Third Test, Day 1
South Africa 79/2 at lunch (
Hashim Amla 6*
JP Duminy 23*)
JOHANNESBURG – South Africa made a solid start to the third and final Test of the series against Sri Lanka at the Wanderers as the home side went into the lunch break on 79 for two.
JP Duminy with an undefeated 23 and Hashim Amla (6 not out) safely took steered the Proteas into the break after the openers lost their wickets in quick succession halfway through the morning spell.
Proteas captain Faf du Plessis won the toss and opted to bat first in a match that has greater significance for stalwart Amla’s 100th appearance for the Proteas in Test cricket.
Openers Stephen Cook and Dean Elgar were hardly bothered as the Sri Lankan attack bowled slightly short with most of the balls flying through to the wicketkeeper.
The first 10 overs of the match were uneventful before Elgar steered a defensive shot to the fence for the first boundary of the day.
Sri Lanka finally got the rub of the green as Angelo Mathews caught Cook leg before which the South African took on review.
Mathews seemed to have overstepped but in the end hair breadth of rubber behind the line gave Sri Lanka its first wicket of the match with Cook out on 10.
This brought the man of the moment to the crease with Amla’s arrival induced a standing ovation from the relatively small crowd.
Shortly after Cook’s departure Elgar followed suit when got a thick edge to Dimuth Karunaratne at slip off Lahiru Kumar sending the South African to the dressing room on 27 from 54 balls.
Meanwhile, fast bowler Duanne Olivier would make his debut after he was selected in an all-pace attack.
Olivier has been in good form during the domestic season as the leading wicket-taker in the competition with 28 victims at an average of 21.60.
“He’s (Olivier) the type of bowler who does swing the ball up front, he’s an aggressive bowler, he likes to take wickets , he’ll probably go for a few runs, but that is something to work on,” Proteas coach Charl Langeveldt said earlier this week.