Both sides are dealing with off-field drama but it is now crunch time as far as their qualification prospects are concerned
Big picture
On the surface, these are two teams short of ODI Super League points. Sri Lanka are down at 11th on the table, with only two wins from 11 completed matches. South Africa are better placed, at 10th, with two wins from five completed games. More importantly, though, both are teams who have experienced substantial upheaval over the last year, and are desperately searching for a fresh identity.
Shanaka, who himself comes into the series with excellent limited-overs form following his exploits in a domestic T20 competition, is yet to put his stamp on this team. Given the shelf-life of Sri Lanka’s limited-overs captains recently, a series win here will go some distance to shoring up his leadership.
On the strategy front, it seems as if Sri Lanka will use their traditional weapon against South Africa: spin. There are no fewer than five frontline spinners in the squad, as well as two offspin-bowling allrounders.
Form guide
(completed matches, most recent first)
Sri Lanka WLLLL
South Africa WLLWL
In the spotlight
Pitch and conditions
Expect the Khettarama surface to take plenty of turn, as it often does when South Africa are in town. There is also the possibility of bad weather interrupting play – afternoon thunderstorms have not been uncommon over the past few weeks.
Team news
Sri Lanka (possible): 1 Avishka Fernando, 2 Minod Bhanuka (wk), 3 Bhanuka Rajapaksa, 4 Dhananjaya de Silva, 5 Charith Asalanka, 6 Dasun Shanaka (capt.), 7 Wanindu Hasaranga, 8 Chamika Karunaratne, 9 Akila Dananjaya, 10 Dushmantha Chameera, 11 Praveen Jayawickrama
South Africa are without the likes of Quinton de Kock, David Miller and Lungi Ngidi for this series.
South Africa (possible): 1 Janneman Malan, 2 Temba Bavuma (capt), 3 Aiden Markram, 4 Rassie van der Dussen, 5 Heinrich Klaasen (wk), 6 Kyle Verreynne, 7 Dwaine Pretorius, 8 George Linde, 9 Kagiso Rabada, 10 Anrich Nortje, 11 Tabraiz Shamsi
Stats and trivia
Quotes
“I don’t believe we are compromising ourselves in the fact that we are missing some guys. It’s a massive opportunity for those that are coming into the team. Ideally if we have a pool of 15 players that we can pick to go and compete at the World Cup, that’s what we want.”
South Africa captain Temba Bavuma on the prospect of playing without key players
Andrew Fidel Fernando is ESPNcricinfo’s Sri Lanka correspondent. @afidelf