Sri Lanka has hosted South Africa in a Test series at home just once since 2006, a series in 2014 where South Africa hung on to draw the 2nd Test and with it claim a 1-0 series win. What this also means is that Sri Lanka hasn’t won a Test against South Africa at home for more than a decade, 12 years to be exact.
The two matches in the 2006 series were contrasting to say the least, though the Sri Lankans were victorious on both occasions. Records tumbled in the opening Test with the two Sri Lankan batting legends Mahela Jayawardena and Kumar Sangakkara being involved in a record 624 run partnership helping Sri Lanka crush South Africa by an innings and 153 runs, before the 2nd Test saw Sri Lanka record their most successful run chase – at the time – in a thriller that went down to the wire.
South Africa put up a very competitive 361 all-out batting first at the P. Sara Oval with A.B. de Villiers making an invaluable 95 runs along with the Proteas skipper Ashwell Prince who made 86. For the hosts it was a very common figure that shone with the ball; Sri Lanka’s spin wizard Muttiah Muralitharan captured five key scalps, though the visitors managed to keep him at bay for most parts using the sweeps and revers sweeps to very good effect.
South Africa were well on their way to claiming a more than adequate 1st innings lead with Sri Lanka in tatters at 86/5, but Sri Lanka’s useful lower order rallied around Chamara Kapugedara to reduce the first innings deficit to just 40 runs. Kapugedara made 63 but it was the two fast bowling all-rounders’ efforts that stood out with both Chaminda Vaas and Farveez Maharoof making half centuries.
It was a very good wicket at the Oval with a bit of everything in it for all bowlers and any batsman who was willing to apply himself, as it was evident with the South African fast bowlers picking up 9 of the 10 wickets to fall. Dale Steyn was the chief tormentor with five wickets and he’s one of the two members – Hashim Amla being the other – from this match who has come back to Sri Lanka for the 2018 tour.
Herschelle Gibbs was impressive come the 2nd innings with 92 at the top of the order, before one of South Africa’s most successful wicket-keeper batsmen Mark Boucher made a gritty half century, anchoring the tale to set Sri Lanka a challenging 352 runs for victory. Once again it was Muralitharan bamboozling the visitors as he captured 7 second innings wickets to end with 12 wickets in the match and eventually walked away with the Man of the Series award (22 wickets).
Sanath Jayasuirya got the run chase off to a flying start with his familiar nature of being aggressive, taking the attack to the likes of Steyn, Shaun Pollock and Makhaya Ntini. Rather surprisingly though, he fell to the gentle left arm spin of Nicky Boje with Sri Lanka still 231 runs away and just 7 wickets in hand.
One of Sri Lanka’s most successful Test captains and a man fresh from making Sri Lanka’s highest ever individual Test score (374) in the 1st Test, Mahela Jayawardena decided to take control after Jayasuriya’s dismissal. He didn’t get a lot of support from the other end, but Prasanna Jayawardena and Maharoof hung around long enough for him to get closer to the target. Mahela was all class and assurance as it looked almost impossible to get him out with the mood he was in. He was unflustered by the bowlers or the match situation and reached the magical three figure mark off the 187th delivery he faced. He also became only the fifth player to score more than 500 runs in a two-Test series at the time. It was a remarkable effort to even get close to 352 in the 4th innings on a wearing pitch, let alone reaching the target.
It was an outstanding game of Test cricket and eventually got the nail-biting finish it deserved, as a match which neither side deserved to lose finally went Sri Lanka’s way by the narrowest of margins – one wicket.
When the players walked off for lunch on the final day at the P Saravanamuttu Stadium, with Mahela unbeaten on 117 and Ferveez Maharoof giving him company on 24, it was easy to imagine that only the formalities remained – the target was 19 runs away with four wickets in hand. Mahela was batting with utter serenity, and with Maharoof had overcome an iffy start to post a 62-run stand. As it turned out, that one-hour passage of play after lunch was fraught with heart-stopping tension and excitement, as Sri Lanka lost three wickets –including the wicket of Mahela for 123 – and managed just 19 runs in 13.3 overs, but more importantly Sri Lanka held on for the win, with Maharoof keeping calm with an unbeaten 29* off 118 balls.
Sri Lanka will face the Proteas in Galle once again as the two teams clash in the 1st Test from the 12th – 16th of July. The hosts will hope they have a similar result.
