South Africa is a huge challenge – Jayasuriya

Head coach Sanath Jayasuriya and Chairman of selectors Upul Tharanga at yesterday’s media conference at SLC headquarters

• WTC final at stake in two-Test series

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq

Head coach Sanath Jayasuriya who has been guiding the destiny of Sri Lanka cricket so far said that his team faced a huge challenge in South Africa where they are billed to play a two-Test series important to their chances of qualifying for a place in the ICC World Test Championship final next year.

“We are going there with a purpose. We know if we do well in the Tests what opportunities await us. The boys will give 100% on behalf of the country every time they step onto the ground,” said Jayasuriya prior to the team’s departure to South Africa yesterday.

To help them familiarise with South African conditions and the type of approach they need to adopt to challenge South Africa, Sri Lanka has obtained the services of former South African batsman Neil McKenzie.

“McKenzie cannot be with us for a longer period than two weeks during which time he will work with us,” said Jayasuriya. “He will give us information on conditions, wickets and what we should do in South Africa. He has been having discussions with our players who are already there. I think they would have gotten very good feedback from him. It is good to get the advantage from a local player so that we go into the Test series with some knowledge of the type of wickets, the lengths to bowl etc. Having McKenzie will be of huge benefit for our batsmen and bowlers. On the England tour we worked with Ian Bell and it was profitable.”

As in the tour of England, Sri Lanka will go into the South African Test series short of playing warm-up matches. On that occasion too they sent the red ball cricketers well ahead of the tour proper to acclimatise themselves to the conditions and also played a three-day warm-up match. Even so, Jayasuriya said that it was insufficient for their pre-Test preparations. It took time for Sri Lanka to get used to the English weather conditions and pitches and by the time they did they were already 2-0 down in the three-Test series. Sri Lanka got their game together only in the third and final Test at the Oval where they pulled off a creditable eight-wicket win against England.

On the tour to South Africa, Sri Lanka has already sent their red ball cricketers ahead of the tour proper but they don’t have a single warm-up match arranged in the itinerary.  “It would have been ideal if we had got a practice game but as we were playing white ball cricket till yesterday (Tuesday) we weren’t able to arrange for a practice match,” said Jayasuriya. “Most of the players not involved in white ball cricket were sent to South Africa early to gain valuable practice and acclimatisation. We are trying our best to get acclimatised.”

“The players who are playing in both white and red ball formats have to adjust themselves as quickly as possible. So Kamindu (Mendis), Pathum (Nissanka) and Kusal Mendis need to adjust themselves according to the situations from white ball to red ball.”

The three cricketers who were involved in the ODI series with New Zealand played in the first two matches which Sri Lanka won after which they were rested for the third. They left with the remaining players and the support staff yesterday.

On the surprise selection of left-arm spinner Lasith Embuldeniya to the Test squad, Chairman of selectors Upul Tharanga explained, “Although Embuldeniya was not in any of our squads he was in the system. Embuldeniya has played a lot of domestic cricket. He was brought into the system and trained at the HPC (High Performance Centre) and we kept him in training with our national team. One of the main problems we have with our spinners is that when they go overseas they find it hard to get wickets. It has been there for a long time. Embuldeniya has the best record amongst spinners in overseas conditions. Taking this into account, we selected him for the tour. Especially in the 2019 tour to South Africa he played a big role in our series win. At this moment I cannot say whether he will play or not. We brought in Embuldeniya to strengthen our spin department.”

Sri Lanka’s last tour to South Africa in 2021 ended in a 2-0 defeat. Sri Lanka requires to win at least one of the two Tests scheduled for the present tour and also win their last two matches against Australia at home in January to have any chance of qualifying for the WTC final.

The itinerary for the present tour is similar to that of 2019 when Sri Lanka beat South Africa 2-0 to win the series. The two Tests are played at Durban from 27 November to 1 December and at Gqeberha from 5-9 December. Sri Lanka has seven players who played in that series on the present tour; Dimuth Karunaratne, Oshada Fernando, Kusal Mendis, Dhananjaya de Silva (the present captain), Lasith Embuldeniya, Kasun Rajitha and Vishwa Fernando.