‘Southee-Boult on par with Steyn-Morkel’

As far as bowling pairs go, Trent Boult and Tim Southee are equals with South Africa’s Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel, Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews said, even as he expected his team to take heart from their recent track record of fighting back from positions of weakness in Test series.

Mathews marked out batting in the first innings as the area requiring most improvement, given the rampant New Zealand attack and another surface with a heavy green tinge to it. In Christchurch, a first innings total of 138 had effectively scuttled Sri Lanka in the match.

“The New Zealand attack is one of the best. Especially in New Zealand, when the ball is swinging and seaming, they are very hard to face. They’ve got guys who can unsettle you as well. Mark Craig is also a very good spinner, so they’ve got variety in their attack and Southee and Boult have been doing a great job for them in the last few years. They are definitely on par with Steyn and Morkel. They’ve been taking a lot of wickets with the new ball, and striking with the older ball as well, so they’ve got the skill.”

Sri Lanka have prepared to respond to those skills by giving their top three extra training time in the approach to the match, but have also resorted to more unorthodox training methods. “Just to counter the swing and try and get used to it, we’ve been using two-piece balls that swing more than the four-piece balls. It’s just to make us feel better, because that’s what we can expect tomorrow from Southee and Boult. We’ve got to counter them and try and push them back.”

The first Test had been a weak outing in most of Sri Lanka’s 2014 series, but significant improvements were usually made for the next match. They had given up a 179-run lead to Pakistan in Abu Dhabi at the start of last year, before fighting back to draw that Test, then win the next one. In England, they famously drew the first Test at Lord’s with one wicket in hand, before eventually claiming the sereis. Against South Africa at home soon after, Sri Lanka lost the first match, then were two wickets away from winning the next, as rain cut 20 overs out of the final five sessions of play.

“In the recent past, Sri Lanka has come back really hard after losing the first Test,” Mathews said. “It happened to us in England where we almost lost the first Test and we came back hard and won the second Test. We’ve got to approach it in a positive way – not put too much pressure on ourselves.

“That’s the confidence and the self belief that the team has. We believe that we can come back and win in any conditions, at home or away. Whether we lose 2-0 or 1-0 it doesn’t matter, we’ve got no choice but to go out and play aggressively.”

The match is likely to be Kumar Sangakkara’s final Test outside Sri Lanka, and Mathews said he was intent on making an impact, following only the second match in over two years in which he failed to cross fifty, in Christchurch.

“When Kumar fails, well, it’s a coach’s nightmare. You have to throw balls at him for hours and hours and hours. He’s a very hard worker. He’s been spending a lot of time in the nets and he’s desperate to go out there and get some runs, so I’m pretty sure he will do it in the match.”