South Africa make their long awaited Test comeback in this match against a Sri Lankan side featuring a number of good batsmen.
It should be a good match, with South Africa going in slight favourites by virtue of the strength of their pace attack, headed by Alan Donald.
Kepler Wessels leads a solid batting lineup, with the experienced Peter Kirsten, one of their stars of the World Cup, lending support.
Sri Lanka have a number of bowling options, but lack an attack leader, and generally rely on helpful conditions to make their bowlers threatening.
If their batsmen fire they could be competitive, with South Africa possibly featuring a few weaknesses in their lineup early in the season.
Pitch: 60 - A fast paced wicket, especially on the first day and that will please the quickies. The batsmen will appreciate the ball coming quickly onto the bat too, so this should be a good game of cricket. Later in the match in the pitch may quieten down a bit but the bounce will always be lively, and there is a possibility that later in the match the spinners, especially the wrist spinners will also get into the act on the final day.
Day 1 Conditions:
Pitch: 7A - Fast Paced Wicket
Weather: 2 - Hot and Sunny
Toss: South Africa
South Africa lineup:
M.W.Rushmere, A.C.Hudson, K.C.Wessels (c), P.N.Kirsten, W.J.Cronje, A.P.Kuiper, D.J.Richardson (wk), R.P.Snell, M.W.Pringle, A.A.Donald, T.Bosch
Sri Lanka lineup:
R.S.Mahanama, U.C.Hathurasinghe, A.P.Gurusinha, P.A.de Silva (c), A.Ranatunga, S.T.Jayasuriya, H.P.Tillekeratne (wk), R.J.Ratnayake, S.D.Anurasiri, K.I.W.Wijegunwardena, G.P.Wickremasinghe
South Africa won the toss, and with conditions helpful for quick scoring on the first day, and the pitch expected to turn and help the Sri Lankan spinners late in the match, elected to bat first.
Pretoria plays host to the first match of the 2nd Round between South Africa and Sri Lanka
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