Sri Lanka reap the rewards of investing in their seam bowlers

If it wasn't obvious from the squad list, or from the victory on a green track at The Oval from earlier in the year, Sri Lanka actually have a seam attack now. They've made a bright start to the series against South Africa, their quicks taking four wickets in the 20.4 overs possible on day one.

The three frontline quicks posed varying challenges to South Africa's batters. Left-armer Vishwa Fernando swung the ball in the air into the right-handers' pads, and got some balls to hold their line, angling it across the batters. Asitha Fernando plugged away outside the channel. Lahiru Kumara nipped ball back and unsettled South Africa with his pace, bowling at around 144kph on occasion.

South Africa knew they were in for a battle when they were asked to bat under cloudy skies, the hosts' batting coach Ashwell Prince said after play.

"I think Sri Lanka over the years have always had a left-armer who swings it, going back all the way to Chaminda Vaas' days," Prince said. "And now there's nice variation, including guys who get it up above 140 clicks. It's a skilled bowling line-up, and we respect that. We certainly have done our homework."

It's not as if these were the only three bowlers who could have played, either. Sri Lanka have left out the likes of Kasun Rajitha - who averages 25 across the five innings he's bowled in in South Africa - as well as allrounder Milan Rathnayake, who had made a good start to his Test career in England earlier this year. Bowling coach Dharshana Gamage reflected on this.

"The biggest challenge when we go overseas is getting wickets with our seam bowling, and we haven't always had the personnel for that," he said. "But in the last few years we've been able to build up our seam bowling, and now have the required mix of bowlers to be able to win a Test match."

Sri Lanka developed the pace battery by doing basics better at home. "In our domestic structure, we've made some small changes too. We've played more matches on tracks that assist seamers a bit more," Gamage said.

This in a country where roughly 10 years ago spinners were so utterly dominant in Sri Lanka's top first-class competitions, that the 10 top wicket-takers would all routinely be slow bowlers. They've also levelled up the standard of their top competitions, particularly through the National Super League, where the best talent from the club competitions is concentrated into a player pool of around 60.

"In tournaments like the National Super League, we've been able to build that seam-bowling depth," Gamage said. "In the A teams, and emerging squads as well, we've paid special attention to developing fast bowlers, and promoting them. It's a programme that's been in place for several years, and we're now seeing the results."