kaushal Silva will be in for some extreme challenge against the rampant South African bowlers.
Suranga Lakmal, Nuwan Pradeep and Chameera will share bowling responsibilities in the pace department. Herath will again be the spearhead of the Sri Lankan attack with his guile and spinning prowess.
South Africa, being the home side, will try to give their fans a perfect Christmas gift. Their batsmen, in particular Quinton de Kock, du Plessis and Dean Elgar will want to rewind their form from Australia. Hashim Amla will be under a lot of pressure to come good with the bat after having had a poor 2016, when compared to his own standards. Temba Bavuma adds much-needed stability to their power-ridden batting line-up. Spinning duties will depend much upon Keshav Maharaj and JP Duminy. Maharaj was one of the discoveries in series in Australia, and he would surely cherish a field in his own backyard.
Bowling obligations will bank on a pace heavy attack with Kagiso Rabada, Kyle Abbott and Vernon Philander all in top-notch shape. Philander and Abbott showed why they are able replacements for Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel going forward. Rabada is coming off a terrific outing in Australia, a tour wherein he showed first signs of developing as South Africa’s leader of the pace attack.
South Africa will surely not miss the services of AB de Villiers with the current batting form their batsmen are in. On the other hand, Sri Lanka are set to face one of their toughest opponents since their routing of Australia a few months ago.
Squads:
South Africa Test squad: Faf du Plessis(c), Kyle Abbott, Hashim Amla, Temba Bavuma, Stephen Cook, Theunis de Bruyn, Quinton de Kock (wk), Jean-Paul Duminy, Dean Elgar, Keshav Maharaj, Wayne Parnell, Vernon Philander, Kagiso Rabada,
Sri Lanka Test squad: Angelo Mathews(c), Dinesh Chandimal (wk), Kusal Mendis, Kusal Perera, Dimuth Karunaratne, Kaushal Silva, Dhananjaya de Silva, Upul Tharanga, Lahiru Kumara, Nuwan Pradeep, Dushmantha Chameera, Suranga Lakmal, Dilruwan Perera, RanganaHerath, VikumSanjaya
Time: 10.00 local | 08.00 GMT | 14.00 IST