Sports - Lanka gear up for another bash

Riding the crest on a wave of success following a successful England tour, Sri Lanka gears up to face South Africa upbeat and confident of tasting further success and extending their dominance in the two test matches which commences this week.

Although it was not clearly evident, stand –in skipper Mahela Jayawardene and Coach Tom Moody both expressed similar sentiments when they faced the media ahead of the two test matches. No one will default the coach or the captain for that stand after their successful tour of England and also considering the fact that you are next taking on opponents on home turf. The last time South Africa toured Sri Lanka, in 2004, they lost both the Test and one-day series.

Speaking to journalists earlier this week skipper Mahela Jayawardene said,” The expectations are high when we play at home. We have had a very good tour of England and we hope to continue in the same vein. We need to maintain the same rhythm to beat the South Africans”.

Coach Tom Moody was of the view that South Africa were always a tough opponent home or away. "We are determined to continue to keep our form and maintain the consistency as a team," he said. Meanwhile South Africa’s newly appointed skipper Ashwell Prince admitted that it is going to be a challenge for his team to face the Sri Lankans.Addressing the media Prince said,” The way Sri Lanka has been playing recently shows that they are in very good form. Their captain Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara,, and Sanath Jayasuriya coming back into the side make them a strong unit. But our main worry will be Muttiah Muralitharan and the fact that we will be playing away from home makes us the underdogs, and so I feel the two tests are going to be a big challenge for us"

The 29 year old cricketer will be captaining his country for the first time in the absence of regular skipper Graeme Smith who was ruled out of the tour due to an ankle injury.” It’s a huge honour to be captaining our country. I am inexperienced when it comes to captaincy, but obviously I'm delighted that I've been given the chance,"

With just 21 Tests under his belt, Prince's first-class captaincy career is limited at the helm for eight SuperSport Series matches for former Western Province Boland over two seasons ago; he won three, drew one and lost four. In addition, he captained South Africa A to a seven-wicket win.

Speaking on the absence of some of his key players Prince said, "Not having Graeme Smith , Jacques Kallis and Shaun Pollock [for the first Test] will be a setback, missing three premier players will have a huge effect on our team, but we have a good young side. We have a good pace attack with Makhaya Ntini, Dale Steyn and André Nel, and Nicky Bojé will play a role in conditions favourable for him. I wouldn't like to put too much pressure on one bowler to take lots of wickets. There is a nice balance in the attack, and we must spread the load to get 20 wickets. The most important thing is to get the best out of the guys, and to get them to perform in these conditions."

One redeeming factor for Prince and his South African team is the return of the experienced Herschelle Gibbs and Jacques Rudolph. Jacques Rudolph, is the only batsmen to score a Test hundred the last time we toured here," Prince said "One of the other guys coming back is Herschelle Gibbs. Both are experienced Test players."

The series begins with the first test at the SSC grounds on Thursday and the second test at the P Saravanamutthu Stadium the following week.