South Africa implode early; Sri Lanka lose quick wickets as they trail hosts by 249 at lunch on Day 2
Lunch: South Africa implode early; Sri Lanka lose quick wickets
South Africa after disappointing Day One would have hoped for a much better show on Day Two against Sri Lanka. Batting first in the opening match of the three-Test series at Port Elizabeth, South Africa resumed the day on 267 for 6 with Quinton de Kock and Vernon Philander. They lasted just 9 overs and were bundled out for 286. Suranga Lakmal completed his first ever 5-for to star for his side with the ball. In reply Sri Lanka batted poorly as they struggled against swing. Kyle Abbott and Philander displayed their brought down Sri Lanka to 37 for 3 at lunch on Day Two, as they trail South Africa by 249 runs.
Philander starting his innings on 5 was lucky to survive a close call after he gloved a ball which zipped past over the wicketkeeper’s head. De Kock meanwhile continue his resistance early into the session seeing off both Nuwan Pradeep and Suranga Lakmal, who were getting some movement of the surface.
LIVE Cricket Scorecard, South Africa vs Sri Lanka, 1st Test at Port Elizabeth
Philander finally fell to the short-ball ploy for 13. Pradeep continued bowling bouncers’ towards Philander, who top-edged a pull that went right into the hands of Dushmantha Chameera. Fresh from a good show in Australia, Keshav Maharaj came out in to the middle and did very little for his team. Maharaj departed for a 3-ball duck.
Lakmal got the ball to move just that much away from the batsman to get an edge and straight into the safe hands of Dinesh Chandimal. Lakmal with this wicket also notched up his first Test fifer.
South Africa’s day went from bad to worse as Abbott departed for 0. De Kock eyeing a second run made an error in judgment and cost his partner his wicket. A quick throw by Kusal Perera found Abbott outside the crease.
Pradeep quickly knocked over de Kock and ended South Africa’s innings on 286. de Kock was undone by a perfect yorker that came in and crashed his stumps over. The South African wicketkeeper departed for 37 off 68.
Pradeep ended up with figures of 2 for 66, while Lakmal was the star with the ball with figures of 5 for 63.
Sri Lanka openers Dimuth Karunaratne and Kaushal Silva started off sturdily as South African bowlers in Abbott and Philander got the red ball to do the talking for them. Abbott struck first blow as he got Karunaratne playing away from his body only to chop the ball onto his stumps. Karunaratne fell for just 5.
Kusal Perera came out in the middle at No.3 under testing conditions with the ball swinging both ways. Perera too could not do much as he perished against Philander. Perera played away from his body to an out swinging wide delivery handed a simple catch to de Kock for 7
Kusal Mendis came out in the middle at No.4. He too went without scoring a single run. Kusal devoid of any width played away from the body and leaned into a drive that was against the call of play. Philander kept on bowling a fuller length to get the ball to move. One of them took a thick edge off Mendis’ bat into the hands of de Kock.
After five overs of Philander, South Africa brought in Kagiso Radaba to bowl.
Skipper Angelo Mathews (5) and Kaushal Silva (12) survived the final half and hour of morning session to guide Sri Lanka into lunch at 37 for 3, trailing South Africa by 249 runs.
Brief scores:
South Africa 286 all out (Dean Elgar 45, Stephen Cook 59, JP Duminy 63; Suranga Lakmal 5 for 63) lead Sri Lanka 37 for3 (Kaushal Silva 12*, Kusal Perera7 ; Kyle Abbott 2 for 13 ) by 249 runs.