Proteas looking for revenge against Sri Lanka
With their last series ending in a 2-0 test series win for Sri Lanka on South African soil, the Proteas will be hoping to exact revenge on their Indian Ocean rivals when they begin the first test match at SuperSport Park on Boxing Day.
It's been a tricky year for the Proteas both on and off the field but they will be hoping to close out the year with a test win, despite a lack of cricket for a large portion of the squad.
"The guys are really excited to get going and it's great to see a red ball again," captain Quinton de Kock said. "It has been a while and it's nice to have a change of format because this year has seen a lot of T20 cricket.
"We have got a lot to rectify after they came here and hurt us on our home ground so we need to rectify that and win this series convincingly.
"We don't have a lot of those team members that were part of that squad so we are coming here to rectify that."
This series the Proteas will take Sri Lanka to fortresses and traditionally fast wickets in Proteria and Johannesburg but De Kock doesn't see why they should ask the curators for anything different from the surface.
"I don't think we need to give out any message because I think the wickets speak for themselves here at Wanderers and Centurion.
"We know that there is pace and bounce and it does get a bit up and down as the test goes on and there is also a chance that they can spin.|
"The staff at Centurion and Wanderers always produce good wickets so that's what we are expecting," he added.
With the Boucher era having gotten off to a rocky start, De Kock is excited to get behind the brand of cricket he's looking to instill.
"We want to play clever test cricket and be streetwise in the way we go about things.
"We want to be able to throw the first punch and that's one area we want to get better at and we are pushing for that type cricket at the moment," De Kock mentioned.
