The Lankan cricketers arrived in Gisborne fit and well and it is likely that Sanath Jayasuriya, Aravinda de Silva, Nuwan Soysa and Pramodya Wickremasinghe will play.
The game against Northern Districts was played in lighter vein and other than for Mahanama and Tillekeratne none of the other batsmen made use of the opportunity for batting practice. That the bating collapsed to former Kiwi off-spinner Grant Bradburn must be a cause for concern.
The batsmen who came a cropper to Bradburn failed to use their feet and the bowler varied his flight intelligently to cause a sensational Lankan collapse.
Of the bowlers, Chaminda Vaas was the most impressive. It must certainly encouraging to skipper Arjuna Ranatunga to see Vaas quickly among the wickets.
Vaas along with Ravindra Pushpakumara worked up tremendous pace and got the ball to wobble about. Vaas did not have a bowl in the second innings, but Pushpakumara was his usual fast self.
Off-spinner Muralithran who did not make much of an impression in his first bowl, turned the ball appreciably in the second go to take 4 for 42.
A revelation
Muralitharan did not flight the ball much. Instead he was bowling fastish off breaks. His action seems to be perfect and indications are that he will come through this tour unscathed.
It was also a revelation to see Kumara Dharmasena trying to bowl fast off cutters. He too seems to have sacrificed his usual fighting ways and is looking for pace.
It will be interesting to see how Nuwan Soysa goes. If he is among the wickets in this game, there is no reason why he should not make his Test debut. He is bowling well within himself and the selectors are sure to look for him to partner Vaas.
The wicket here is expected too favour batsmen and all the front liners will be looking to be among the runs.
Vettori needs attention
As for the home team, the cynosure of all eyes will be that left-arm leg-spinning sensation, teenager Daniel Vettori. Vettori has been tagged a sensation, because of his ability to spin the ball prodigiously and trouble all good batsmen. The Kiwis will be depending on him to help beat the Lankans.
The Sri Lankans will make use of this game to get their team in the mood and form to win the first Test beginning in Dunedin on March 7.
In the meantime Sri Lanka coach Bruce Yardley told a newspaper here that he has a bigger fear of bus drivers than bombs since moving to Colombo from Perth.
''The buses in Sri Lanka are all privately owned and it is a race to be first to the next stop to get the fare,'' said Yardley.
'Murali' - no concern
Yardley also said that he first saw skipper Arjuna Ranatunga in a Test in Colombo in 1983. 'I won't forget that. He was playing in his first Test but he carried on as if was his 20th'.
Of the sometimes controversial Muralitharan, Yardley said he has never had any concern with his action.
'I was in Sri Lanka in 1991 doing some coaching when I saw him as a 17-year-old. I went back to Australia and said I had seen the best off-spinner in the world.
'He has a deformity in both arms which might lend weight to that argument but in reality, he has amazing wrist and shoulder rotation', Yardley told the newspaper.