Sri Lanka is going to be tough

Not so long ago some were suggesting that the latter half of 2014 was going to be a relatively ‘soft’ period for South Africa with Zimbabwe, the West Indies and Sri Lanka on the agenda, and therefore felt that the captaincy transition was timeous.

Clearly some have short memories. Since their initial triumphant sojourn to Sri Lanka in 1993 they have only been victorious across all formats a third of the time. With the hosts’ recent conquering results in England they will be confident, combative, and tough as teak.

Also, no-one manipulates conditions at home to suit their strengths better than Sri Lanka. With that I find no fault. In fact teams should use that advantage more.

Make no mistake, July will be tough for South Africa.

For South Africa a new era beckons in the Test arena with a significant changing of the guard as a proud decade-long captain departs and a new leader gets the nod.

I have always appreciated skippers of national sporting teams who exhibit a determined jutted jaw that leaves no-one in any doubt as to their strong-mindedness. I have always felt a captain needs to hang tough, demonstrate bravado, and be the first to eagerly lead troops to battle.

With that external show of character, the odd changeroom rant that shakes foundations when necessary is never too far away. I reckon that is good for a team’s soul. Teams feed off that and galvanise. Smith portrayed those principles perfectly for the last decade, left an indelible mark, and notched up superb results.

The captaincy style of Hashim Amla will be in complete antithesis to Smith and therefore so will the changeroom psyche.

Hashim has done the job previously and at times it has been detrimental to his own form and clarity. As one of the game’s extreme elite batsmen that is something that South Africa cannot afford to repeat considering the recent red ball retirements of Kallis and Smith.

Bearing that in mind, it seems a decision has been taken that, although Amla will wear the badge, a collective leadership group has been identified that will cover some bases to bridge what will be a distinct mindset alteration. Look for AB along with Faf to roll up their sleeves on a regular basis. The maturity and experience of that triumvirate should stand South Africa in good stead.

What will be intriguing is that Sri Lanka operate with a similar captaincy style as well. Angelo Mathews proudly marshals the troops and his stature has grown enormously over the last month, but there is no doubt he gets substantial advice and support from his respected elder statesmen in Sangakkara and Jayawardene.

Sri Lanka are a force to be reckoned with in those tailored conditions and are a better balanced unit now that their seam department has recently come to the fore. Crucially their spinners are often match winners at home and my guess is their tweaking fingers will already be itching.

What a challenge awaits. This one is going to be tough.