Sangakkara expects turn from new track

Having come back strongly in the second Test against West Indies, Sri Lanka are likely to field an unchanged team for the decisive third Test against West Indies in Pallakele.

"Barring injuries not many changes are likely," the home captain Kumar Sangakkara said. "We will have to see how the guys pull up after today's practice. We will probably decide whether a change is needed in the spin department, but other than that I think we are fine."

Sri Lanka who have not lost a home Test series since 2006 and Sangakkara said he would be disappointed if his team could not win this series, tied 0-0 going into the decider.

"The series will be decided in this Test, provided there's play on all five days," Sangakkara said. "We have to be positive and keep thinking that we can beat West Indies by playing some good cricket. We have improved in the last Test and we need to keep getting better and hopefully we need to play some solid cricket.

"It looks a good wicket but there's still a bit of rain. Unfortunately with the weather around you have to see what it does. It looks drier than the R Premadasa Stadium wicket. In Kandy, conditions can change early morning. It helps all the bowlers from the first day onwards. It's good to bat on. It will be a wicket where it'll be difficult to bat on in the first hour maybe, but will probably get better.

"Hopefully it will be better than R Premadasa, in the sense more bounce and pace, so that batsmen can play shots even on the first day. Other than that, I think, it will help all the bowlers. We are expecting it to break up sooner and help our spinners."

Sangakkara compared the new stadium to the ground in Centurion, South Africa. "I honestly think that this will be the nicest stadium of all when it's finished. It looks fantastic. The view for the crowd is nice. Once it's finished it will be nice. When they started it was like Centurion. It's a long walk and it's a beautiful ground."