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Sri Lanka in South Africa 2011-12

We will hit the bat high - Steyn

Firdose Moonda in Centurion

December 13, 2011

Comments: 127 | Text size: A | A

Dale Steyn prepares to bowl, Cape Town, November 6, 2011
Dale Steyn says he is enjoying his new-ball partnership with Vernon Philander © Getty Images
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South Africa's fast bowlers will aim to make things awkward for Sri Lanka's batsmen by hitting the bat higher than the visitors are used to, Dale Steyn, South Africa's spearhead, has said. Steyn said he hoped to exploit the South African pitches, known for their pace and bounce, as much as possible against a side who have not toured the country for nine years.

"In the subcontinent, where these guys grow up, the ball hits the bat from the stickers down," Steyn said. "We want to hit the bat on areas that are unfamiliar for them and make them feel uncomfortable, like maybe a little higher up."

With the threat of balls buzzing around their ears or having to be fended off at chest height, Sri Lanka would have liked to get more batting time during their warm-up match against the South African Invitation XI from December 9-11. The first day was washed out after downpours in Benoni and the Invitation XI opted to bat on the second, leaving the Sri Lankans with less than two sessions of batting time on the third day. Openers Tillakaratne Dilshan and Tharanga Paranavitana both enjoyed fruitful innings but the rest of the line-up are without significant game time on South African pitches.

"It was pretty unfortunate that we couldn't get a full day of batting," Angelo Matthews, the Sri Lanka allrounder, said. "But we are very pleased that the top order is in form. [The rest of us] need to adapt to the conditions very quickly if we are to perform well. The main thing we need to do is adjust to the bounce and the pace."

Kumar Sangakkara, who is expected to recover from a torn webbing in his right hand in time for the first Test, said Sri Lanka are up for the challenge of facing South Africa's pace attack, which has been touted as one of the team's finest ever ones. Steyn and Morne Morkel have been joined by Vernon Philander, who took 14 wickets in his debut series against Australia last month. Philander maintains a nagging line with the new ball and attacks in a different way to Steyn, who relies on swing. Steyn said the contrast between Philander's and his styles had worked for South Africa so far. "Vernon is the kind of bowler who is fantastic to share the new ball with. We call him Vern McGrath now because he just nibbles it around all the time."

Using Philander to open the bowling is a change from the usual Steyn and Morkel pairing, but it is a move that Steyn said gives South Africa an added advantage. "The next guy to step up is Morne Morkel who bowls thunderbolts from 10 foot up. And then we have Jacques Kallis who has shown in domestic matches this year that he can still rev it up to 140. It's nice to have guys who follow up the new ball with pace."

Legspinner Imran Tahir is expected to complete the line-up although Hashim Amla said "there would be a temptation" to go into the first Test in Centurion with an all-pace attack. That would mean either handing a debut to 21-year-old fast bowler Marchant de Lange, who has played just 14 first-class matches, or playing an extra batsman.

Whatever combination South Africa choose, they will go into the match with an attack that is significantly more dynamic than the one they had when they last played against Sri Lanka, in 2006. Then, South Africa's bowlers were made to toil as Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene put on a record partnership of 624 in Colombo. Steyn shuddered when asked what he remembered about that tour and said he is certain there will not be a repeat. "I have moved on with my life, I don't really want to talk about that. But what I can say is that it's going to be a lot harder to score world-record partnerships in South Africa."

Firdose Moonda is ESPNcricinfo's South Africa correspondent

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© ESPN EMEA Ltd.

Posted by Amol_Ind_SA on (December 16, 2011, 6:16 GMT)

Of course, It takes a lion-heart like Vaas to bowl on dust bowls of IND and even more so in SRL. (Also that's what makes Warne great - to bowl spin in his own home-pitches that is - and yet be successful) And Vaas's stats are - over-all - a little better than Zaheer. Surprisingly, the fact that Vaas's Away-Avg is higher than at Home is what bugs me. Vaas has been extremely expensive in bowler-friendly nations - AUS, SA and Eng. Zaheer scores more marks over Vaas in SA and Eng. Vaas failed in BNG too which is a blasphemy. No BIG opponent bowler usually fails in BNG. Zaheer didn't. But Vaas scores a little bit over Zaheer when touring PAK.

Posted by Amol_Ind_SA on (December 15, 2011, 5:02 GMT)

@F: I really DOUBT the ability of SRL bowlers to take all 10 wickets in any innings of this total Test/ODI series. They perhaps won't be able to. That's a really scary proposition for SRL.

Posted by sililagayathrawipule.lanka on (December 15, 2011, 2:40 GMT)

sri lankan test record-- 192 test matches in 30 years.. 61 wins 71 loss

indian test record in 80 years win-112 loss-143

so wats the big diff all indian fans telling they are a great test side..

now pakistan test record is the best in south asia

win-111 loss-100

Posted by   on (December 15, 2011, 1:56 GMT)

Amol_Ind_SA-if ur zaheer khan is good then chaminda vaas is great..he has taken 400 ODI wixckets and 350 test wikctes in so called falt tracks

Posted by chilled_avenger on (December 14, 2011, 17:13 GMT)

@siri1234 I don't know what to say in reply to your comment! Kindly check Steyn's record in Asia and then dare to call him green top bully! Duh,why can't you guys use Statsguru before passing your meaningless judgement about a brilliant bowler! He has done well all over the world and his records says so. I know you won't admit it,but it's nice to prove you wrong in such a way!

Posted by khiladisher on (December 14, 2011, 16:01 GMT)

@RATED STFU44- WHEN THE GREAT BOWLER MURALI AND VAAS CAME TO PLAY IN INDIA IN THE 2005 SERIES- THEY WERE BEATEN 2-0 AND LOST THE ONE DAY SERIES 6-1-THE ONE DRAWN TEST THEY WERE SAVED BY THE RAIN{SO EVEN IN THEIR PEAK THEY WERE NOT ABLE TO WIN A SINGLE TEST MATCH IN INDIA- FROM 2001-2010-INDIA WON 3 TEST MATCHES IN SRI LANKA.INDIA ALSO WON THE 2 ONE DAY BILATERAL SERIES IN 2008 BY 3-2 AND IN 2009 BY A MARGIN OF 4-1 IN SRI LANKA- INDIA ALSO WON THE COMPAQ CUP AND THE MOST IMPORTANT ASIA CUP FOR THE RECORD 5TH TIME.INDIA ALSO WON THE ICC MINI WORLD CUP IN SRI LANKA IN 2002 ,ALSO WON THE SINGER WORLD SERIES IN 1994 AND ALSO THE SINGER-AKAI NIDHAHAS CUP IN 1998 BEATING SRI LANKA BY A MARGIN OF 6 .RUNS IN THE THRILLING FINAL.ARAVINDA SCORED A GREAT HUNDRED.INDIA HAS ALSO WON A TEST SERIES IN SRI LANKA IN 1994/95.

Posted by ratedstfu44 on (December 14, 2011, 13:51 GMT)

pls listen to me

Srilanka havent played in SA when Vass-Murali was on fire. I mean 2005-2006-2007 . I wonder why ????

SA can consider themselves lucky that they didnt needed to face Inform Srilanka back in 2005-06-07 when Murali-Vass took bundle of wickets

Posted by siri1234 on (December 14, 2011, 13:44 GMT)

@amol ind sa first check the average of those great south african batsman u mention below in srilanka be4 checking mahela record n we know very well how sa plays spinner.i am just lol,lmao the way steyn who is supposedly the best bowler in world as called by sa fans says that he want to forget that world record partnership by mahela n sanga lol .there is a lot of similarity between steyn n sehwag.one is flat track bully n other is green surface hero,both r home tigers,both r shown their place wen they step out from their respective country.but now srilanka need to show steyn his place in south africa itself.go lions go

Posted by evenflow_1990 on (December 14, 2011, 13:18 GMT)

everyone should stop commenting and just wait for the result. seriously besides being fans no one here has ever been an international cricketer so aren't really a credible authority on the subject.

Posted by   on (December 14, 2011, 13:17 GMT)

@ Amol_Ind_SA, " Smith, Kallis, Duminy, De Villiers, Amla, Rudolph -ALL can DOMINATE any spinner" mate, i just cant stop laughing

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