Live Cricket Score, South Africa vs Sri Lanka, 3rd Test, Day 1 at Johannesburg: SA dominate at stumps

Good Morning/Afternoon, Goeie môre, ගුඩ් දහවල්! Hello and Welcome to CricketCountry’s live blog of Day One of the third and final Test of the ongoing series between South Africa and Sri Lanka. I am Suvajit Mustafi and will bring bring you the live updates from this Test. A dominant South Africa, led by Faf du Plessis,  are all set to take on visitors Sri Lanka as the two lock horns at the New Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg on Thursday. The match will more be of a fight of pride for the Lankans, who have conceded the series 0-2 after going down in Cape Town. South Africa meanwhile will look forward for another 3-0 whitewash to maintain their good form in whites.

South Africa won both the matches with entire dominance, despite the absence of two of the big names, Dale Steyn and AB de Villiers. The top and middle-order contributed well to put up competitive scores on the board while the Sri Lanka batsmen found it difficult to survive the South Africa pace-attack. Coming off a 206-run victory in the first Test at Durban, the hosts were confident ahead of the second Test at Cape Town. Twin tons from Dean Elgar and Quinton de Kock took their first innings score to 392 and later, Vernon Philander and Kagiso Rabada ran through the Lankan batting, bowling them out for 110. South Africa batted once again, declaring innings with 224 for 7, taking a gigantic 506-run lead. Sri Lanka, in reply, could only replicate South Africa’s second-innings score, handing the hosts a 282-run victory.

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Full Cricket Scorecard: South Africa vs Sri Lanka, 3rd Test at Johannesburg

However, there have been positives for Sri Lanka in the series, the biggest being Lahiru Kumara. Kumara has been one of the most successful with the ball while Suranga Lakmal and Nuwan Pradeep did their part as well. Sri Lanka’s top-order has comparatively underperformed and with the final match at hand, they will be expected to bring a change in the scenario.

Teams:

South Africa: Stephen Cook, Dean Elgar, Hashim Amla, Jean-Paul Duminy, Faf du Plessis (c), Temba Bavuma, Quinton de Kock (wk), Vernon Philander, Keshav Maharaj, Kyle Abbott, Kagiso Rabada.

Sri Lanka: Dimuth Karunaratne, Kaushal Silva, Dhananjaya de Silva, Kusal Mendis, Angelo Mathews (c), Dinesh Chandimal (wk), Upul Tharanga, Rangana Herath, Suranga Lakmal, Nuwan Pradeep, Lahiru Kumara.

Full Cricket Scorecard and ball by ball commentary: South Africa vs Sri Lanka, 3rd Test at Johannesburg