A mug's guide to the Sri Lankan cricket team

VIDEO: We knew exactly what the South African players were capable of, but what do we know about the Sri Lankans? Can they win a Test?

VIDEO: We knew the South African players and what they were capable of well, but how many of the Sri Lankan players would you recognise if they passed you in the street?

THE HERO
Kumar Sangakkara is one player Australian cricket fans will be very familiar with. A world-class performer, Sangakkara is approaching 10,000 career Test runs at a brilliant average of 55.86.

He also likes playing in Hobart, home of the first Test starting Friday, plundering the Aussies for 192 in Sri Lanka's second innings in 2007.

Sangakkara

THE STALWARTS
Mahela Jayawardene, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Thilan Samaraweera - all on the wrong side of 35 - form the core of the batting lineup with fellow veteran Sangakkara.

Jayawardene, the captain, has been the best performer of the trio in 2012, scoring 596 runs in eight Tests at 42.57, with two tons.

Join us for live ball-by-ball coverage of the first Test against Sri Lanka from 11am AEDT Friday.

Dilshan also has two centuries to his name and his averaging a tick under 40, while Samaraweera is batting at 37.46 - well below his career average of 50.78.

We've seen first hand what getting older did to Ricky Ponting's powers, so Sri Lanka's ageing batting lineup is a definite concern. 

Samaraweera

THE ROOKIE
Considered the most promising young batsman in Sri Lanka, 23-year-old Dinesh Chandimal has scored three fifties in his first four Tests but has so far failed to go on and get a big one.

Some fans may remember Chandimal from the one-day Commonwealth Bank Series with the Aussies and India at the start of the year, where he performed admirably in Australian conditions, scoring 419 runs in 11 matches at 52.37. Can he carry that form into the Test arena?

Chandimal

THE ALL-ROUNDER
Plenty is expected of Angelo Mathews following a star performance with the willow in Sri Lanka's drawn home series against New Zealand last month.

Mathews averaged 70 in the two-Test series, but failed to do anything with the ball.

The 25-year-old hasn't done much at all with his right-arm medium pace in 28 Tests so far, taking just nine wickets at 73.11. 

Mathews

THE SPIN KING
Rangana Herath has without a doubt been Sri Lanka's MVP in 2012 - sitting second on the list of most Test wickets in the calendar year - but it remains to be seen how effective he will be on Australian decks more suited to the seamers.

Herath's 55 wickets at 20.94 have come in just eight Tests, but the majority have also come on Sri Lankan dust bowls.

Herath

THE SPEARHEAD
The term "spearhead" is being used loosely here, but if Sri Lanka do have one it would have to be Chanaka Welegedara by a nose from Nuwan Kulasekara.

Fast bowling is a huge weakness in this Sri Lankan outfit, with none of the five quicks in the squad having played more than 20 Tests.

Welegedara is averaging a pretty ordinary 40 with the ball in his 18 Tests and is returning from injury, but he is believed to be back to full fitness and ready to lead the attack.

Welegedara

CAN SRI LANKA WIN A TEST?
With not one fast bowler averaging under 30 in the side, and a batting lineup filled with over-35s, Australia should really sweep this series.

But Sri Lanka did manage to win a Test against the South Africans in South Africa only 12 months ago, and have since drawn a series with England and beaten Pakistan, so perhaps they are not quite the easybeats they appear on paper - especially against an Australian side that has quite a few kinks of its own.