Nothing tranquil for Sri Lanka – Steyn 0
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But South African fast bowler Dale Steyn has promised life will be anything but peaceful, and certainly no picnic, for the Sri Lankan batsmen come the first test at SuperSport Park in Centurion on Thursday.
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“I’ll still be going in as fast as I can, running in and trying to strike. And then we’ve got Morne Morkel bowling thunderbolts from 10 feet high and Jacques Kallis has been revving it up to 140km/h in domestic matches recently.
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“Plus there’s Vernon Philander, who’s been a fantastic addition. In fact we’re calling him Vernon McGrath now because he’s always just nibbling the ball around.
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“We want to hit areas that are uncomfortable on their bats, generally higher up their bats. We saw against Australia that the pitches have been more bowler-friendly,” Steyn warned on Tuesday.
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Sri Lanka’s batsmen have inflicted plenty of pain on South Africa’s bowlers in the past – Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardena’s partnership of 624 in 2006 is the highest for any wicket in the annals of the game – but almost exclusively back at home on their sub-continental island.
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In seven tests in South Africa, just one Sri Lankan batsman has managed to score a century – Hashan Tillakaratne, who made 104 not out here at SuperSport Park in 2002/3. That took the tourists to a total of 323, their highest in South Africa.
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So they have a history of having their backs to the wall on tour here and vice-captain Angelo Mathews acknowledged that it was the pitches that made the difference.
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“In the sub-continent, the pitches are quite slow, so the bounce and pace here are the main things that trouble us. But if we can adapt to that, then we can perform well,” Mathews said.
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While Steyn did not want to say it was payback time for the miserable tour South Africa endured in Sri Lanka in 2006, he did say he did not want to think about that trip any more.
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“We really don’t need to go back down that road! But it’s going to be a lot harder to score world-record partnerships here in South Africa …
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“Vinnie Barnes was our bowling coach for so long and he never played against Sri Lanka here in South Africa, so he’s been here at the nets really gunning the boys!” Steyn said of the current national selector.
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While the Sangakkara/Jayawardena partnership is a record South Africa are desperately trying to forget, they’re also trying to rip out the page that shows they haven’t won a test series at home in three years.
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South Africa’s drawn series against Australia was actually a disappointing result, and it was unheralded bowlers like Peter Siddle, Shane Watson, Nathan Lyon and even Michael Clarke, never mind rookie Pat Cummins, who did the damage. Hashim Amla was at pains on Tuesday to say the batsmen won’t be underestimating any bowlers this time around.
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“Our pitches assist the seamers more and, even though the Sri Lankan bowlers are a different pace to Australia’s, if they just put it in the right place, something could happen. And if there’s turn, then the spinners could be dangerous as well,” Amla said.
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Sangakkara looks set to play despite splitting the webbing on his right hand over the weekend, Sri Lanka’s second highest all-time run-scorer having throwdowns quite comfortably on Tuesday.
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Sri Lanka’s main selection conundrum will be whether to play two spinners or not. Orthodox left-armer Rangana Herath is the incumbent first-choice spinner at the moment and he bowled well in Benoni to take three for 58 in 24 overs against the SA Invitation XI in their warm-up game.
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But Sri Lanka have brought unorthodox right-armer Ajantha Mendis on tour to provide some mystery. The 26-year-old missed Sri Lanka’s previous test series against Pakistan due to injury and was unimpressive in Benoni, taking two for 142 in 31 overs.
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Mathews asked Sri Lankan supporters to be patient with Mendis.
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“Ajantha is getting back there, we know he can turn a game around in one session. Just give him time, he will do the job for us, we just need to be patient,” Mathews said.