Morkel keen to hit the ground running

South Africa fast bowler Morne Morkel believes his team's ICC World Twenty20 campaign will begin in earnest on Monday during their warm-up match against New Zealand.

The Proteas arrived in Sri Lanka on the back of a successful tour of England which culminated with a drawn T20I series.

The clash with the Black Caps in Colombo is their only preparatory fixture in Sri Lanka before their first ICC World T20 game against Zimbabwe in Hambantota on Thursday.

"We play a game against New Zealand and for us that is the business day of the tournament, we need to work on our basics and find our feet," said Morkel. "We have played a lot of cricket over the past few years in the sub-continent so we can't use that as an excuse, we have to try and control the things that we can control and take it from there."

Although South Africa have only just arrived in Asia, Morkel has no concerns about the squad's ability to adapt.

"We have a lot of experience in our team, the players have played a lot of T20 cricket in these conditions with the IPL so I think we will be fine," Morkel said.

South Africa will be based in Hambantota for their group matches, a setting that is unfamiliar to them.

"We're trying to get as much information as we can about the ground (Hambantota), that is going to be important for us," Morkel concluded.