Cricket: Tuffey is wildcard on Sri Lanka tour

Daryl Tuffey has shown good form for Auckland. Photo / Getty Images

The whiff of an ambush will surround the New Zealand team when they arrive in Sri Lanka today.

Playing and beating the Sri Lankans in their own conditions is hard enough at the best of times.

But the New Zealanders' hosts have warmed up by turning over Pakistan, winning two and drawing one test, and winning the first two of the three ODIs going into the final match last night.

So not only will they be well prepared and confident - given the results against the erratic Pakistanis - their opponents will be underdone and any confidence will therefore be largely artificial.

New Zealand have two three-day warmup games from which they will need to squeeze as much value as they can in terms of first test preparation.

If they are eyeing a chance to catch their hosts on the hop it could be in that match, which will be played at Galle, in the south of the country and where conditions, with some breeze expected, are likely to be more conducive to fast-medium bowling than any of the pitches in Colombo.

When Sri Lanka beat Pakistan in the first test at Galle last month, 21 of the 40 wickets fell to fast or medium-pace bowlers. The three-day games will be important for all players, but perhaps most of all the squad's three new ball contenders, Chris Martin, Iain O'Brien and the recalled Daryl Tuffey.

Only two are likely to make the final XI, with allrounder Jacob Oram to be third seamer and both spinners, captain Dan Vettori and Jeetan Patel, expected to play. Martin and O'Brien's qualities are known. Both had decent test campaigns last season.

Tuffey is the wildcard, picked on the back of a strong championship for Auckland, in which he took 27 wickets at 20.9 apiece. The last of his 22 tests - which have produced 66 wickets - was five years ago. At 31, and with Shane Bond preparing to return this summer, this could be Tuffey's last chance if he doesn't make a good fist of it.

The batsmen will have been gearing up for heavy doses of spin. Muttiah Muralitharan is retiring next year but the world record test wicket taker remains the greatest threat.

Fit again after missing the Pakistani tests with a torn tendon in his knee, Muralitharan has taken 39 wickets in six tests at home to New Zealand at 21.7.

His likely spin chum, the deceptive Ajantha Mendis, has 39 wickets in eight tests, although interestingly he was dropped for the third Pakistani match because of lack of form.

The most successful Sri Lankan bowlers of that series were new-ball bowler Nuwan Kulasekara, with 17, and veteran left-arm spinner Rangana Herath, with 15 wickets.

The Sri Lankan batting, anchored by captain Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene - respectively the No 1 and No 9-ranked batsmen in the game - promises plenty of sweat for the New Zealanders.