SL in control, survive SA's new-ball spells

TeaSri Lanka 103 for 1 (Nissanka 41*, Chandimal 29*) trail South Africa 358 (Verreynne 105*, Rickelton 101, Bavuma 78, Kumara 4-79) by 255 runs

Dimuth Karunaratne edged Kagiso Rabada behind the wicket for the third consecutive time this series, but Sri Lanka were otherwise ascendant in the second session, battling their way to 103 for 1 by tea, having withstood some excellent new ball spells.

They find themselves still 255 runs behind, thanks to Kyle Verreynne‘s bruising progress to a third Test century at the start of the day. Having begun on 269 for 7, Verreyne added 89 runs to South Africa’s total alongside Rabada, and Dane Paterson, clobbering bouncer after bouncer, while also farming the strike. Having been 48 off 83 balls overnight, he reaped 58 off the 50 balls he faced on Friday.

Sri Lanka, though, will be pleased that for the first time in the series, they’ve batted out 33 overs for the loss of only one wicket (at a similar stage even in the second innings in Durban, they were already five down).

Partly, this was down to the work of the openers, who with a little good fortune, survived the South Africa spearheads’ initial burst – the six overs before lunch. Pathum Nissanka was also the benefactor of a dropped catch on 22, with Rabada – South Africa’s best bowler so far in the innings – having drawn an edge with a short ball that David Bedingham who grasped at the ball at least three times before letting the chance spill into the grass behind him.

There were more plays and misses for both Nissanka and Dinesh Chandimal (in fact, it had probably been Karunaratne who had played with the tightest defensive technique), but towards the end of the session, they had begun to find the boundary with greater ease.

Both batters were strong square of the wicket, with Nissanka especially eager to play the pull. Three of his six boundaries came from that shot, and he went to team on 41 not out off 101 deliveries. Each of Chandimal’s five boundaries came behind the wicket, usually off edges. He had 29 not out off 55 balls.

Earlier, Karunaratne had done the hard work of getting himself in, and looked set to push on. He has found Rabada’s bowling in the channel impossible to resist, however, and nicked him trying to cut a ball too close to his body. This was roughly midway through the second session.

The morning, however, had been reigned by Verreynne. Having lost Keshav Maharaj without South Africa adding to their overnight score, Verreyne put on 66 with Rabada, as Sri Lanka turned almost solely to the bouncers and short deliveries to blast the final two wickets out. Verreyne crashed three boundaries between deep backward square leg and deep midwicket in one Asitha Fernando over to really get his engine roaring, before venturing even bigger hits when Rabada was bowled by Asitha going at the stumps for a change.

With the No. 11 in, and still on 81, Verreynne yanked the throttle with even more intensity, first smashing Prabath Jayasuriya over cow corner for six, before mowing Asitha into the banks to get within one strike of a 100. He reached triple figures with another mighty pull in that same over, sending the ball sailing over fine leg’s head.

The milestone sparked wild celebrations, a bow from Verreynne to the dressing room, and a bear-hug from Paterson. Verreyne himself likely did not anticipate that a century would be on the cards when the morning’s play began.

Andrew Fidel Fernando is a senior writer at ESPNcricinfo. @afidelf

Source: ESPN Crickinfo

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *