04 August 2004	Wednesday	17 Jamadi-us-Saani 1425

GALLE, Aug 3: Sri Lankan skipper Marvan Atapattu on Tuesday said he hoped to make full use of the spin-friendly pitch here in the first Test against South Africa.

"Starting at Galle always gives us an advantage as this pitch helps spinners. I hope we can make the most of our experience here and win the match," said Atapattu.

The first of two Tests starts here on Wednesday with the second match to be held in Colombo next week. The Test series will be followed by a series of five one-dayers.

"Ideally, I would have liked to play the one-dayers before the Tests but one has to learn to adjust fast to both forms of the game," said Atapattu, who took over Test captaincy from Hashan Tillekeratne earlier this year.

Sri Lanka, who played a two-Test series in Australia last month, had to adjust quickly to the shorter version as they came back home to participate in the Asia Cup one-day tournament.

They beat India in the day-night final on Sunday to lift the cup and are again playing a Test less than three full days later. Atapattu felt the South Africans could not be taken lightly.

"They have done well both at home and abroad over the years. They may not be at their best at the moment but not very long back they were head to head with Australia." Atapattu said his team's composition had not been decided though Romesh Kaluwitharana was sure to keep wickets.

"Kumar Sangakkara is batting well at the moment so we will leave him out of wicket-keeping and let him concentrate on batting. That leaves four spots for the bowlers and we may play two or even three spinners."

Sri Lanka's only win in 13 Tests against South Africa has come at this venue, where star off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan has a huge tally of 82 wickets in 10 Tests.

South African captain Graeme Smith conceded it would be hard matching up to the Sri Lankans on the Galle wicket. "The pitch looks dry and has some cracks on it but that is only what we expected.

We have our backs towards the wall but we have to be positive, try to get some things right and fight it out," said Smith. "Sri Lanka usually win their games in Galle, so it's going to be a challenge for us.

The match may not last a full five days on this pitch and it's definitely going to be an advantage batting first," he added. Smith said the team management was "pretty close" to deciding the combination for the match but would only announce it on Wednesday morning.

TEAMS (FROM):

SRI LANKA: Marvan Atapattu (captain), Sanath Jayasuriya, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene, Tillekeratne Dilshan, Upul Chandana, Chaminda Vaas, Farveez Maharoof, Lasith Malinga, Muttiah Muralitharan, Nuwan Zoysa, Thilan Samaraweera, Rangana Herath, Romesh Kaluwitharana, Ian Daniel.

SOUTH AFRICA: Graeme Smith (captain), Mark Boucher, Jacques Kallis, Jacques Rudolph, Boeta Dippenaar, Nicky Boje, Shaun Pollock, Mornantau Hayward, Lance Klusener, Makhaya Ntini, Andre Nel, Robin Peterson, Martin van Jaarsveld, Andrew Puttick. -AFP