Sri Lanka slow bowlers send SA into tailspin
Sri Lanka surged to 151 for 3 in their second innings on Saturday — a 365-run overall lead — as they sought a whitewash over South Africa in their twoTest series. After their spinners had skittled out South Africa for just 124 in the first innings, openers Danushka Gunathilaka and Dimuth Karunaratne put on a quickfire 91 to set the foundation for another big target on the Sinhalese Sports Club pitch.
Gunathilaka was Sri Lanka’s primary aggressor, hitting six fours and two sixes in his 61 off 68 balls after tea on the second day.
Keshav Maharaj struck twice to remove Gunathilaka and Dhananjaya da Silva, for a duck, but Karunaratne progressed smoothly at the other end to reach 59 while Angelo Mathews had 12.
The hosts built their domineering lead at the end of a day in which their 10th-wicket pair added valuable runs to build a first innings of 338. South Africa were then routed by Sri Lanka’s spinners with Akila Dananjaya taking five for 52.
Dananjaya and Rangana Herath frustrated South Africa through the morning session as they added 61 runs to the overnight total.
Left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj eventually dismissed Herath to end the innings, and complete a haul of nine for 129 -the second-best for a South Africa bowler and the best since the country made a post-apartheid return to Tests in 1991.
But Sri Lanka’s 338 was always going to be a challenge and Dananjaya, Herath and Dilruwan Perera then tore through the South African batting, already exposed by their defeat in the first Test in Galle.
Dananjaya took his second five-wicket haul in Tests while Herath and Perera shared the remaining five South African wickets. Stand-in captain Suranga Lakmal was not required to deliver a single ball. Brief scores: Sri Lanka 338 in 104.1 overs (Dhananjaya de Silva 60, D Gunathilaka 57, D Karunaratne 53; Keshav Maharaj 9/129) and 151-3 in 34 overs (D Gunathilaka 61, D Karunaratne 59 n.o.; Keshav Maharaj 2/90) vs South Africa 124 in 34.5 overs (Du Plessis 48; A Dananjaya 5/52, D Perera 4/40).