SA’s pace attack reduced to mere mortals

Ken Borland

– Sri Lankan hero Kusal Perera (right) may have endorsed the excellence of South Africa’s attack after the game, but on the field he treated them with scant respect, launching a stunning demolition job that took the tourists to the most improbable of victories in the first Test at Kingsmead in Durban.

Chasing 304 for victory, Sri Lanka had slipped to 226 for nine, but Perera scored a phenomenal 153 not out off 200 balls, hammering 12 fours and five sixes, as he

Durban

shared a world-record last-wicket stand to win a Test of 78 with Vishwa Fernando (6* off 23 balls).

“In places like these, it’s never going to be easy. These bowlers are all top five in the world. You never know what kind of balls they are going to send at you. They don’t give you any room, and they have so much experience. There were very few loose balls.

“When I was batting with the tail, I knew we couldn’t win this match by just scoring singles. I was the last proper batsman left, so when the time felt right for me, I took my chances. I had really wanted to hit two or three sixes off Steyn as we were getting close, and thankfully I was able to do that. I think my decision-making was really good,” Perera said.

The 28-year-old left-hander also showed immense courage through his innings. In his previous Test, against Australia in Canberra at the beginning of the month, he was struck on the head by Jhye Richardson and suffered a concussion, while locally he was hit on the helmet a couple of times and weathered several painful blows to his hands.

“In these couple of matches, I think I’ve copped six or seven blows to the head. On these tracks, if you’re not willing to wear balls on the body, you might as well not be batting. I don’t know how many times I got hit – honestly I’ve lost count. But you can’t think about those things while you are batting. In Sri Lanka, the fastest you get is 130-140km/h. Here you get balls that are 150km/h.

“I just tried to play it over-byover and get us close, little-by-little. Vishwa told me: ‘I’ll hit the ball with my body, if nothing else. You do what you can, Kusal.’

“I took a lot of strength from that. Without any fear I took the single and gave the strike to him. He did a huge job,” Perera said.