Marco Jansen bowled one of the breath-taking bowling spells in the history of Test cricket. South Africa now are in a very dominating position in 1st Test match with a lead of 281 runs and 7 wickets in hand. Marco Jansen took his maiden 7 wicket haul in just 6.5 overs which doesn’t happen too many times in modern day cricket.
Temba Bavuma takes South Africa to a challenging 1st innings total in morning session
Due to rain on Day 1, we could only witness morning session in which South Africa’s score was 80-4. Sri Lanka’s pacers were getting assistance from the surface and immediately Kyle Verreyne was dismissed by Lahiru Kumara. Lahiru Kumara’s raw pace was the talking point on Day 1 even on Day 2.
Sri Lanka’s bowlers hunted in a pack but Temba Bavuma stood tall & was smashing an odd boundary in the over. Temba Bavuma formed a crucial partnership of 26 runs with Keshav Maharaj as at one stage South Africa was 117-7. The tail-enders Maharaj, Rabada scored 39 runs amongst themselves which took Proteas’ total to a fighting 191 runs in 49.4 overs.
Temba Bavuma played a captain’s knock of 70 runs in 117 balls and hit 9 fours and 1 six. We should not forget that Bavuma didn’t play the recently concluded Test series against Bangladesh due to an injury yet he single-handedly did the majority of scoring. Asitha Fernando & Lahiru Kumara were the pick of the bowlers who took 3 wickets each.
Marco Jansen inflicts a dramatic Sri Lanka batting collapse
Sri Lanka needed to see off the new ball smartly as the wicket had moisture. Marco Jansen came like a surprise package for the visitors who earlier in his bowling was struggled to find the perfect line & length but later there was no stopping him. Marco Jansen kept on bowling the off-stump channel & the batters to fall in that trap were: Pathum Nissanka, and Angelo Mathews.
Marco Jansen bowled a corker of a delivery to Dinesh Chandimal which swung back into the stumps and uprooted his off-stump. The World Cricket would be shocked to hear that Sri Lanka got bundled out in only 13.5 overs and that too for 42. Even after Sri Lanka’s innings, the broadcaster pointed out that there was only 0.9 degree swing for the pacers and yet we saw how Sri Lanka lost their rhythm & fell like a pack of cards.
Sri Lanka’s batters were in a hurry to play cover drive & square drive shots which didn’t prove to be a good option at all. South Africa got 139 runs lead which was immense given Sri Lanka is going to bat on the surface. Sri Lanka’s not a single batter scored 15 runs and they might have to go back to the drawing board. Sri Lanka would not be happy after they registered their lowest Test total of 42 runs in this match as their previous lowest score was 71 against Pakistan way back in 1994. South Africa played out a tricky phase of 6 overs of the afternoon session and scored 28 runs without losing any wickets.
South African batters assert their dominance in evening session
The pitch didn’t have any significant demons as Sri Lankan bowlers tried all tricks in the book but couldn’t a similar collapse like them. Aiden Markram & Tony de Zorzi stitched a 47-run opening partnership in 11.5 overs. Sri Lanka’s bowlers were looking a bit tired and Aiden Markram took advantage of that and was hitting the boundaries quite regularly.
Wiaan Mulder got an unexpected promotion at No.3 position but that didn’t work well as he scored 15 runs in 31 balls and hit 1 four. The hosts seemed in no hurry to smash consecutive boundaries as there’s ample time left in the Test match. Aiden Markram’s (*47 runs in 81 balls) wicket might have opened the gates for Sri Lanka at 89-3 but Stubbs & Bavuma didn’t let the game drift away. South Africa’s score at 40 overs was 132-3 with a lead of 281 runs and are in a state of ascendancy.
What lies ahead for South Africa & Sri Lanka on Day 3
South Africa would be eyeing to bat as long as they can; there is no probability of rain in the next 3 days. If South Africa get their lead past 400 runs then Sri Lanka would be in a very precarious position. With second new ball still 40 overs away, the hosts are in a sturdy position.
Sri Lanka needs to quickly forget about their batting performance in 1st innings as it was no less than nightmare. Sri Lanka head coach Sanath Jayasuriya needs to instill the confidence back in the team. There’s only one best way that Sri Lanka can make a comeback to restrict South Africa to 375 or less than that. To attain that, they need Lahiru Kumara to bowl thunder bolts & the team shouldn’t give up; during the evening session, we witnessed that the visitors looked down & out as the shoulders were dropping.