NZ vs SL ODIs: New faces, spin pitches and Champions Trophy watch

Try not to fall off your chair, but New Zealand have not played a single ODI since December 2023. It's not that much of a shock if you've been following what's happening to the sport (essentially, T20 is the format beloved of capitalists, Tests are still the purists' big love, and ODIs have become the forgotten middle child). But still, 11 months without a match is a long time, so New Zealand will have some jogging of the memory to do.

Sri Lanka have been playing the format much more frequently. They've done pretty well, in fact, winning 10 of their 15 matches in 2024. They've played five series, losing just one to Bangladesh, which is the only one they've played away from home.

Where usually this series would be part of the build-up to the next global one-day tournament for both teams, on this occasion, Sri Lanka and New Zealand have got substantially different aims. New Zealand are hoping to trial talent for the Champions Trophy next year, which presently is slated to be played in Pakistan, but because of India-Pakistan geopolitical wrangling, could be (at least partially) played in … well who knows at this stage?

In any case, while New Zealand will see this as the start to their Champions Trophy preparations, Sri Lanka will merely want to build on their ODI gains from the past few months. Having finished ninth in the World Cup last year, they'd failed to qualify for the Champions Trophy, and have only recently been rediscovering a little ODI form, having beaten India and West Indies since August.

Those series wins came on big-turning tracks, however, and Sri Lanka are likely to roll out dry surfaces again, as they'd done in the T20Is. The home team want to get a few more home wins under their belts, after a long dry spell.

New Zealand are not the kind to complain about all this, but would probably prefer to play on more even tracks as they try out their players.

With the tracks likely to favour spin bowling, New Zealand have stacked their squad with spin-bowling allrounders - captain Mitchell Santner, Michael Bracewell, and Glenn Phillips all likely to bowl plenty of overs through the course of the series. Sri Lanka, meanwhile, have lost one spin-bowling allrounder in Wanindu Hasaranga thanks to a hamstring injury, but still have Dunith Wellalage, Kamindu Mendis, Charith Asalanka, and Hasaranga's replacement Dushan Hemantha in their ranks. Expect an average of at least 30 overs a game to be bowled by the spinners.

The Northeast Monsoon is still technically ongoing at the moment, which means Pallekele - where matches two and three are set to be played - is likely to be affected at some point. Dambulla may see stoppages too, this being the only time of year when that venue's "dry zone" status doesn't quite hold up. Expect teams to favour batting second. Not only do they tend to prefer chasing in matches where DLS calculations are likely to intrude, but if the ball is going to be wet, teams prefer not to be defending totals.

Sri Lanka captain Charith Asalanka: "Wanindu's loss is a big one for the team, but the good thing is that we have [Jeffrey] Vandersay. He had done well in the India series and in the West Indies series, and he didn't get much of an opportunity when Wanindu was around. We've got the bench strength now. We saw in the last series as well, when Pathum Nissanka was injured, Nishan Madushka came in and performed in a way that no one expected. I think Vandersay will get the most out of his opportunity."

New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner: "It can be a challenge starting again, but this group has played a lot of domestic one-day cricket especially. They're familiar with it. We know how good Sri Lanka are at home, and it's a great challenge. But for the first match we can learn from The T20Is, because it's at the same ground (Dambulla). We have the same kinds of tactics and plans in place."