Sri Lanka will look to repeat their heroics of 2019 season when they begin a two-Test series against South Africa on December 26 at the SuperSport Park in Centurion.
The series will also be part of the International Cricket Council (ICC) World Test Championship, which is currently headed by Australia.
However, for the Lankans this series will provide another opportunity to improve on their overseas track record in the longest format of the game.
The last time they toured the Rainbow Nation the Lankans created a piece of history when they became the first Asian team to clinch a Test series in South Africa.
Led by Dimuth Karunaratne, Sri Lanka edged-out the home side by one-wicket in the first Test at Durban and then triumphed by a more convincing margin of eight wickets in the second Test at Port Elizabeth in less than three days.
In fact, Skipper Karunaratne will have the services of the same line-up once again when they take the field, which would give them a crucial psychological advantage over their opponents.
More importantly, Sri Lanka will be hoping to beat the Proteas in a Test match for the fifth successive occasion after their 2-0 home series triumph in 2018 as well.
The cynosure of all eyes will no doubt be on Kusal Janith Perera, who enjoyed probably his best tour where he went on to bag the Player-of-the-Series Award in 2019.
In fact, his unbeaten 153 in the first Test against a fearsome fast bowling attack on a bouncy track, is still considered as one of the finest innings played by a Sri Lankan batsman in an overseas Test match.
The South African’s possessed the best seam attack at that time and it was studded with top players in the calibre of Dale Steyn, Vernon Philander, Kagiso Rabada, Keshav Maharaj and Duanne Olivier.
However, Kusal Perera rose to the occasion magnificently and steered the Lankans to victory almost single handedly with an epic career-best innings that will be remembered for many years.
Sri Lanka were staring at what would have been a huge defeat when they lost their ninth wicket in the second innings, still 78 runs short of their target of 304.
Last-man, Vishwa Fernando joined Perera and the pair performed the near impossibility with a splendid rearguard action, which helped Sri Lanka snatch an unlikely win from the jaws of defeat.
The manner in which Perera handled that pressure situation was really outstanding considering the fact that he contributed 67 runs out of the last-wicket partnership.
Overall, this was a memorable Test match for Perera who in fact top scored in the first innings as well for Sri Lanka with a fighting knock of 51 out of their modest score of 191 runs.
But his effort in the second innings was even more spectacular as the dynamic left-hander tormented the South African bowlers for more than five hours during a match-winning innings, which included five sixes and half a dozen of boundaries.
Inspired by this historic win, the Lankans then went on to demolish the South Africans in the second Test by eight wickets at Port Elizabeth with two days to spare.
This time, the match-winners were Kusal Mendis and Oshada Fernando who were associated in an unfinished second-wicket stand of 163 runs after they were set a modest victory target of 197.
The second Test altogether, turned out to be a low-scoring contest with South Africa folding-up for 222 in their first innings with Vishwa Fernando, Kasun Rajitha and Dhananjaya de Silva forming an effective combination. However, in reply, the Lankans fared even worse, as they were skittle out for a paltry 154 in 37.4 overs with wicket-keeper batsman, Niroshan Dickwella contributing 42.
Sri Lanka’s three-prong pace attack of Suranga Lakmal, Vishwa Fernando and Kasun Rajitha were on fire in the second innings as they bowled out the opposition for just 128 runs.
Sri Lanka of course, lost both openers early during their run-chase in the second innings before Mendis and Oshada Fernando produced some scintillating batting to turn the game in their favour.
Both batsmen counterattacked the South African bowlers beautifully and went on to complete their task while stroking unbeaten half centuries.
