JOHANNESBURG – And it was going all so swimmingly … that is until Dean Elgar And Rassie van der Dussen lost their wickets in the morning session while South Africa were on 218/1.
From thereon in, the Proteas’ middle-order and tail-enders conspired to lose the rest of South Africas wickets – eight of them – for 84 runs. The batting scorecard made for grisly reading eight, 10, 19, seven, two, 13, five and 14* and accounted for Faf du Plessis, Quinton de Kock, Temba Bavuma, Wiaan Mulder, Keshav Maharaj, Anrich Nortje and Lutho Sipamla.
Only Lungi Ngidi held onto his wicket.
It was not all the fault of the Proteas though. After the lunch interval, the Sri Lankans came out firing, bowling beautiful lines and probing lengths that compelled the South Africans to play at the ball. Vishwa Fernando was the destroyer in chief, capturing his first 5-for in Test cricket and had the South Africans on the ropes by consistently hitting his areas. He was aptly aided by his namesake Asitha, who bowled an absolute pearler to Maharaj.
Bavuma (19 off 30), meanwhile, will want to forget his dismissal – the second such memory suppression he will have to commit to in as many weeks - after he gifted his wicket Vishwa, trapped lbw, and stuck with the umpire’s finger, for offering no shot.
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At the start of play on Monday morning, it was expected that the Proteas would enjoy the higher ground and bat out the day to rack-up a massive total, but for the character shown of the Sri Lankans – which was superb.
The Proteas took a singular wicket before the session came to a close – Ngidi removing the stumps of dangerman Kusal Perera, who top scored with 60 in the first innings – for one. The Proteas are still in control of the match, especially with the dismissal of Perera, but in all honesty – after a stellar innings from Elgar and Van der Dussen – should have put this match out of the reach of the plucky Sri Lankans.
SCORECARD
Sri Lanka first innings 157 all out
South Africa first innings 303 all out (Elgar 127, Van der Dussen 67; V Fernando 5/101, Sanaka 2/42, A Fernando 2/61)
Sri Lanka second innings – at tea, day 2 – 16/1 (Karunarathne 11*; Ngidi 1/10)
South Africa lead by 129 runs at tea
IOL Sport