Forde readies Proteas for Sri Lanka.

The South African cricket team fly to Sri Lanka on Friday eager to maintain their fine record on the sub-continent and to repair some of the damage done by the Hansie Cronje scandal.

Coach Graham Ford, having put the 16-man squad through their paces over the last two days in Durban, says Shaun Pollock¹s team are keen to shift the focus back to their on-the-field performance.

'The Cronje affair is still weighing on their minds a bit and just adds to the mental strain of having just come off a very tough eight months and having a huge summer ahead of them,' Ford said on Tuesday. 'It has been quite disruptive for our preparations, but I think we¹ve got it right over the last two days and the guys are looking sharp, tired bodies and all.'

While there will obviously be huge interest in how the South Africans conduct themselves off the field in Sri Lanka, Ford believes the tour will be tough enough just in terms of the cricket.

Having seen their monumental achievement of winning the Test series in India earlier this year overshadowed by subsequent events, there is no doubting the team¹s determination to see off Sri Lanka.

South Africa¹s last tour to the island resulted in a 1-0 Test series win and the two survivors from that 1993 visit, Jonty Rhodes and Daryll Cullinan, will be key players not just because they are the most senior members of the current squad in the absence of Allan Donald (away with Warwickshire) and Cronje.

Life is never easy for middle-order batsmen in Sri Lanka and Cullinan and Rhodes are expected to fill the crucial four and five positions in the line-up.

'Conditions vary so much in Sri Lanka. They can be totally different from ground to ground, plus you can have the influence of very heavy rain and the groundsman being given instructions on pitch preparation,' Ford, who took the 1998 SA A team to the island, said Tuesday. 'One thing is certain Muttiah Muralitharan will be turning it and lately the Sri Lankans have been fielding two left-arm seamers, who create rough for the off-spinner and make him even more dangerous.'

But the Sri Lankan batsmen will also find it difficult to lounge around at the crease. Apart from South African spinners Paul Adams and Nicky Bojé having new leases of life, Ford¹s squad embraces tremendous fast bowlers in Pollock, Mornantau Hayward, Jacques Kallis and Lance Klusener, while he can also call on Makhaya Ntini, David Terbrugge, Roger Telemachus and Andrew Hall in an emergency. In 1993, it was South Africa¹s pace attack, spearheaded by Donald and Brett Schultz that proved the difference, while Pakistani pacemen Waqar Younis and Wasim Akram have been the match-winners in their current series in Sri Lanka.

After the limited-overs triangular series, made up of two games each against Sri Lanka and Pakistan and then a final, the South African team proceeds to the coastal city of Galle for the first Test, which starts on July 20. The squad then have a free day at their disposal and a two-day match in Colombo on July 26/27, before travelling to Kandy for the start of the second Test on July 30.

The third and final Test is in Colombo from August 6-10, the South Africans leaving Sri Lanka on August 11 and heading for Australia for the first of the limited-overs internationals in Melbourne¹s new indoor stadium on August 16.

South African squad: Paul Adams, Nicky Bojé, Mark Boucher (vc), Daryll Cullinan, Boeta Dippenaar, Andrew Hall, Mornantau Hayward, Jacques Kallis, Gary Kirsten, Lance Klusener, Neil McKenzie, Makhaya Ntini, Shaun Pollock (capt), Jonty Rhodes, Roger Telemachus, David Terbrugge.

Fixtures
July 4: Limited-overs warm-up match (Colombo).
July 6: v Sri Lanka (Galle).
July 8: v Pakistan (Colombo).
July 11: v Sri Lanka (Colombo).
July 12: v Pakistan (Colombo).
July 14: Triangular Series final (Colombo).
July 16/17: Warm-up match (Colombo).
July 20-24: First Test (Galle).
July 26/27: Warm-up match (Colombo).
July 30-August 3: Second Test (Kandy).
August 6-10: Third Test (Colombo).
TV: SuperSport on M-Net.

Source: The Natal Witness