South Africa vs Sri Lanka Test series 2020-21
1st Test / Boxing Day Test:
First meeting of the series of 2 Test matches between South Africa and Sri Lanka is going to be played at the SuperSport Park, Centurion on December 26th 2020.
Sri Lanka Tour of South Africa History:
This is going to be the thirteenth bilateral series between the teams. The host won 7 times, while the visiting team won 4 times. The only remaining one was concluded into a draw in 2000.
Last 5 (completed) series results of South Africa against Sri Lanka are LLWWW.
When touring South Africa by the Sri Lankan team, this is going to be a seventh series. The home team won 5 times, and lost just once.
Last 5 (completed) series results of South Africa against Sri Lanka in South Africa are LWWWW.
The teams competed in 29 meetings in the longest format of cricket, till date. Out of them, the host won 14 times and lost 9 times with 6 draws.
Last 5 (completed) match results of South Africa against Sri Lanka are LLLLW.
The teams played 7 consecutive matches without a draw in spam for 10 years (2004 to 2014) and same streak (7*) from 2014 to 2020. Over all, the teams faced just one draw in the last 15 outings since the last 16 years.
On the soil of South Africa, the teams faced each other 15 times. The host won 11 times. The visitors won thrice, only. Just 1 game concluded as a draw, which was in December 2000. Since the last 20 years and 12 games, the teams haven’t seen a draw result in a test in South Africa.
Last 5 (completed) match results of South Africa against Sri Lanka in South Africa are LLWWW.
Points and Rankings:
The series is the comparison, almost perfect, between the sixth rank team (South Africa) and fifth rank team (Sri Lanka) team. The host is just 1 point behind the visitors.
If the home team will lose the series with margin of 2 defeats, then the team will lose 5 points and may downgrade by 1 position. In case of winning the series with 2 winning margins, the team will earn 6 points and possibly improve one position in ranks.
If the team will lose the series with margin of 1 defeat, then the team will lose 4 points with no impact in the ranks. In case of winning the series with 1 winning margin, the team will earn 4 points and possibly improve one position in ranks.
Drawing the series will either gain nor lose either the points or in the rankings.
Last 5 (completed) match results of South Africa are LLLWL.
If the visiting team will lose the series with margin of 2 defeats, then the team will lose 5 points with possibly one rank down in the rankings. In case of winning the series with 2 winning margins, the team will earn 5 points without impacting on the position.
If the team will lose the series with margin of 1 defeat, then the team will lose 4 points with possibly one rank down in the rankings. In case of winning the series with 1 winning margin, the team may earn 3 points with no impact in the ranks.
Drawing the series will either gain nor lose either the points or in the rankings.
Last 5 (completed) match results of Sri Lanka are DWLDL.
Venue Weather:
Weather forecast for Centurion shows the weather would be mixing from mostly sunny to isolated thunderstorms during the match. The first and third day would be partly cloudy and the second and the fifth day would be mostly sunny, with expected isolated s on the fourth day. The precipitation percentage would be between 5% to 25% except the fourth day, where the percentage would be 35% and probably high chance of rain, and so there would be extremely less chance of rain during the match on those four days. The temperature would be between 28-32 Celsius. The wind would be between 12 to 15 km/h.
Toss and Pitch:
Teams chose to field first after winning the toss, which happened 16 times out of 25 games, and the selection didn’t favor the teams, as the teams won 6 times and lost 7 times with 3 draws.
Last 5 (completed) match results at the venue, when the team chose to field first, are LLLLW.
Last time, the team won the match, after winning the toss and selecting to field, in 2011.
On the other hand, the teams who chose to bat first, after winning the toss, won 4 times and lost 5 times.
Last 5 (completed) match results at the venue, when the team chose to bat first, are LWWWL.
Overall, 10 times the teams won the toss, won the matches and lost 12 times with 3 draws.
Last 5 (completed) match results at the venue, while winning the toss, are LLWLW.
Particularly, for South Africa, the team won the toss 11 times in 25 games. The team won 9 times with just 1 defeat with 1 draw.
Last 5 (completed) match results of South Africa at the venue, while winning the toss, are WWLWW.
Last 5 (completed) match results of South Africa at the venue, while losing the toss, are WWWWD.
The first batting team won the matches 11 times. Whereas, the teams, who batted second, won the matches the same number of times (11 times). 3 matches were concluded as draws.
Last 5 (completed) match results at the venue, while the team bat first, are WLWWW.
The lowest defended total was 249 in 2006, and the highest successful chase was also 249 in 2000.
The first inning lowest total was 136 in 2010 and the highest total was 604 in 2004, and the second inning lowest total was 119 (completed innings) in 2001 and the highest total was 620 runs in 2010. For the third inning, the lowest total was 122 (completed innings) in 1998 and the highest total was 459 in 2010. For the fourth inning lowest total was 101 (completed innings) in 2016 and the highest total was 268 in 2019.
The batting average of the first innings is 34.75 and 32.76 is for the second innings. For the third inning, 27.37 and 23.26 is for the fourth innings.
History Between the Teams at the Venue:
Both the teams faced each other 4 times at the venue. The host won all 4 outings. The visiting team is still searching for the first victory.
Last 5 (completed) match results of South Africa against Sri Lanka at the venue are WWWW -.
Teams’ Test History at Venue:
The home side has an excellent record at the venue, and won 20 games out of 25 encounters and lost just twice with 3 draws. On the other hand, the visitors never won and lost 4 games.
Last 5 (completed) match results of South Africa at the venue are WWWWW.
Last 5 (completed) match results of Sri Lanka at the venue are LLLL -.
Tentative XI for both the Teams:
South Africa:
The home side would go with the pace attack, though the team currently faces the injury issues.
South Africa Eleven: A. Markram, D. Elger, R. van der Russen, F. du Plessis, T. Bavuma, Q. de Kock, D. Pretorius, A. Nortje, K. Maharaj, G. Stuurman / L. Sipamla, L. Ngidi / M. Pretorius.
Sri Lanka:
The visiting team would also include three pacer in the XI, though the visiting team also faces the injury problem.
Sri Lanka Eleven: D. Karunaratne, K. Parera, K. Mendis, D. Chandimal, D. de Silva, D. Shanaka, N. Dickwella, S. Lakmal / K. Rajitha, L. Embuldeniya / W. Hasaranga, V. Fernando, L. Kumara
*Notes: the result of the most recent match is at the left.
*Notes: D means Draw in “last five match results”.
