Sri Lanka appoint Neil McKenzie as consultant coach for South Africa tour

Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) have appointed former South Africa batter Neil McKenzie as thei men's international team's consultant coach for their upcoming two-Test tour of the rainbow nation.

McKenzie will work with Sri Lanka's 10 Test players who departed for South Africa on Monday (November 11) to participate in a pre-series camp. The Test series will then begin on November 27, in Kingsmead, with the second Test from December 5 in Port Elizabeth.

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"McKenzie will bring in vital, in-depth insights about the South African conditions to help Sri Lankan players adapt to the challenge," Ashley De Silva, CEO, Sri Lanka Cricket, said in an official statement.

McKenzie, 48, played 58 Tests, 64 ODIs, and two T20Is for South Africa. He scored over 3200 Test runs at an average of 37.39. He also smashed two centuries in home Tests, with the second coming against Sri Lanka in Centurion in 2001.

Sri Lanka's tours to South Africa have always been a spectacle. In 2020/21, the hosts won 2-0 while the series before that, in 2018/19, the visitors scripted a historic 0-2 win, which is still considered one of their greatest ever triumphs.

This series is also extremely important for the World Test Championship 2023-25. Sri Lanka are placed third with a win percentage of 55.56 and South Africa are fifth with 54.17. Both teams are coming off three consecutive Test wins.

Sri Lanka's pre-series camp squad

Pre-series camp squad: Dhananjaya De Silva, Dimuth Karunaratne, Angelo Mathews, Dinesh Chandimal, Lahiru Kumara, Prabath Jayasuriya, Nishan Peiris, Milan Rathnayake, Kasun Rajitha and Lasith Embuldeniya.

The remaining multi-format players will join the team after the upcoming three-ODI home series against New Zealand, which begins on November 13 in Dambulla and will go on till November 19. The full squads for the tour are yet to be announced.

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