South Africa tour to Sri Lanka 2018 [Preview]
South Africa will kick-start their cricketing season with a tour to Sri Lanka in the month of July. Faf Du Plessis and co. will play Two Tests, Five ODIs and one-off T20 against Sri Lanka. The visitors will compete against Sri Lanka in a two-match Test series that will begin from 12th July.
Faf Du Plessis will be focused that South Africa can continue their good form in the longest format of the game. The side achieved a lot of success at home as they managed to register back-to-back series victories over India and Australia.
AB De Villiers recently retired from the game of international cricket and will be missed due to invaluable services given to South Africa. Temba Bavuma and Theunis Bruyn will fighting out for a place in the South Africa’s batting lineup.
Hashim Amla is one player that seriously needs to start producing a big score on a regular basis. The 35-year old has chipped in with half-centuries for South Africa in the series against India and Australia. After the retirement of AB De Villiers, the responsibility will on Amla to do the bulk of the scoring along with Faf du Plessis.
South Africa opener Dean Elgar did not do much with the bat in the three-match Test series against India. The left-hander is one who likes to grind out runs in tough conditions. Since 2017, Elgar has topped the batting charts for South Africa in Test cricket. He has scored 1,668 runs in 19 games at an average of 50.54 with six centuries to his name.
He produced scintillating innings of 141 runs for South Africa against Australia in the third game of the series. He remained unbeaten till the end and allowed South Africa to post a decent total on the board. Elgar has previously toured Sri Lanka four years back. He produced a century in the first game at Galle that saw South Africa take 1-0 in the two-match series.
Aiden Markam has been in excellent form in the longer format of the game. The opener has scored 1,000 runs in 10 games at an average of 55.5 with four centuries to his name. Surprisingly, Markram turned out to be leading run scorer in South Africa’s maiden series win over Australia at home since readmission.
Quinton de Kock, Temba Bavuma, and Captain Faf Du Plessis have chipped in with crucial performances for South Africa over the past couple of years. Kagiso Rabada has topped the bowling charts for South Africa since 2017. He has taken 72 wickets in 13 games at an average of 19.52. Dale Steyn, Vernon Philander, and Keshav Maharaj will be first-choice options for South Africa in Test cricket
Sri Lanka comes into this series on the back of decent performance in West Indies. The side will be confident of doing well at home
Dinesh Chandimal might be back for the side against South Africa. He will lead Sri Lanka for the series. Kusal Mendis, Kusal Perera, and Dimuth Karunaratne are players that will do well in order for Sri Lanka to win the contest.
Angelo Matthews and Dinesh Chandimal are experienced players that will need to produce runs for the side. Niroshan Dickwella has done a decent job as the wicket-keeper in the Test cricket.
South Africa will play their first Test against Sri Lanka on 12th July at Galle. The final and second game of the series against Sri Lanka will be played on 20th July at Colombo. The two-match series will be followed by five-match one-day series that will begin from 29th July. The venues selected are Dambulla, Pallekele and Colombo.
South Africa will conclude their tour with a one-off T20 game against Sri Lanka that will be played at Colombo on 14th Aug.
