The Black Caps named their squad for the test matches today:

Squad: Fleming (capt), Cumming, How, Sinclair, Astle, Oram, McCullum (wkt), Vettori, Franklin, Bond, Martin, Mason, O'Brien.

Some interesting calls there. At LAST Bracewell dumps Hamish Marshall and brings back in the ill-treated Skippy Sinclair. Will he get the nod for the test? Well surely he'll beat Cumming the Unspectacular to share the demands of opening with How.

The other interesting call is Iain O'Brien being called in. He does seem to have been in some good form in the opening domestic exchanges, and with Kyle Mills being injured and the other options looking either out of form or out of fitness, I guess it was a good call.

Should be an interesting series. The form book would suggest that Sri Lanka might struggle in Kiwi conditions, but the New Zealand batting order looks more than a little frail up top and Malinga and Vaas could pick up some easy pickings on a favourable track.

First Test: 7th-11th December, Christchurch
Second Test: 15th-19th December, Wellington

20:20s: 22nd & 26th December
ODIS: 28th & 31st December, 2nd, 6th & 9th January.

Good series in the making this as Sri Lanka have improved under Moody and New Zealand are always tough at home.I would think it will be 1-0 but i wouldn't like to predict who too though.

Apart from Australia, visiting teams have always found it difficult to beat NZ in NZ. Nothing, that would change the history, has happened.The NZ players who struggle otherwise, seem to come up with very good performances every time they play at home.

Although NZ are tough at home so is England therefore i think Srilanka will win this test series, their bowling attack is more balanced now with Vaas and Malinga and everyone knows what their spinner can do. Fielding wise they are both excellent teams, but batting wise Srilanka has all the muscle.

Therefore its gonna be 2-0 in Srilankas favour.

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For some reason the SL bowlers have struggled under NZ conditions in the past. Murali too has been relatively ineffective here.

I would be too careful to write off NZ. As I said her batsmen generally prosper under home conditions and the bowlers complete the job more effectively.

The key man in the series is Bond.If he stays fit then i would think New Zealand would win but the fitness of Bond can never be trusted.

This is the key. To win in New Zealand, you need accomplished swing bowlers to exploit the conditions. Only in a really strong summer will the pitches be very condusive to spin. Living in Wellington, I can tell you that it has been one of the wettest winters and springs on record and hence there won't be much spin seen at either of the test venues. This has been illustrated by the domestic season so far where all the spinners have struggled - Vettori, Patel, Bruce Martin etc.

The other key to consider is how used to the swinging ball the batsmen are. The Kiwi batsmen have had 3 domestic games (and their lives) to get used to the prodigious swing that we see in New Zealand. Therefore, even when Vaas and Malinga swing the ball well on a good line, the New Zealand batsmen SHOULD be able to read the lines well.

However, the Sri Lankan batsmen - even though they are a better line up on paper - should struggle as they do not experience these type of conditions regularly. Even their tests in England will not be of much assistance to them this time round.

I would say the Sri Lankans will struggle to come close to New Zealand here on damp, cold, swinging wickets.

To win this series, Sri Lanka need to put together 300-350 in their first innings and skittle the top Kiwi order for 50-100. Then, where other teams have failed in NZ is in pressing home the advantage from a score of 75-5 by failing to respect the ability of Jacob Oram, Daniel Vettori or James Franklin with the bat

For the Kiwis to win, they need at least one 100+ partnership from the top 4 wickets in each first innings and then to accentuate their skills when bowling. Martin and Bond opening - Martin with the unerring away-swingers which he can't seem to reproduce outside of the East Tasman and Bond with the 2-way swingers and the toe-crunching yorkers.

The shock in the 13 picked by Comical Braces and co is Iain O'BrienWhat's the story there? Groom Gillespie as the next in line, and then haul in a guy who was shown to not be up to it 2 years ago.

This panel does some very odd things.

Good to see Cumming back though