South Africa Seek Make Home Advantage Against Sri Lanka

Centurion: South Africa will seek to end a sequence of disappointing results in home series when they take on Sri Lanka in the first of three Tests at SuperSport Park on Thursday.

South Africa have lost one and shared three of four most recent home series, with a loss against Australia in 2008/09 followed by drawn series against England, India and Australia.

Sri Lanka, though, should not provide too stiff a challenge for the home side.

The tourists have had more than a year of poor results and appear to be particularly vulnerable in bowling since the retirement of world record-breaking off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan. Since then Sri Lanka have lost four and drawn 10 of 14 Tests.

The large number of drawn games is an indication that Sri Lanka's batting is stronger than their bowling - but they will be up against a strong South African bowling attack in conditions expected to favour pacemen.

Much would appear to depend on the form of Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene, who have been Sri Lanka's leading batsmen for the past decade and who shared a world-record third-wicket stand of 624 when the sides last met five years ago in Sri Lanka.

Sangakkara suffered a hand injury in his team's only warm-up match at the weekend but is expected to play.

South African fast bowler Dale Steyn refused to go as far as to say it was "payback time" for the bowlers, including himself, who had struggled in steamy Colombo five years ago, but he said the South Africans had made a close study of the Sri Lankan batsmen on video.

Steyn said he had been building up his pace during the season after a long break and was feeling no twinges from a troublesome right elbow. In the last two domestic games I bowled the quickest I have this season. The elbow is fine and my rhythm is good. Steyn said his new ball combination with the steady Vernon Philander was working well.

South Africa are expected to stick with the side that faced Australia which means no recall for Alvrio Petersen but Jacques Rudolph is on notice that he needs to convert his starts at the top of the order. However, perhaps most under pressure is Mark Boucher who needs a strong series to convince people that his career isn't on the wane.

Then you have Morne Morkel bowling thunderbolts from about 10 feet high and Jacques Kallis is bowling well too.

Rain restricted Sri Lanka's only warm-up match, against a South African Invitation XI, to less than two days.

Left-arm spinner Rangana Herath was the only bowler to impress, with unorthodox spinner Ajantha Mendis taking only two wickets and conceding 142 runs in 31 overs.

Sri Lanka's pace bowling resources have been hit hard by injuries, with four players ruled out before the tour and Nuwan Pradeep suffering a tour-ending injury in the warm-up game.

They do not have the fast bowling firepower of the hosts but Proteas batsman Hashim Amla warned that in South African conditions no seam bowlers could be taken lightly.

Tillakaratne Dilshan has been up and down the batting order this year as Sri Lanka try to find a combination that works. Against England, at Lord's, he hit a fabulous 193 as opener but then moved down to No. 5 when Australia visited before returning to the top for the final Test against Pakistan where he hit 92.

Sri Lanka named a 12-man squad on the eve of the Test which included both spinners - Ajantha Mendis and Rangana Herath - but with conditions likely to favour the seamers it would be a gamble to have just two frontline pacemen. Their options are limited, however, with Nuwan Pradeep having flown home injured. Sangakkara, who split the webbing on his right hand in the warm-up match, will have a final fitness test but the signs were promising.

Teams from

South Africa GC Smith (captain), AB de Villiers, HM Amla, MV Boucher (wk), M de Lange, Imran Tahir, JH Kallis, M Morkel, AN Petersen, VD Philander, AG Prince, JA Rudolph, DW Steyn

Sri Lanka TM Dilshan (captain), AD Mathews, LD Chandimal (wk), ANPR Fernando, CRD Fernando, HMRKB Herath, DPMD Jayawardene, FDM Karunaratne, BAW Mendis, NT Paranavitana, NLTC Perera, TT Samaraweera, KC Sangakkara (wk), JK Silva, HDRL Thirimanne, UWMBCA Welegedara

Pitch and conditions
The pitch was as green as Pakistan's kit the day before the match so the pace bowlers on both sides will be licking their lips. The weather was overcast for training, with similar conditions expected through the game but no major rain forecast. However, there may be some afternoon thunderstorms as is common on the Highveld.

Stats and trivia

• Sri Lanka have played seven Tests in South Africa and only avoided defeat once with a draw in Durban in 2000 when rain washed out the fourth day.
• However, four Sri Lankan players from that Kingsmead Test are due to play in Centurion; Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene, Tillakaratne Dilshan and Dilhara Fernando - who took 5 for 98
• South Africa have won 12 of their 16 Tests in Centurion, the only defeat coming in the rain-affected 2000 match against England when Hansie Cronje set up the final-day run chase.

Match facts
December 15-19, 2011
Start time 10:30 local (08:30 GMT)