Dushmantha Chameera and the rest of Sri Lanka’s seamers should enjoy bowling on a grassy Hamilton strip - Getty Images

ESPNCricinfo: New Zealand have quicks who can scythe through top orders in seaming conditions. They have bowlers who can grind out oppositions on flat decks. Their batsmen can thrash their way to big scores in the sun, but there is also grit enough to overturn difficult match situations. Having been on the receiving end of each of these phenomena over the past year, Sri Lanka might be wondering just what they have to do to beat New Zealand at home. Across two tours, the visitors are now 0-3. None of the results were close.

New Zealand appear as strong as ever in the approach to the Hamilton Test. Batsmen who had scored poorly in Australia found runs in Dunedin, and the seam attack is in excellent shape. The only quick who seems a little out of sorts is Trent Boult, but even he is finding ways to get wickets. If the Hamilton pitch is as seam-friendly as Sri Lanka fear, the hosts may play four quicks again. Offspinner Mark Craig, whose recent form has been one of New Zealand’s few concerns, may not be exposed.

Defeated and depleted, Sri Lanka have nothing to do but march on, hoping that someone will summon one of those sublime spells or innings that sometimes inspires them to unexpected wins. Dinesh Chandimal seemed the most settled of the Sri Lanka batsmen, but the team needs their captain to contribute a major score. In the past two years, Angelo Mathews has rarely let his team down, even if they haven’t always returned the favour.

Rangana Herath’s threat may be muted by the Seddon Park surface, but there is a chance a greentop will narrow the gap between the two seam attacks. Nuwan Pradeep can be especially effective in seaming conditions, and has made substantial contributions to away victories in the past two years. With Dushmantha Chameera’s raw pace and Mathews’ control also on offer, the visitors have an attack that could conceivably take 20 wickets. Therein lies their major hope.

Williamson shrugs off suspected broken finger

AFP: New Zealand master batsman Kane Williamson Thursday said he had no concerns about playing with a suspected broken finger as he looks to maintain his phenomenal form in the second Test against Sri Lanka.

Williamson, averaging 88.58 in Tests in 2015, took a nasty blow to the hand in the first innings of New Zealand’s first-Test victory, where he scored 88 and 71 and became only the fifth player to pass 1,000 Test runs this year.

Ahead of the second and final Test in Hamilton, which starts on Friday, Williamson described his injury as “part and parcel” of cricket and said he would not seek treatment during the series.

“It’s irrelevant if it is or not, nothing will change,” said the world’s number three-ranked batsman, when asked whether he thought the finger was broken.

“It’s part and parcel of cricket I suppose. You get a few knocks on the fingers and when it doesn’t get hit it settles a little bit and gets a bit less sensitive.”

Williamson said New Zealand will keep their winning combination for the second Test after being presented with another green-top wicket in Hamilton.

With conditions ripe for seam and swing bowling, New Zealand ruled out bringing in an extra spinner and opted to maintain their four-pronged pace attack.

New Zealand won the first Test in Dunedin by 122 runs despite losing the toss and being forced to bat first. 

“We’re playing the same (line-up) as the last match, with the look of the surface we will go in with that extra seamer,” Williamson said, suggesting New Zealand would likely bowl first if they win the toss. 

“It’s green, Dunedin was green, and we just feel it might be more suited to seam bowling.”

Their cause was helped by the inexperienced Sri Lankan attack being unable to capitalise on the conditions, but Williamson does not expect New Zealand to get off so lightly this time. 

“I’m sure they would have learned a lot (in Dunedin) and it should be a good game,” he said.

Sri Lanka will not confirm their line-up until just before the game, but captain Angelo Mathews indicated changes were also unlikely. 

“The wicket’s really green, lots of grass on it, so it’s definitely bowl first and if we bowl first we’ll look to rectify the mistakes that we did in Dunedin because we were nowhere near our best,” he said.

“This will do a lot more than Dunedin, it has a lot more grass and the seamers will come into play. 

“It doesn’t really matter if we lose the series 2-0. We’ve got to go out there and keep positive right from the word go, not look to be too cautious, just go out there and play good cricket.”