Having well analysed its performance in the disastrous first Test against Australia at Galle, Sri Lanka believes that it has the resources and the depth to force a win in the second Test beginning here on Thursday.
It also helps that Ricky Ponting, the only player in the Aussie line-up who was in Sri Lanka on the last tour, is back home for personal reasons.
The Sri Lankan team management is pleased with the fact that the out-of-form Angelo Mathews is back in his element, and also with the fact that despite the collapse of the top order, Mahela Jayawardene and Mathews held up the batting. The reasoning is that if two batsmen click, then the side can put up a decent, defendable total.
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But there appears to be no clear thinking in the Sri Lankan camp on what kind of wicket it wants for the game. The debacle at Galle has posed serious questions over Sri Lanka's ability to exploit a spinning wicket. In any case, the ICC match referee, Chris Broad, has rated the wicket as poor and Sri Lanka Cricket has been served with a show cause notice from ICC on the wicket. As many as 40 wickets fell for 841 runs in 289.5 overs in the rain-interrupted match.
No one seems to know much about the Pallekele wicket. The only Test match before this, against the West Indies, was washed out with just one innings played. In this situation, the argument is that a batting wicket made sense. Sri Lanka would be better off pushing for a win in Colombo's R. Premadasa, the traditional spinner's paradise.
Michael Clarke has different plans, even if he has a side that does not look threatening in the pace department, and even though his batsmen are not big names. Clarke hopes to do a Ponting here: when Ponting toured Sri Lanka in 2004 — Australia's last tour of Sri Lanka — he was a ‘rookie' captain who led one of the best attacks.
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Sri Lanka was blown away in a three-Test series whitewash that it has not forgotten. “We have come here to win all three Tests,” said the now-confident Clarke.
For the Aussies, Shaun Marsh will gain the cap while for Sri Lanka, Ajantha Mendis could replace S. Randiv. But Sri Lankan selection is quite bizarre and one has to wait to see what the final eleven will be!
The teams (from):Australia: M. Clarke (captain), S. Watson, M. Beer, T. Copeland, B. Haddin, R. Harris, P. Hughes, M. Hussey, M. Johnson, U. Khawaja, N. Lyon, S. Marsh, J. Pattinson, and P. Siddle.
Sri Lanka: T. Dilshan (captain), M. Jayawardene, K. Sangakkara, T. Samaraweera, P. Jayawardene, R. Eranga, R. Herath, S. Randiv, S. Lakmal, A. Mathews, A. Mendis, T. Paranavitana, D. Prasad, S. Prasanna, L. Thirimanne and C. Welegadara.