South Africa's tour of Sri Lanka: Sri Lanka Preview

Sri Lanka bowler Rangana Herath (#14) celebrates with teammates after dismissing Indian batsman Ravichandran Ashwin during the final of the Tri-Nation series at the Queen’s Park Oval stadium in Port of Spain on July 11, 2013. (Getty Images)

Sri Lanka’s hectic cricketing schedule continues as they host South Africa for a five-match one-day series and three T20 matches. The series was to include three Test matches in its original conception but that was postponed in order to accommodate the Sri Lankan Premier League.

Sri Lanka put up an impressive performance at the Champions trophy before being evicted by familiar opponents and eventual champions India. They headed to the West Indies within a week from when the semi-final was played.

They piped West Indies to the final where victory was snatched from their clutches by a superlative performance from India’s captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Sri Lanka’s performance has been consistently good in the last two years in the shorter format of the game but they have faltered at the verge of critical achievements.

However, a number of positives have emerged for the side from these two tournaments. The most prominent of these has been the display of Angelo Mathews, who has thrived with the additional responsibility of leading the side. He was superb with the ball in the Tri-Nation series in West Indies where he picked seven wickets in five matches bowling under the economy rate of 4.0 runs per over.

The senior statesmen of the side, Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara, continue to perform at the standards they have set for themselves over the years in international cricket. They have bailed out the team from precarious positions a number of times in the recent past.

The bowling department has received a boost by the unearthing of Shaminda Eranga. The fast bowler made a mark in England, even though he was expensive, and extracted that little bit extra from surfaces that were supportive of fast bowling. He backed-up that performance with a commendable performance in the Tri-Nation series picking up five wickets in the three matches that he played including a career best spell of 3/46 against West Indies.

He bowled a terrific first spell in the final picking up the critical wickets of Virat Kohli and Shikhar Dhawan before he had the misfortune of running into the Indian captain in his final over. However, he would have learned from that experience and will be a better bowler for Sri Lanka in the future.

Rangana Herath dispelled the doubts about his ability with his outstanding performance in the West Indies. The left-arm spinner accomplished the near-impossible task of making the Indian batsmen look inept in front of spin bowling.

Herath finished with ten wickets in the four matches with a miserly economy rate below 4.00. He will be critical in the upcoming tour as South Africa are not particularly adept at tackling spin and will be a smacking his lips at the prospect of bowling in home-conditions.

If these were the positives accumulated in the last two tournaments, there is an equally heavy list of flaws.

Sri Lanka’s batting is top-heavy and the new kids on the block who should step up have been unable to grab their opportunities. The likes of Dinesh Chandimal and Lahiru Thirimanne have exhibited tons of potential but their performance has been underwhelming. This puts a lot of pressure upon Jayawardene and Sangakkara, as they have to do the bulk of the scoring.

Sri Lanka lacks a quality finisher, a slog-overs specialist, who can take advantage of the batting power-play and the last ten overs when a platform has been built by the top-order. Mathews has been trying to do that but he will do better to anchor the middle order.

Lasith Malinga’s form has deteriorated considerably in the last year and excepting a quality performance against New Zealand in the Champions Trophy, he has failed to live up to the expectations. Nuwan Kulasekara is a handful in conditions that assist swing-bowling but his lack of pace and length bowling leaves him a sitting duck for most batsmen.

Sri Lanka will have an opportunity to correct these mistakes when South Africa challenges them at home. Their opponents are a quality-side and defeating them, even at home, will be a huge achievement for this side.

They will be suffering from a huge disadvantage in the first two matches as Mathews is suspended for keeping a slow-over rate in the Tri-Nation series final. The Sri Lankan selectors are yet to announce the leader of the side for those two matches. Chandimal is the appointed vice-captain of the side but the selectors might hand the reins to Jayawardene or Sangakkara. A few changes to the squad might also be in the offing.