Angelo Mathews remained unbeaten on 58 at the close of play on day 4 of the 1st Test between South Africa and Sri Lanka in Port Elizabeth earlier today however Sri Lanka still face an uphill task after being set 488 to win.
Earlier in the day Faf Du Plessis and Quinton De Kock resumed things from where they left off last evening, putting on 129 for the 6th wicket. Both stroked half centuries as they took South Africa’s lead past 450 relatively quickly. De Kock in particular looked in menacing form as he went for quick runs once he went past 50. South Africa declared at the dismissal of De Kock, who was caught plumb in front by Rangana Herath after surviving a review in the previous delivery.
Dimuth Karunaratne and Kaushal Silva resolutely withstood the South African onslaught as the pair made it through to lunch without losing a wicket. The Lankan openers were able to survive some disciplined bowling by the hosts’ pace bowling trio, putting on 87 for the 1st wicket. The pair were exceedingly cautious but managed to break lose to some extent once the ball had lost its shine. The partnership came to a disastrous end however when a mix-up led to the run-out of Karunaratne.
Kusal Perera’s disappointing run at no. 3 continued, unsurprisingly, as he was beaten by extra bounce, edging the ball to De Kock off the bowling of Keshav Maharaj; surely this is the last we see of him batting at 1st drop. Silva looked solid in the middle until he was trapped in front by Rabada, putting Sri Lanka in a spot of bother at 118/3.
Kusal Mendis and Angelo Mathews came together to put on perhaps the most assured partnership of the innings as the pair played the ball on merit to milk the runs off both the pacies as well as Maharaj, the lone spinner. The hosts’ bowlers were made to work hard however Rabada managed to maintain some fire, coming around the wicket to have Mendis caught behind trying to lift the ball over the slip cordon. An uncharacteristically poor shot cut short a fluent innings by the youngster as he departed for 58.
Mathews cut and pulled brilliantly to bring up his 26th Test half century but will be disappointed with the shot selection of his deputy Dinesh Chandimal, who was caught at mid-on, trying to clear the infield. Chandimal had previously been dropped by Stephen Cook at mid-off on 5 but did not make the most of the opportunity as he fell trying to do the same thing, a couple of overs later.
South Africa opted to take the 2nd new ball as soon as it became available and their decision paid dividends almost immediately as Kyle Abbott struck with his very 1st ball, trapping Dhananjaya De Silva right in front. A prolonged discussion between the batsmen led to a review and much to the surprise of all present, the ball was shown to be missing the leg stump and the decision was overturned.
With 5 wickets remaining and 248 runs needed to win, Mathews and De Silva will need to face as many overs as possible on the final day, if Sri Lanka are to avoid going 1-0 down in the series.
