Four wickets stood between South Africa and an innings win at tea on the third day of the third test against Sri Lanka.
The visitors slipped to 124/6 in 33 overs‚ a hefty 171 runs from making South Africa bat again and facing the prospect of a heavy defeat inside three days.
Dimuth Karunaratne aside‚ application was lacking from Sri Lanka’s batsmen as it looked like they have mentally checked out of the test match.
This was evident in Angelo Mathews’s dismissal (10)‚ flashing at a wide one that he could have left.
What his wicket did was to allow Faf du Plessis to take a stunning second slip catch that rivalled Quinton de Kock’s earlier catch.
It was a decent enough ball from Duanne Olivier but it was also wide enough to cut.
Du Plessis had other ideas and invoked the Manuel Neuer in him to pluck the ball out of the air instead of palming it over the bar.
It was the important wicket as Mathews is one of the world’s premier fourth-innings batsmen and if Sri Lanka entertained any hopes of taking the game into the fourth day‚ they needed their captain to be in at the end of the session.
Mathews’ profligacy crept into Dinesh Chandimal’s game (10)‚ who sparkled when crease occupation was the necessity.
Having been set up by two juicy Vernon Philander half volleys that he punched down the ground‚ he fell for the three count when he guided the leg-cutter to Hashim Amla at first slip.
It was left to the flashy but ineffective Upul Tharanga and the feisty Rangana Herath to see out the session while the likes of Kusal Mendis‚ Dimuth Karunaratne (50) and Dhananjaya de Silva will rue the opportunities they had of setting out their stalls and making significant contributions.
Karunaratne displayed a crease discipline that has been lacking among the Sri Lankan batsman with his 75-ball 50 but could not build not it when he missed a straight one from Kagiso Rabada.
The same applied to Mendis when he batted for 49 balls for his boundary-laden 24 before chopping on his 50th delivery from Wayne Parnell.
De Silva (10) on the other hand gifted an easy catch to Du Plessis at second slip‚ summing the lack of application the Sri Lankan batsmen could have done with.
Sri Lanka's batsmen look like they have already mentally checked out of this test match against SA
Four wickets stood between South Africa and an innings win at tea on the third day of the third test against Sri Lanka.
The visitors slipped to 124/6 in 33 overs‚ a hefty 171 runs from making South Africa bat again and facing the prospect of a heavy defeat inside three days.
Dimuth Karunaratne aside‚ application was lacking from Sri Lanka’s batsmen as it looked like they have mentally checked out of the test match.
This was evident in Angelo Mathews’s dismissal (10)‚ flashing at a wide one that he could have left.
What his wicket did was to allow Faf du Plessis to take a stunning second slip catch that rivalled Quinton de Kock’s earlier catch.
It was a decent enough ball from Duanne Olivier but it was also wide enough to cut.
Du Plessis had other ideas and invoked the Manuel Neuer in him to pluck the ball out of the air instead of palming it over the bar.
It was the important wicket as Mathews is one of the world’s premier fourth-innings batsmen and if Sri Lanka entertained any hopes of taking the game into the fourth day‚ they needed their captain to be in at the end of the session.
Mathews’ profligacy crept into Dinesh Chandimal’s game (10)‚ who sparkled when crease occupation was the necessity.
Having been set up by two juicy Vernon Philander half volleys that he punched down the ground‚ he fell for the three count when he guided the leg-cutter to Hashim Amla at first slip.
It was left to the flashy but ineffective Upul Tharanga and the feisty Rangana Herath to see out the session while the likes of Kusal Mendis‚ Dimuth Karunaratne (50) and Dhananjaya de Silva will rue the opportunities they had of setting out their stalls and making significant contributions.
Karunaratne displayed a crease discipline that has been lacking among the Sri Lankan batsman with his 75-ball 50 but could not build not it when he missed a straight one from Kagiso Rabada.
The same applied to Mendis when he batted for 49 balls for his boundary-laden 24 before chopping on his 50th delivery from Wayne Parnell.
De Silva (10) on the other hand gifted an easy catch to Du Plessis at second slip‚ summing the lack of application the Sri Lankan batsmen could have done with.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Register (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Trending
Latest Videos