ABOUT THE MATCH
After a winning start to their first ICC World Test Championship fixtures, Sri Lanka can wrap up a series win against New Zealand when they meet at the P.Sara Oval, Colombo, between August 22 and August 26.
Dimuth Karunaratne earned Sri Lanka victory first up, scoring a second-innings century to lead a chase of 268 to beat the tourists by six wickets in Galle. It was a marked improvement on their heavy defeat to New Zealand away in December.
New Zealand will want to get back to that sort of form in the pursuit of World Test Championship points, having won their last five-test series. All were at home, however – they have lost their last two away series and this would be three in a row.
TOSS PREDICTION
New Zealand won the toss in the first test and they could choose to bat first again in this test if their luck holds with extra pace and bounce on offer at the P.Sara Oval.
PITCH AND CONDITIONS
With thunderstorms scheduled throughout the week in Colombo, weather conditions are not favorable for this test – there is a strong chance of rain forecast on every day at the moment.
The most historic but now lesser used of Colombo’s test venues, the P.Sara Oval has traditionally played in a less-Sri Lankan way – in other words, there is more pace and bounce than other venues.
MATCH PREVIEW
NEW ZEALAND
- Todd Astle, Colin de Grandhomme, Tom Blundell and Neil Wagner were the four to miss out last time out.
- An option like De Grandhomme would offer to bat further down the order and William Somerville could make way from this spin-heavy attack.
- New Zealand had won their five previous test series but they were all at home. Their first away series since defeats to India and South Africa could instead be heading the same way as those matches.
- They may have felt they had a chance after setting Sri Lanka 268 to win the first test, but they had no answer to a superb opening partnership which eventually set up a six-wicket win.
| Top 3 batsman New Zealand | Top 3 Middle Order New Zealand | Top 3 Bowler New Zealand |
| Jeet Raval | Ross Taylor | Mitchell Santner |
| Tom Latham | Henry Nicholls | Trent Boult |
| Kane Williamson (c) | BJ Watling (wk) | Tim Southee |
SRI LANKA
- After winning the first test, the balanced Sri Lankan side could be retained for the second test.
- Dimuth Karunaratne led the team from the front with the bat.
- Sri Lanka is looking to make it two consecutive test series wins after beating South Africa 2-0 in their most recent tests. Victory in the first test of SL vs NZ 2019 series was their 3rd test wins in a row; Dimuth Karunaratne hit a second-innings century to set up a six-wicket win.
Top 3 batsman Sri Lanka Top 3 Middle Order Sri Lanka Top 3 Bowler Sri Lanka Dimuth Karunaratne (c) Dhananjaya de Silva Suranga Lakmal Lahiru Thirimanne Angelo Mathews Akila Dananjaya Kusal Mendis Kusal Perera Lahiru Kumara
PROBABLE WINNING TEAM:
Sri Lanka has a great chance to steal the series, if they can pull their first test performance they could upset all the odds.
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