CHRISTCHURCH: Sri Lanka will face a New Zealand team brimming with confidence and with a significant home advantage in the first Test starting on Friday.

Since their last lost, a Test series in England 17 months ago, New Zealand have beaten the West Indies and India in New Zealand, beaten the West Indies again in the Caribbean and has drawn away series with Zimbabwe and Pakistan.

The solid and consistent line-up is based around skipper Brendon McCullum, Ross Taylor and Kane Williamson as run-scorers with Trent Boult and Tim Southee the regular wicket-takers.

Sri Lanka will enter the first match of the two-Test series with limited preparation in New Zealand conditions but in strong form after recent series wins in England and at home to Pakistan.

Captain Angelo Mathews has scored two centuries and four half centuries in his past 12 Test innings and veteran Kumar Sangakkara, the world’s top-ranked Test batsman and fifth-highest run-scorer of all time, has scored a triple century, a double century and two other centuries since February.

Sangakkara intends to retire from all forms of cricket after the World Cup in Australia in New Zealand in February and March, meaning this may be his last Test series. He is one of few Sri Lanka players with experience in New Zealand conditions.

The teams last met in New Zealand in 2006 and Sri Lanka have won only two of 13 Tests against New Zealand in New Zealand.

“I haven’t been to New Zealand before. Most of us haven’t, except for a few senior guys,” Mathews said on Wednesday. “It’s going to be a challenging tour; it’s going to be tough.”

Hagley Oval is hosting its first Test as it prepares to host the opening match of the World Cup, also between New Zealand and Sri Lanka, on Feb 14. The conditions therefore will be as unfamiliar to the hosts as the visitors.

New Zealand wicket-keeper B.J. Watling hoped the match pitch would provide pace, bounce and seam movement for Southee and Boult.

“Hopefully, it’s swinging around as well,” Watling said. “Hopefully it’s got a bit more bounce and carry and that can really test the Sri Lankan team.”

Watling said New Zealand enter the match with their confidence high.

“That comes with winning games and winning series,” he said. “The one-day boys had a great series win [over Pakistan recently] and to draw the Test series and come away with a Test win, the boys are pretty confident.”

After winning both home series last summer, beating West Indies away, then drawing with Pakistan after being hammered in the final Test in the UAE, New Zealand enter the series playing at a level that would not justify their ranking of seventh.

The only concern in New Zealand’s top five the opening partnership, with Hamish Rutherford given another opportunity to prove his credentials alongside impressive rookie Tom Latham.

Williamson and Taylor will be expected to provide the majority of runs with the 24-year-old Williamson coming of age this year, having scored 844 Test runs, including four centuries, at 60.28.

McCullum’s move back to the middle order from his role as a temporary opener will solidify an already strong tail, who are expertly guided by Watling.

Their new ball duo of Tim Southee and Trent Boult have also matured in the last two years, with the pair’s ability to exploit New Zealand conditions and get the ball to swing and seam.

Sri Lanka coach Marvan Atapattu has already said his side are partly using the Tests to get used to New Zealand conditions, particularly at Hagley Oval where they face the hosts in the opening match of the World Cup on Feb 14.

However, he is more concerned with finalising his World Cup options, especially in finding an opening partner for Tillakaratne Dilshan.

“We’ll stick to our plans in finding the 15 that we want for the World Cup,” Atapattu said. “We have passed the stage where we’ve tried everybody and we have pruned our squad down to 30.

“In the 30 we know whom we want in our 15 except for one or two places which we hope to fill during the Test series.”

He also has the added problem of finding someone to fill the hole left by Mahela Jayawardene’s retirement from Test cricket, while left arm spinner Rangana Herath will miss the first, and possibly the second Test with a leg injury.

Herath’s absence could be a blessing for New Zealand given he has taken 31 wickets at 19.58 in four Tests against the hosts and is the top Test wicket-taker in 2014 with 60 in 10 matches.

Teams (from):

NEW ZEALAND: Brendon McCullum (captain), Trent Boult, Doug Bracewell, Dean Brownlie, Mark Craig, Tom Latham, James Neesham, Hamish Rutherford, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor, Neil Wagner, B.J. Watling, Kane Williamson.

SRI LANKA: Angelo Mathews (captain), Dushmantha Chameera, Dinesh Chandimal, Niroshan Dickwella, Shaminda Eranga, Nuwan Pradeep, Rangana Herath, Prasanna Jayawardene, Dimuth Karunaratne, Tharinu Kaushal, Suranga Lakmal, Dilruwan Perera, Dhammika Prasad, Kumar Sangakkara, Kaushal Silva, Lahiru Thirimanne.

Umpires: Richard Illingworth (England) and Bruce Oxenford (Australia).

TV umpire: Steve Davis (Australia).

Match referee: Chris Broad (England).

Published in Dawn, December 25th, 2014