Sri Lanka are among New Zealand’s current sequence of 11 unbeaten Tests at home having suffered two comprehensive defeats at the start of last summer, despite having the redoubtable Kumar Sangakkara to anchor the batting order.
Sangakkara then followed Mahela Jayawardene into retirement in August leaving an array of former discards, debutants and largely untested newcomers to support captain Angelo Mathews, opener Dimuth Karunaratne and Dinesh Chandimal as the chief source of runs.

While McCullum’s involvement in the Cairns perjury trial and English umpire Llong’s appointment despite a game-changing blunder in Adelaide last month were naturally storylines leading into the first home Test of the summer, Sri Lanka’s preparations have also been dogged by dramas.

Dhammika Prasad’s tour-ending back injury in the warm-up game in Queenstown and first-choice wicket keeper Kusal Perera’s exile after testing positive to a banned substance has made a tough assignment even more daunting for a squad that has played their last eight Tests in Colombo, Galle or Pallekele.
Mathews alluded to the change of climate on Wednesday, yet losing Prasad and Perera are bigger concerns.
“Kusal’s news was shocking. I can’t really comment on that. We hope Sri Lankan cricket, Kusal and his lawyers will do their best to get him on the park ASAP,” he said.

Recalled opener Kaushal Silva was due to arrive on Wednesday as Perera’s replacement, a timeframe that meant he was highly unlikely to feature so the uncapped Udara Jayawardena is in line to blunt the new ball with Karunaratne.
“We don’t have greats in the team anymore, so it’s up to us. We’ve got to pass on what we know,” said Karunaratne, who is one of just three specialist batsmen with previous Test experience in New Zealand – he made 152 in last year’s Boxing Day Test in Christchurch.

Kithuruwan Vithanage finds himself reinstated to the top order after an impressive A tour in Christchurch in October, while 20-year-old Kusal Mendis, who has one Test and only 11 first-class games on his resume, retains his place despite twin failures in Queenstown.
Milinda Siriwardana, who is just two Tests into his career, rounds out the capable batsmen and will also offer a second spin bowling option behind Rangana Herath who is likely to be confined to a containment role until the pitch wears.
In contrast to Mathews, McCullum has few concerns – Cairns is apparently not among them – as the Black Caps seek to build on the momentum they built in Australia after being outplayed in Brisbane.
Other than Martin Guptill’s continuing under-performance at Test level the Black Caps appear set to bounce back from the 2-0 series loss across the Tasman.

Spinner Mark Craig also struggled but could retain his place subject to a final pitch appraisal before the toss. He has been bracketed with left arm quick Neil Wagner.
Although the pitch presented seam-friendly on Wednesday McCullum realized prolonged sunlight could take some sting out of the surface.
“You’ve got to make sure the team is not picked for the first day, you’re picking for the full five days,” said McCullum, before offering both options hope.
“Neil Wagner’s a guy who’s going to bowl long spells so it allows you to rotate your seamers in shorter spells for a little bit more high impact.”
And then the rider: “If it [the wicket] does dry out [before the toss] and if we think it’s going to dry out later in the game then Mark Craig certainly comes into play.”
The Sri Lanka tour of New Zealand will be shown live on Channel Eye as well as on satellite channel Dialog Now from 3 AM (Dec 10). (Agencies)

“ICC has reviewed the decision and acknowledged that it was incorrect,” it said on Twitter, adding that it had replied to New Zealand Cricket’s questioning of the decision. “ICC confirms the umpire followed the correct protocol, but made an incorrect judgement.”

The decision was hotly debated and criticised by television commentators and the media at the time, and drew unhappy but guarded reactions from New Zealand players Ross Taylor and Brendon McCullum, and the coach Mike Hesson because it had a significant impact on the Test.

Australia were 8 for 118 in reply to New Zealand’s 202 on the second day when Lyon top-edged an attempted sweep off left-arm spinner Mitchell Santner into his shoulder and up to slip. New Zealand’s appeal was denied on field by umpire S Ravi, and McCullum asked for a review.

After five minutes of replays, Llong upheld Ravi’s decision though there was a clear Hot Spot on the top edge of Lyon’s bat, and the batsman had walked halfway to the dressing room. There also seemed to be a deviation in the ball’s course, but nothing showed up on Snicko, which also failed to read the impact of the ball on Lyon’s shoulder.

Lyon had not scored at the time of his reprieve, and he eventually went on to make 34. Australia’s last two wickets added 108 runs in all, and earned a first-innings lead of 22. New Zealand were dismissed for 208 in their second innings, and Australia chased down the target of 187 with only three wickets in hand.