Smith ready for a 'dog-fight'

When Eric Simons, South Africa's coach, peeled back the covers to take a sneak preview of the Galle pitch on Monday, he saw exactly what he expected: a sun-baked, biscuit-dry surface that promises extravagant turn for the spinners, and hours and hours of back-breaking toil for the seamers. Ask the groundsman, the former Test offspinner Jayananda Warnaweera, whether it will spin and he just smiles in that "Do I really need to answer that?" kind of way. He is predicting a threeor four-day finish and a walloping innings win for Sri Lanka.

South Africa may beg to differ with Warnaweera's result forecast, but are under no illusions as to the enormity of the challenge they face. Fresh from the South African winter, they have had only one three-day game to acclimatise to Sri Lanka's famously harsh conditions. Stomach upsets and niggling injuries have not helped. The loss of Herschelle Gibbs with an ankle injury has been a major blow, and the absence of a top-class spinner a serious worry.

Yet Graeme Smith, South Africa's captain, is clearly looking forward to the challenge. "Our backs are up against the wall," he admitted before South Africa's final practice. "It looks dry and there are a few cracks there, but it is pretty much what we expected. We don't expect the Test match to go more than four days. We know there is going to be a result and we want to be on the right side of that. It is going to be a hard dog-fight for us. We are going to have to dig deep and show a lot of commitment. Hopefully we can get one of two things right in the game and things come off for us."

The pitch may be tailormade for slow bowlers, but South Africa appear set on a three-pronged pace attack with Nicky Boje the solitary spinner. With Andre Nel hampered by a slight back niggle, Nantie Hayward is expected to make his international return after choosing county over country in frustration at the start of 2003. Shaun Pollock and Makhaya Ntini will lead the attack. Lance Klusener is also set to make a comeback, batting at No. 6 and bowling plenty of his medium-pace offcutters.

Indeed, Klusener's role will be pivotal. Sri Lanka have had just one two-hour practice session since the tension and drama of their Asia Cup final. They are likely to be in one-day mode and Smith's bowlers will surely toy with their patience, hoping that they can spark self-destructive strokes and then gradually ramp up the pressure. We can expect defensive fields and a tedious off-stump line.

South Africa's main dilemma is the replacement for Gibbs. Andrew Puttick, the only other specialist opener in the squad, missed out in the warm-up game against the Board President's XI, and that leaves the management considering a makeshift opener, the risks of which are reduced by the fact that Sri Lanka are unlikely to waste much time with the new ball. Boeta Dippenaar, Martin van Jaarsveld and Jacques Rudolph will all have been considered, and Simons said they were "close to making a decision". An announcement will not be made until tomorrow morning.

The Sri Lankan squad, meanwhile, was in high spirits during a short and sharp morning practice. They may have lost four out of their last five Tests, all against Australia, but the shot of confidence provided by their showing in the Asia Cup makes that statistic largely irrelevant. Sri Lanka are an emotional team and their mood is crucial to performance. Atapattu, though, will warn his players to look forward not backwards.

"What we have achieved over the past couple of days has gone now," he told reporters. "We have to concentrate on doing well in this form of the game and we know the areas in which we must improve. The preparation has not been ideal but an international cricketer nowadays must be able to adjust that much faster. This is one of those things that you cannot control and we have got to live with it. We have to do well in both forms of the game and we now have an opportunity to do that."

Interestingly, considering that Sri Lanka have won only one Test against South Africa in 13 years (by an innings and 15 runs at Galle in 2000), Atapattu insisted: "They have not been at their best since the World Cup but that happens to every team. We are not under-rating them. They have always been a good side, performing in and outside of South Africa. South Africa are right up on the ladder of being tough on the field and if there is a challenge we will have to accept it."

Sri Lanka's selection issues revolve around the bowling. The batting picks itself, and the selectors have made it clear that they want Kumar Sangakkara to concentrate on his batting, a decision understood but perhaps not unanimously agreed with. "I believe that Sanga is our best batsman at the moment and we need to get the maximum from him so the gloves will be given to Kalu," said Atapattu. That leaves Sri Lanka with four bowling slots.

Ideally, Sri Lanka would like to play both Upul Chandana and Rangana Herath to partner Murali - who stands level with Shane Warne on 527 Test wickets - and they are seriously considering an attack with just one seamer. But with clouds hanging around Galle on Tuesday, they may be encouraged instead to go with a more balanced attack and play one of Nuwan Zoysa, Lasith Malinga and Farveez Maharoof, each of whom has a good case for selection: Zoysa for his recent zip, Malinga for his surprise value, and Maharoof for his accuracy and allround skills.

Sri Lanka (probable): 1 Marvan Atapattu (capt), 2 Sanath Jayasuriya, 3 Kumar Sangakkara, 4 Mahela Jayawardene, 5 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 6 Thilan Samaraweera, 7 Romesh Kaluwitharana (wk), 8 Upul Chandana, 9 Chaminda Vaas, 10 Nuwan Zoysa, 11 Muttiah Muralitharan.

South Africa (probable): 1 Graeme Smith (capt), 2 Jacques Rudolph, 3 Boeta Dippenaar, 4 Jacques Kallis, 5 Martin van Jaarsveld, 6 Lance Klusener, 7 Shaun Pollock, 8 Mark Boucher (wk), 9 Nicky Boje, 10 Makhaya Ntini, 11 Nantie Hayward.