Bowlers keep Sri Lanka believing in the impossible

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Sri Lanka’s inexperienced bowling attack, sans injured first-choice spinner Lasith Embuldeniya, bowled with heart to restrict South Africa to 128 in their 2nd innings, leaving the visitors needing 197 to win the 2nd Test between the sides at St George’s Park, Port Elizabeth. At stumps, Sri Lanka were 60/2, 137 runs away from a historic series win.

Late wickets peg Sri Lanka back on day 1

When Sri Lanka landed on the shores of South Africa a couple of weeks ago, they had one word on their lips – COMPETE.

Sri Lanka came into day 2 on 60/3, with overnight batsmen, opener Lahiru Thirimanne and night-watchman Kasun Rajitha at the crease, hoping to keep the South Africans at bay for as long as possible. Sri Lanka squandered a prime opportunity to make South Africa pay for another poor batting display with a dismal batting performance themselves, conceding a 68-run lead.

The ‘perahera’ started with Thirimanne, as the left-hander was well caught by Duanne Olivier, who had been impressive last evening as well, off his own bowling. The night-watchman didn’t last long against the pace of Kagiso Rabada.

Kusal Perera and Dhananjaya De Silva looked like they would help Sri Lanka recover, with a partnership of 31 in quick time, but South Africa were not about to let Sri Lanka get away again and kept pegging away at the visitors. Rabada, bowling around the wicket, got the ball to move into Perera and then straighten as the left-hander nicked the ball behind to Quinton de Kock.

Sri Lanka kept playing their shots, between Perera, De Silva and Niroshan Dickwella, the visitors managed 13 boundaries and 2 sixes, but the approach didn’t work, as none of them were able to register big scores – something Sri Lanka sorely needed; Sri Lanka were bowled out for 154. Injured left-arm spinner Lasith Embuldeniya did not come out to bat.

Despite Sri Lanka’s batsmen disappointing showing once again, the inexperienced attack, led by Suranga Lakmal, did the work once again, dismissing all the South African batsmen for the 4th time in 2 Tests – this time in just 44.3 overs.

Photos: Sri Lanka vs South Africa 2nd Test 2019 | Day 2

Vishwa Fernando, the man who has perhaps sparked Sri Lanka’s new found venom with the ball, sent Dean Elgar packing once again, the 2nd time in the match and 3rd time in the series as South Africa went into lunch a man down.

But Sri Lanka’s performance was never about just the one bowler. Suranga Lakmal, the man who took a 5-wicket haul the last time he played in Port Elizabeth, got the ball to move around and finished with figures of 4/39, but it was Kasun Rajitha and Dhananjaya De Silva who reduced the hosts to 90/4 – bringing in form Quinton de Kock.

The left-handed wicket-keeper batsman failed to cross the 50-run mark for the 1st time this series as Lakmal got him to chip one back to him, leaving Faf du Plessis to maneuver the tail.

De Silva was impressive, shouldering the spin bowling responsibility in the wake of Embuldeniya’s injury and Sri Lanka were helped by du Plessis’ questionable tactics that saw him take a single at any given opportunity, leaving the lower order batsmen exposed.

Sri Lanka capitalized, with the ball moving around, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada and Dale Steyn couldn’t handle the moving ball and then De Silva snuck one through to have du Plessis stumped – SA all out for 118. De Silva unfortunately had overstepped and the SOuth African skipper was recalled but, Sri Lanka ended the innings 10 runs later – setting themselves a target of 197.

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South Africa were not going to give up without a fight and Dale Steyn and Kagiso Rabada started with the customary menace. Lahiru Thirimanne and Dimuth Karunaratne survived for nearly 10 overs but were dismissed in consecutive overs to put Sri Lanka in trouble on 34/2. Fernando and Mendis survived to stumps, but 197 still looks a fair way to go for the visitors.









Title





Full Scorecard

South Africa

222/10 & 128/10

(44.3 overs)

Result

Sri Lanka

154/10 & 197/2

(45.4 overs)

SL won by 8 wickets

South Africa’s 1st Innings

Batting R B
Dean Elgar b V Fernando 6 13
Aiden Markram lbw by K Rajitha 60 116
Hashim Amla b V Fernando 0 1
Temba Bavuma (runout) K Rajitha 0 2
Faf du Plessis b D Karunarathne 25 60
Quinton de Kock b D De Silva 86 87
Wiaan Mulder lbw by K Rajitha 9 9
Keshav Maharaj c N Dickwella b K Rajitha 0 5
Kagiso Rabada c N Dickwella b D De Silva 22 65
Dale Steyn not out 3 11
Dane Olivier c N Dickwella b V Fernando 0 3
Extras
11 (lb 6, nb 4, b 1)
Total
222/10 (61.2 overs)
Fall of Wickets:
1-15 (D Elgar, 5.3 ov), 2-15 (H Amla, 5.4 ov), 3-15 (T Bavuma, 6.3 ov), 4-73 (du Plessis, 26.5 ov), 5-130 (A Markram, 37.2 ov), 6-145 (W Mulder, 39.6 ov), 7-157 (K Maharaj, 41.6 ov), 8-216 (de Kock, 58.2 ov), 9-221 (K Rabada, 60.4 ov), 10-222 (D Olivier, 61.2 ov)
Bowling O M R W E
Suranga Lakmal 13 2 33 0 2.54
Vishwa Fernando 18.2 2 62 3 3.41
Kasun Rajitha 15 2 67 3 4.47
Lasith Embuldeniya 5.3 0 26 0 4.91
Dimuth Karunarathne 4.3 1 12 1 2.79
Dhananjaya de Silva 5 0 15 2 3.00

Sri Lanka’s 1st Innings

Batting R B
Dimuth Karunarathne c de Kock b K Rabada 17 42
Lahiru Thirimanne c & b D Olivier 29 63
Oshada Fernando b D Olivier 0 9
Kusal Mendis c de Kock b D Olivier 16 15
Kasun Rajitha b K Rabada 1 10
Kusal Janith c de Kock b K Rabada 20 15
Dhananjaya de Silva c de Kock b W Mulder 19 24
Niroshan Dickwella c D Elgar b K Rabada 42 36
Suranga Lakmal lbw by K Maharaj 7 14
Vishwa Fernando not out 0 0
Lasith Embuldeniya not out 0 0
Extras
3 (lb 1, nb 2)
Total
154/10 (37.4 overs)
Fall of Wickets:
1-25 (D Karunarathne, 11.4 ov), 2-34 (O Fernando, 14.5 ov), 3-59 (K Mendis, 18.6 ov), 4-64 (L Thirimanne, 22.2 ov), 5-66 (K Rajitha, 23.5 ov), 6-97 (K Janith, 27.1 ov), 7-128 (D De Silva, 32.3 ov), 8-154 (S Lakmal, 36.6 ov), 9-154 (N Dickwella, 37.4 ov)
Bowling O M R W E
Dale Steyn 10 2 39 0 3.90
Kagiso Rabada 12.4 3 38 4 3.06
Dane Olivier 10 1 61 3 6.10
Wiaan Mulder 3 2 6 1 2.00
Keshav Maharaj 2 0 9 1 4.50

South Africa’s 2nd Innings

Batting R B
Aiden Markram c O Fernando b K Rajitha 18 27
Dean Elgar c N Dickwella b V Fernando 2 17
Hashim Amla c K Mendis b D De Silva 32 72
Temba Bavuma c N Dickwella b K Rajitha 6 25
Faf du Plessis not out 50 70
Quinton de Kock c & b S Lakmal 1 7
Wiaan Mulder c K Mendis b D De Silva 5 8
Keshav Maharaj lbw by S Lakmal 6 17
Kagiso Rabada c K Mendis b S Lakmal 0 8
Dale Steyn c L Thirimanne b D De Silva 0 4
Dane Olivier lbw by S Lakmal 6 13
Extras
2 (lb 1, nb 1)
Total
128/10 (44.3 overs)
Fall of Wickets:
1-10 (D Elgar, 5.2 ov), 2-31 (A Markram, 9.6 ov), 3-51 (T Bavuma, 19.6 ov), 4-90 (H Amla, 29.3 ov), 5-91 (de Kock, 30.4 ov), 6-100 (W Mulder, 33.3 ov), 7-113 (K Maharaj, 38.4 ov), 8-115 (K Rabada, 40.3 ov), 9-116 (D Steyn, 41.2 ov), 10-128 (D Olivier, 44.3 ov)
Bowling O M R W E
Suranga Lakmal 16.3 3 39 4 2.39
Vishwa Fernando 10 1 32 1 3.20
Kasun Rajitha 7 1 20 2 2.86
Dhananjaya de Silva 11 1 36 3 3.27

Sri Lanka’s 2nd Innings

Batting R B
Dimuth Karunarathne c de Kock b D Olivier 19 31
Lahiru Thirimanne c de Kock b K Rabada 10 27
Oshada Fernando not out 75 106
Kusal Mendis not out 84 110
Extras
9 (lb 5, b 4)
Total
197/2 (45.4 overs)
Fall of Wickets:
1-32 (L Thirimanne, 9.2 ov), 2-34 (D Karunarathne, 10.1 ov)
Bowling O M R W E
Dale Steyn 8 0 38 0 4.75
Kagiso Rabada 15 2 53 1 3.53
Dane Olivier 12 2 46 1 3.83
Wiaan Mulder 4 1 6 0 1.50
Keshav Maharaj 6.4 0 45 0 7.03