In Durban, South Africa defeated Sri Lanka by 233 runs, ending the visitors’ undefeated record at the stadium and putting them in second position on the World Test Championship (WTC) standings. After taking 4 for 73 in the second innings, Marco Jansen ended the match with 11 wickets.
South Africa may have thought the fourth day’s play would be only a formality after putting Sri Lanka on a 516 mark and getting five wickets on the third evening. Multiples improved Sri Lanka’s first-innings performance by bowling them out for 282 in the end.
It provided South Africa with the finest batting conditions of the game, a 149-run advantage in the first innings, and the cushion they needed to create a sizable lead at their own pace. After that, they set about protecting it.
The pitch was calm on day four as well, with clear blue sky and a dry wind blowing, and Sri Lanka capitalized. Against a South African attack that lacked the movement of the previous three days and the injured Wiaan Mulder, Chandimal and Dhananjaya put up a sixth-wicket partnership of 95 runs before Chandimal and Mendis collaborated for 75.
Gerald Coetzee found it with the 12th ball of the morning, but Kagiso Rabada beat Dhananjaya’s edge with the sixth, giving South Africa a dangerous start. At Gully, the opportunity dropped to Jansen’s left. In response, Dhananjaya pulled Coetzee in front of square and struck Rabada for four after piercing the midwicket gap. Additionally, Chandimal cut Coetzee for four through points after handling a short ball brilliantly.
After Rabada’s unsuccessful five-over stint, which cost 18 runs, Sri Lanka’s duo could relax in. Chandimal hit Jansen in the same spot to raise the 150 after Dhananjaya forced him through the covers.
Then, they both faced Maharaj, who had almost no turn. At a pace of little less than four runs per over, Sri Lanka had amassed 61 runs in 16 overs by the time of the first drinks break.
As evidence of the ferocity with which he batted, Chandimal got his fifty right after the half with a commanding pull off Jansen, while Dhananjaya hit his milestone in the following over, off 66 balls. When he blasted Maharaj for six over long-off, he played one more shot in rage. However, Dhananjaya chipped a harmless delivery to Tristan Stubbs at short midwicket for 59, giving Maharaj the last laugh.
That led Mendis to the crease while riding four ducks in South Africa. With a four-run cover drive, he scored his first runs in five innings and helped Sri Lanka reach 200.
With five in the morning session, Rabada also increased his innings-long no-ball total to ten as Sri Lanka reached lunch at 220 for 6. They had a long opening session, scoring 117 runs in 32 overs.
With South Africa’s gifts strung throughout the ten overs after lunch, Sri Lanka amassed 47 runs with the assistance of a team that could afford to attempt given the available runs. Mendis square, without a gully, got 15 runs off his 19th over after driving Jansen for four. Jansen missed his lengths entirely. Mendis moved in sight of a half-century, and Maharaj was also the target of his aggressiveness.
Coetzee hit a half-volley down leg shortly after the start of his third delivery, and it appeared like South Africa was unable to do anything right on either side of the field. Chandimal attempted to flick his next ball away when it was on middle, but he closed the bat’s face too soon, giving Coetzee the lead. Through a succession of throat-splitting shouts, he released his relief into the pitch.
In the following over, Aiden Markram caught Vishwa Fernando at slip after Maharaj had pulled him forward. When Jansen returned, he bowled Asitha Fernando as he attempted to protect the line of a delivery falling down leg and had Mendis caught behind for his tenth of the game.
At Kingsmead, Jansen’s 11 for 86 is second only to Clarrie Grimmett’s 13 for 173 in 1936.
Read More: Anderson Phillip to rejoin Lancashire for County Championship, Blast
