Sri Lanka Begin Word Cup Tune-up in New Zealand

Christchurch: Sri Lanka will open hostilities against the Black Caps in their first tour of New Zealand for eight years on Friday, looking to acclimatise to local conditions for the upcoming World Cup.

The tour features two Test matches, the first beginning in Christchurch on Boxing Day, but the emphasis is squarely on the 50-over game, with seven one-dayers as a warm-up to the February-March tournament co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand.

Sri Lanka are buoyant after humiliating England 5-2 in a one-day series, a result that contributed to Alastair Cook's sacking as limited overs captain, and notching Test and one-day series wins over Pakistan in August.

But skipper Angelo Mathews said he expected a tough match against the New Zealanders, particularly since Mahela Jayawardene will be missing from the Test line-up after retiring from the long form of the game to concentrate on a World Cup swansong.

Sri Lanka will be without left-arm spinner Rangana Herath for the opening Test after he strained a hamstring against England.

Only two of Mathews' Test team, Kumar Sangakkara and Prasanna Jayawardene, have experienced New Zealand's seam-friendly wickets before, so Mathews said it was important to adjust.

Sri Lanka, who won the 1996 World Cup and were runners up in 2007 and 2011, are fourth in the ODI rankings and fifth in the Test standings, with New Zealand placed sixth and seventh respectively.

New Zealand, who recently drew a Test series and their ODI series with Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates, will be out to make a statement in front of their home fans ahead of the World Cup.

The Blacks Caps under Brendon McCullum's aggressive leadership have shown they can compete with the best and they are desperate to build some momentum leading into the World Cup.

Brendon McCullum has virtually confirmed offspinner Mark Craig will play, despite the green surface, so the major question will be whether Bracewell or Wagner gets the nod as the third seamer. The top order is fairly settled, with Dean Brownlie more likely to slot into the middle order than for Hamish Rutherford to occupy a place at the top.

Teams from:

New Zealand: Dean Brownlie, Tom Latham, Kane Williamson, Ross Taylor, Brendon McCullum (Capt.), James Neesham, BJ Watling (wk), Mark Craig, Tim Southee, Neil Wagner, Trent Boult, Hamish Rutherford, Doug Bracewell

Sri Lanka: Dimuth Karunaratne, Kaushal Silva, Kumar Sangakkara, Lahiru Thirimanne, Angelo Mathews (Capt.), Dinesh Chandimal, Prasanna Jayawardene (wk), Dilruwan Perera, Dhammika Prasad, Shaminda Eranga, Suranga Lakmal, Dushmantha Chameera, Niroshan Dickwella, Nuwan Pradeep, Tharindu Kaushal

Stats and trivia

Angelo Mathews averages 86.62 from 13 matches as captain.
Sri Lanka's first ever overseas series win came in New Zealand, when they won one match and drew the other in 1995, but have since won only one more game in six attempts. That win came in Wellington in 2006.

Match facts
December 26-30, 2014
Start time 1100 local (2200 GMT prev day)

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