Herath helps Sri Lanka sweep Tests vs SA
Sri Lanka on Monday completed a 2-0 Test sweep of South Africa to record their first series win over the Proteas since 2006 after Rangana Herath wreaked havoc with six wickets.
The visitors were all out for 290 in the second session of day four in Colombo, 200 runs short of the highly improbable winning target of 490 on a bone-dry wicket.
It was South Africa’s first Test whitewash since they went down in the island nation 2-0 in a twomatch series almost 12 years ago.
Sri Lanka had wrapped up the first Test in Galle within three days, reducing South Africa to 73 in the second innings -- their lowest Test total since post-apartheid readmission to cricket.
“Right through the series we didn’t have that ability to score partnerships. I think we only had three partnerships of 50 and
above the whole series,” Faf du Plessis, South Africa’s crestfallen skipper, said Monday. “But once again you have to give credit to the opposition. They were able to put us under pressure for long periods of time and therefore we made a lot of mistakes.”
In the second Test, Sri Lanka scored 338 in their first innings and South Africa could only respond with 124 as off-spinner Akila Dananjaya made hay, taking five wickets. The hosts then
scored 275/5 before declaring halfway through the afternoon session on day three, setting the visitors a highly improbable victory target. They were already five wickets down for 139 at stumps on Sunday, with Dananjaya dismissing du Plessis for seven and Herath getting Hashim Amla for six.
Brief scores: Sri Lanka 338 and 275/5 bt South Africa 124 and 290 (T de Bruyn 101, T Bavuma 63; R Herath 6-98) by 199 runs