JOHANNESBURG – It was a brutal display from the Proteas as they claimed a 3-0 whitewash series victory over Sri Lanka while honouring Hashim Amla in his 100th Test match in style.
After South Africa failed to twist the knife in the pink-ball Test against Australia following the series victory, skipper Faf du Plessis called on his charges to be ruthless in their third and final five-day match against Sri Lanka.
When play started, some flirted with the idea of South Africa taking 16 wickets to cut the Test match short by two days.
The Proteas did exactly that, bowling Sri Lanka out twice in a day to claim victory by an innings and 118 runs to secure a fourth whitewash in a series of three or more matches.
While the Proteas dominated with the bat, thanks to quality performances from JP Duminy and Hashim Amla playing in his 100th Test, South Africa’s all-pace attack ripped into the Sri Lankans, who resumed on 80/4 before they were bundled out for 131.
Kagiso Rabada (3/44) and Vernon Philander (3/28) added a wicket each to their haul from the previous day, before Wayne Parnell (2/38) and debutant Duanne Olivier (2/19) got in on the action.
Du Plessis enforced the follow-on, which left Sri Lanka with 295 to chase down to make the Proteas bat again, which merely delayed the inevitable.
Dimuth Karunaratne’s half-century, just the third by Sri Lanka during the series, highlighted their struggles on a pitch which proved an impossible challenge against South Africa’s seamers.
There were also produced some memorable fielding moments, with Du Plessis and wicket-keeper Quinton de Kock taking superb one-handed catches behind the wicket.
Parnell was the pick of the bowlers, making a dream comeback to the Test fold after a hiatus of almost three years.
Parnell’s second-innings haul of 4/51 was the best bowling performance of his five-Test career, and he finished with match figures of 6/89.
Rabada made the breakthrough with the new ball, dismissing Kaushal Silva with his first delivery, before the teams went into the lunch break.
The tourists managed to score 111 for the fall of five wickets after lunch, bringing some sort of respectability to an otherwise abysmal display.
Rabada extinguished Sri Lanka’s fightback when he bowled Karunaratne, hitting the top of the middle stump.
Going into the final session, the tourists were teetering, with four wickets in hand and 171 still required to force the Proteas to bat for a second time.
Parnell and Olivier were the chief destroyers in Sri Lanka’s second innings as they got rid of the Sri Lankan tail for an emphatic victory.