While Stephen Fleming of New Zealand will be looking to win his first overseas Test series as captain, Sri Lanka will be attempting to become the first country in history to come from behind and win a Test series twice.
Both teams are deadlocked at 1-all after two Tests. New Zealand winning by 167 runs at R. Premadasa Stadium and Sri Lanka winning by an innings and 16 runs at the Galle International Stadium.
``We've got a young side which is developing. We played some good cricket. The young guys are coming up pretty well. We've got to get things right and be more competitive. Hopefully, we will endeavour to take the series,'' said Fleming.
``We didn't play well enough to compete in the second Test, so we found ourselves one-all. We played one bad session up in Galle which put us under pressure. We want to get back and play good solid cricket. If we play good cricket for five days here, we know we will be in the hunt,'' said 25-year-old Fleming, whose previous overseas record as captain was a drawn series in Zimbabwe and a 2-0 loss to Australia.
The Kiwis may strengthen their batting and spin department by including their third opener Craig Spearman ahead of all-rounder Chris Harris and, left-arm spinner Mark Priest for left-arm fast bowler Shayne O'Connor.
Sri Lanka find themselves in a situation where they have everything going for them to enter the record books. Following their resounding win at Galle, they have their tails up with Ranatunga quite confident of winning here and taking the series.
As Ranatunga pointed out at the end of the Galle Test, experienced batsmen like Aravinda de Silva, Sanath Jayasuriya, Hashan Tillekeratne, Marvan Atapattu and the captain himself are overdue for a big score.
De Silva who has gone on top of the 'Wisden' batting rankings for the month, ahead of India's Sachin Tendulkar, has a tremendous record on this ground.
His last six Test innings at the SSC has produced five centuries, three of them undefeated. He was out to a bad umpiring decision in the Galle Test, but De Silva just shrugged it off saying ``It's part of the game''. There's no doubt he will be determined to make up for his misfortune with a big score. He needs only 30 runs to become the first Sri Lankan batsman to score 5,000 Test runs.
It was under Ranatunga's leadership that Sri Lanka came from behind to take the series 2-1 in Pakistan in 1995-96, to provide only the fourth instance in Test cricket in a three-match series. England in the nineteenth century, and South Africa and Pakistan in 1995 are the other countries to have done it before.
Sri Lanka are unlikely to make any changes to their winning combination and will once again go with only fast bowler.
SSC curator Ranil Abeynaike said the pitch would afford more spin than usual because he had stopped watering it from three days ago. There are dry grass patches which are unlikely to help the fast men, who have been totally overshadowed by the trundlers in the series.
Fleming clearly expressed his displeasure when he was not told which pitch was being used for the Test.
``They've prepared two Test pitches which is unusual. Obviously, there's been some messages from either Ranatunga or the Cricket Board telling which way to go. It's a little bit disappointing that you cannot prepare one wicket. With concern and with distaste really, we will just go about our way,'' said Fleming.
The teams:
SRI LANKA: Arjuna Ranatunga (captain), Sanath Jayasuriya, Marvan Atapattu, Mahela Jayawardene, Aravinda de Silva, Hashan Tillekeratne, Romesh Kaluwitharana, Kumara Dharmasena, Pramodya Wickremasinghe, Niroshan Bandaratilake, Muthiah Muralitharan. Reserves: Ruchira Perera, Malinga Bandara, Suresh Perera.
NEW ZEALAND (from): Stephen Fleming (captain), Bryan Young, Matthew Horne, Craig Spearman, Nathan Astle, Craig McMillan, Adam Parore, Chris Cairns, Daniel Vettori, Paul Wiseman, Mark Priest, Chris Harris, Shayne O'Connor, Dion Nash.
UMPIRES: Peter Manuel (Sri Lanka) and V.K. Ramaswamy (India)
TV umpire: Ignatius Anandappa (Sri Lanka)
Match Referee: Talat Ali (Pakistan)