series in Galle yesterday. (Picture courtesy; Viraj Kotalawala, ThePapare.com)

Rex Clementine
in Galle

Buoyed by the ODI series win, Sri Lanka will be looking to take on the momentum for the longer format of the game as the two match Test series against Australia gets underway today (Wednesday) at the Galle International Stadium. Australia are the holders of Warne-Murali Trophy and they are also world’s number one ranked team in Test match cricket and it will be quite a task for the Sri Lankans to challenge them.

Sri Lanka blanked Australia 3-0 in the last series at home in 2016 but that was with the experienced spin duo of Rangana Herath and Dilruwan Perera in the side. The current side is entirely different with Dimuth Karunaratne needing to depend on an inexperienced spin attack that struggled during the recent series in Bangladesh.

Australia completed a series win in Pakistan in March this year and are expected to play the same side that won the last Test in Lahore. Travis Head, who missed the latter part of the ODI series with a hamstring injury, is expected to go through a fitness test on the morning of the game. Glenn Maxwell is on standby.

Leg-spinner Jeffrey Vandersay, who had a good outing in the ODI series, is set to make his Test debut. According to Sri Lankan standards 32 maybe bit too old for someone to debut. Vandersay came close to making his debut on a couple of occasions but he has frequently got into trouble with the authorities for his off the field excesses. But as the saying goes, there’s no saint without a past and no sinner without a future.

Vandersay is expected to share the spin duties with off-spinner Ramesh Mendis and left-arm orthodox spinner Lasith Embuldeniya with Praveen Jayawickrama likely to sit out. Sri Lanka also have a back up spin option in middle order batsman Dhananjaya de Silva, who bowled superbly in the ODI series.

Opener Pathum Nissanka, who missed the Bangladesh Tests with injury will return to the side with Oshada Fernando, who had a decent outing in the last series facing the axe.

Sri Lanka have a chance to climb up the ICC Rankings if they win the series 2-0. They are currently at number seven and a series sweep will enable them to move up to number six. Australia, meanwhile, will lose their number one slot if they lose both Tests.

Sri Lanka (Probable XI)

Dimuth Karunaratne (Captain), Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis, Angelo Mathews, Dhananjaya de Silva, Dinesh Chandimal, Niroshan Dickwella, Ramesh Mendis, Lasith Embuldeniya, Jeffrey Vandersay and Asitha Fernando.

Australia (Probable XI)

David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith, Travis Head or Glenn Maxwell, Cameroon Green, Alex Carey, Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, Nathan Lyon and Mitchell Swepson.

Umpires:

Nitin Menon (IND) and Kumar Dharmasena (SL)

Third Umpire:

Michael Gough (ENG)

Match Referee:

Javagal Srinath (IND)