SL seek upsurge against injury-hit hosts

Thursday, January 15, 2015
Start time 1400 local (0100 GMT)

Nine game days, three matches, and no victories so far - Sri Lanka had not expected to steamroll their opposition in New Zealand, but the disappointments have now begun to stack up, and a pattern to their woe has emerged.

With the bat, they sustain too many early losses, and even when batsmen play sublime innings, as Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene already have done on tour, they cannot gain enough ground to make up for their teammates' failures. With the ball, Sri Lanka have routinely made headway against the New Zealand top order, only to be scuttled by the batsmen lower down, who dig deep and summon meaningful partnerships.

There have been encouraging glimpses, even from the younger group of players, but the visitors have not pulled together a complete performance yet. They are waiting for their bowlers to be penetrative throughout the game, and for their top order to set the likes of Angelo Mathews and Thisara Perera up with a solid foundation.

New Zealand, though, have been breezing through in pole position. Every time the opposition appear to be gaining on them, the hosts blow a raspberry through the back window, and pull away some more. Their World Cup preparation seems to be about fine-tuning and staying intense.

Martin Guptill has been in excellent List A form, but could do with a roaring ODI knock to put his place out of doubt, and get his confidence in order. Grant Elliott is fighting to make himself a top XI player. Some heftier contributions from Luke Ronchi's bat would put New Zealand more at ease, as well.

(last five matches, most recent first)
New Zealand:WWWLW
Sri Lanka:LWWLW

New Zealand have put plenty of faith in Tom Latham in the past year, and though he has played innings in Tests to justify that trust, he is yet to discover ODI consistency. Ordinarily, he is shunted down the order to no. 5 - which is a tricky place for a young batsman, particularly if he is more used to batting higher up. But with Kane Williamson now absent for the next two matches at least, Latham is likely to come in at first drop, where he will hope to display more of his wares and firm up his place in the side.

Sachithra Senanayake is so confident of his new action that he allows his elbows to flap away shamelessly in the wind, as he delivers an uncensored bag of tricks, still featuring a carrom ball and seam-up slider, in addition to his stock offbreak. His coaches are adamant he is even better than before, as he delivers the ball from a higher position, and as such gets more bounce. Having taken seven wickets in three games since his reintegration, so far Senanayake 2.0 appears at least as good a bowler as he used to be.

Tim Southee remains unavailable for this match, while Williamson has also been ruled out by a shoulder injury. Elliott missed training on Wednesday for family reasons, and it is not yet clear whether he will be available for Thursday's match. Daniel Vettori also waits in the wings for a match, and New Zealand may be tempted to play him at his home ground for Northern Districts.

New Zealand (probable): 1 Martin Guptill, 2 Brendon McCullum (capt.), 3 Tom Latham, 4 Ross Taylor, 5 Grant Elliott/ Daniel Vettori, 6 Luke Ronchi (wk) , 7 Corey Anderson, 8 Nathan McCullum, 9 Adam Milne, 10 Mitchell McClenaghan, 11 Trent Boult

Sri Lanka will likely stick with a similar XI, though Dinesh Chandimal is in the squad, putting pressure on the likes of Lahiru Thirimanne and Jeevan Mendis. Shaminda Eranga may make way for Suranga Lakmal or Dhammika Prasad, who should both have adequately recovered from their Test workload now.

Sri Lanka (probable): 1 Dimuth Karunaratne, 2 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 3 Kumar Sangakkara (wk), 4 Mahela Jayawardene, 5 Angelo Mathews (capt.), 6 Lahiru Thirimanne, 7 Thisara Perara, 8 Jeevan Mendis, 9 Nuwan Kulasekara, 10 Sachithra Senanayake, 11 Suranga Lakmal

The Seddon Park pitch is expected to be slower and more spin-friendly than the track in Christchurch, though the boundaries are also significantly smaller. The weather is expected to be fine for the duration of the match.

"It's nice to get the accolades, and you've got to try and be humble. Cricket can turn just as quickly against you. We're on a bit of a high at the moment, but we don't want to get carried away. We're still a way away from the World Cup and we know the Sri Lankan team will bounce back. They've got the most experience out of any side in this coming World Cup, and I'm sure that will show in the next six games."