Settled Sri Lanka look to break hoodoo against new-look New Zealand

While most of the world's attention will be on the Boxing Day Tests in Australia and South Africa - both with strong ramifications on the World Test Championship final - there's still plenty on the line for New Zealand and Sri Lanka ahead of this three-match T20I series starting Saturday. Here are some of the key talking points to keep an eye on over the next week.

"The bounce and seam movement - that's the main difference." That was Sri Lankan captain Charith Asalanka's succinct analysis of the conditions they're about to face. In tours gone by, Sri Lanka's batters have struggled to come to terms with these sort of conditions, while their bowlers have been unable to extract the same assistance as the home side. But this Sri Lanka side might have a better chance than most.

"If you look at their team, it's probably one of the best teams they've produced as a collective," stated New Zealand white-ball captain Mitchell Santner ahead of the first T20I.

"They've got all bases covered. The fast bowlers are a challenge, and the spinners we know how good they are. Their top six is dangerous all the way through.

"I think the group they've got together can take them forward for a number of years."

High praise, and rightly so, considering the year Sri Lanka have had, T20 World Cup aside. But a majority of Sri Lanka's good results over the past year have come at home, and it's been their red-ball side that's been doing the travelling. But this tour finally affords the white-ball unit the chance to test themselves in unfamiliar conditions and perhaps finally come away with a white-ball series win in New Zealand.

Rachin Ravindra, Daryl Mitchell and Matt Henry are all back in the white-ball fold - which already makes this a stronger squad than the one that toured Sri Lanka - but with the likes of Lockie Ferguson, Finn Allen, Adam Milne, Tim Seifert, Kane Williamson and Devon Conway all away on franchise duty, and Tom Latham, Will Young and Will O'Rourke rested for the T20 leg, this is still a fairly green New Zealand outfit.

But with an even greener bunch having come away with a commendable 1-1 series draw in Sri Lanka, there will be some quiet optimism of further improvements in front of home support.

While fast-bowling allrounder Zakary Foulkes will be looking to build on an impressive showing in Sri Lanka, others like Mitchell Hay and Tim Robinson - both of whom struggled for runs on the slower subcontinental surfaces - will no doubt be hoping to justify their selections in more familiar conditions - and potentially put their name in the hat for the 2026 World Cup.

An IPL contract and now a maiden call-up to the national side, life is good if you're Bevon Jacobs.

Had things gone to plan Sri Lanka might have had a chance to get an early look at him, as he was part of the tour game in Lincoln, however, he never went in to bat.

That might work out favourably for Jacobs and New Zealand though, with the opposition having limited information to prepare against him.

And with a quick outfield and pristine overhead conditions expected at Mount Maunganui, all eyes will no doubt be on the powerful middle-order batter should he make his debut as expected.

One of the hallmarks of Sanath Jayasuriya's term as head coach has been Sri Lanka's willingness to give players a long rope - a well founded strategy in terms of giving underperforming players a chance to find form while rewarding those that perform. But it also has meant those on the fringe have been afforded limited opportunities.

The home series against New Zealand provided just such an opportunity, with the visitors sending an under strength side. However Sri Lanka opted to go with a full strength squad and forego the chance to offer some younger players invaluable international experience.

This has given rise to the unusual scenario of Dinesh Chandimal being selected for successive squads but yet to play a T20I since 2022, while Chamidu Wickramasinghe had been picked on the back of an impressive LPL, but has barely played a game. Questions also abound about Asitha Fernando's workload management, with the seamer having played nearly every game he has been available for.

For this tour, Sri Lanka have once more gone with a strong squad, but if the likes of Chandimal or Wickramasinghe are to get game time, Sri Lanka will need to be willing to disrupt a settled XI - something they have thus far been hesitant to do.