Buoyed new look Sri Lanka on 1-month long tour of South Africa

Friday, December 9, 2016 - srilankacricket.lk

Sri Lanka’s predictably gruelling one and a half month long December 26, 2016 to February 10, 2017 Test and ODI series tour does hold much interest. While the odds are heavily tacked in favour of South Africa for the home advantage the hosts will enjoy, what sparks the interest around the 3-match Test series and 5-match ODI series is the fact that Sri Lanka has gone a notch up the ladder in equalling South Africa in terms of Test ratings.

Angelo Mathews

This status raising credentials that must indeed buoy Angelo Mathews and his charges came in the wake of Sri Lanka’s recent sweeping away Test and ODI triumphs against Zimbabwe. Consequently, both teams are sitting at 96 marks in the ratings though South Africa is in 5th position as against Sri Lanka 6th position in the ICC test team ranking table. The overall record between exchanges between the two countries sees South Africa leading with 11 Test wins as against Sri Lanka’s 5 with 11 draws from 22 games since 1993. But Sri Lanka can be proud of its ODI success against the Proteas being on an even keel with 29 wins in tying with South Africa’s 29 with 1 tie and 1 no result from 60 matches. It reflects the island nation’s high spark in the highly galvanizing action deriving instant cricket where Sri lanka is second to none. In fact, its proud record of being one of the elite countries to have won cricket’s biggest prize – the 1995-96 World Cup defeating Australia in the final at Lahore is the best reflection of the status quo Sri Lanka basks in historically.

In perspective, with both regular captain Angelo Mathews and vice captain Dinesh Chandimal declared fit for the South Africa hurdle, it is with some strong muscle that the Sri Lankan camp can look ahead to South Africa. That is in the backdrop of some remarkable cricket a new look Sri Lanka has put on the table in both forms of the game on the back of some highly aspiring youngsters who have come on the blocks from the country’s youth cricket drive driven by the All island Head Coach Hemal Mendis, the former Cambrian cricketer who was a dynamic batsman during his time but was one of those unlucky guys not to have won the selectors nod. With youngsters like Kusal mendis and Dhananjaya De Silva who have conspicuously been the stars with the bat among the new finds, and some handy bowlers from the young set, indeed Sri Lanka has quite forceful array of latent talent to put up against South Africa. One of the over 30 age group players who has happily for the country raised his hands both with bat and ball as an useful all-rounder is Dilruwan Perera. Certainly Sri Lankan fans could look to the new look cast giving the South Africans a run for their money.

Here is the comparison of test ratings before and after the 2nd test match between Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe.

Before Zim Vs SL 2nd test match			After Zim Vs SL 2nd test match
Rank	Team	Rating	Rank	Team	Rating
1	Ind	115	1	Ind	115
2	Pak	109	2	Pak	109
3	Aus	108	3	Aus	108
4	Eng	105	4	Eng	105
5	SA	96	5	SA	96
6	SL	95	6	SL	96
7	NZ	91	7	NZ	91
8	WI	69	8	WI	69
9	Ban	65	9	Ban	65
10	Zim	8	10	Zim	5

Test Series

Date	Match	Venue
26 - 30 December 2016	1st Test	St Georges, PE
2 - 6 January 2017	2nd Test	Newlands, Cape Town
12 – 16 January 2017	3rd Test	Wanderers, Jhb

T20I Series

Date	Match	Venue
20th January	1st T20I	Supersport Park, P
22nd January	2nd T20I	Wanderers, Jhb
25th January	3rd T20I	Newlands, Cape Town

ODI Series

Date	Match	Venue
28 January	1st ODI	St Georges,PE
1 February	2nd ODI	Kingsmead, Durban
4 February	3rd ODI	Wanderers, Jhb
7 February	4th ODI	Newlands, Cape Town
10 February	5th ODI	Supersport Park, PTA