Chances slim for SL place in WTC final

Keshav Maharaj ran through the Sri Lanka batting, taking his 

11th five-fer in Tests 

• Lose second Test and series 2-0 to South Africa
•  “We played better cricket, but not good enough to get results in our favour” – DDS
•  “A lot of credit to them
• [Sri Lanka], they really made us work hard” – Bavuma

Sri Lanka severely dented their chances of reaching the World Test Championship (WTC) final at Lord’s next year when they lost the second Test to South Africa by 109 runs – and with it the series 2-0 – on the fifth and final day at St George’s Park, Gqeberha yesterday.

Sri Lanka set a record target of 348, beginning the day well at 205-5, requiring a further 143 runs for victory. It needed some resistance from skipper Dhananjaya de Silva and Kusal Mendis, the two overnight batters, to calm their nerves. But once they fell six runs of each other, Sri Lanka’s long tail never really had a chance of whittling down the target against the relentless Kagiso Rabada, Keshav Maharaj, and Marco Jansen, and they were dismissed in their second innings for 238 with the last five wickets tumbling for 33 runs.  

Maharaj picked up three of the wickets to fall yesterday to end with figures of 5/76 – his 11th five-fer in Tests.

Sri Lanka were competitive for most part of the Test, but they will look back and rue the dramatic collapse on the third morning – the main reason for the loss here at Gqeberha. From 242-3, they collapsed to 328 to hand South Africa a first innings lead. On an even-paced pitch, both teams put up a good show in the first innings. While Ryan Rickelton’s hundred set up the hosts on the first day, it was the Kyle Verreynne hundred with the tail that really took them to a good score on the second.

Pathum Nissanka made 89 in Sri Lanka’s reply and there were as many as three scores in the 40s in the middle-order, but things fell apart on the third morning as they lost five wickets in the first hour and a bit, ensuring that they ended up with a deficit of 30 runs. South Africa’s second innings was more measured and almost everyone chipped in as they went past 300 once again. Setting a record target at this venue, Sri Lanka kept fighting, but they kept losing wickets in clusters and that meant they finished second best.

The series loss all but ended Sri Lanka’s chances of a place in the WTC 2025 final, but not so for South Africa, who moved to the top of the table with yesterday’s win, upstaging Australia to second place. With two home Tests against Pakistan to follow, South Africa will fancy their chances of Lord’s final next year. 

Yesterday’s win extended South Africa’s home record since December 2020 to 11 wins and two losses from 13 Tests.

“This game was pretty tight, the boys fought hard and we were in the game till the last day, but it wasn’t good enough,” said Sri Lanka Captain Dhananjaya de Silva. 

“Obviously the conditions are very different to that of home; the bowlers kept asking questions, even the spinners. It was a good challenge, but South Africa was better than us. We played better cricket, but not good enough to get results in our favour. We are getting better, but we need to spend our 100%, that is what I want my team to do moving forward.” 

South Africa’s victorious Captain Temba Bavuma, who was named Player of the Series, said that it was good to be back after a long layoff from injury. 

“Durban was tricky on Day 1, conditions overhead. This Test match was a proper test of Test cricket. It’s not often that you get to play on all five days. There were times when we were on top; at times Sri Lanka looked good. A lot of credit to them, they really made us work hard.”

“Our batting was outstanding, with seven of them having made centuries at this level. We will take a lot of pride as batters. All of us are really happy for Rickelton who took his chances here. Jansen did well in the first Test, [Dane] Paterson (Player of the Match) did well here. I think we’re doing well as a team, no. 1 in the WTC table as of now; don’t know what will happen in the future, but we will celebrate today.”

SCOREBOARD

SOUTH AFRICA 1ST INNINGS 358

SRI LANKA 1ST INNINGS 328

SOUTH AFRICA 2ND INNINGS 317

SRI LANKA 2ND INNINGS

(205-5 continued)

P Nissanka c Verreynne b Paterson    18

D Karunaratne lbw b Rabada 1

D Chandimal lbw b Paterson  29

A Mathews b Maharaj    32

Kamindu Mendis c Verreynne b Maharaj 35

D de Silva c Verreynne b Rabada  50

Kusal Mendis c Markram b Maharaj      46

P Jayasuriya c Bavuma b Maharaj 9

V Fernando c Jansen b Maharaj 5

L Kumara c Rickelton b Jansen 1

A Fernando not out 0

Extras (b-5, lb-1, nb-6) 12

Total (all out, 69.1 overs) 238 

Fall of wickets: 1-10 (Karunaratne), 2-47 (Nissanka), 3-64 (Chandimal), 4-117 (Mathews), 5-122 (Kamindu Mendis), 6-219 (Kusal Mendis), 7-225 (De Silva), 8-233 (Jayasuriya), 9-238 (V Fernando), 10-238 (Kumara)    

Bowling: Rabada 21-3-63-2 (3nb), Jansen 10.1-1-54-1 (2nb), Maharaj 25-3-76-5, Paterson 12-3-33-2 (1nb), Markram 1-0-6-0