South Africa’s openers arrive at tea unscathed
Tea South Africa 22 for 0 (Elgar 19 *, Markram 3 *) vs Sri Lanka 157 (Perera 60, Nortje 6-56)
Wiaan Mulder kicked off Sri Lanka’s collapse in the overs just before lunch, before Anrich Nortje broke through the middle and bottom order to claim 6 of 56, the best in his fledgling career so far. Overall, the South African rapids made quick work of Sri Lanka’s exhausted batting line (missing at least four first-order first-choice players), knocking them out by 157 within 41 overs. The South African openers went to tea without suffering any damage.
Kusal Perera’s 60 of 67 was the only big-name entry. Most of the hitters went down playing attack shots, perhaps because they didn’t trust their defense against the pins of the pace and quality that Nortje produced. He frequently reached speeds in excess of 145 km / h, and disturbed several batters with his gorilla.
Sri Lanka was in really good shape after the first 20 overs of innings. Nortje had fired Dimuth Karunaratne early by gaining a steep rebound from just under a length, but Perera had moved into attack mode, hitting South African bowlers offside with particular gusto. He had been hit several times to the body early in innings, particularly by Nortje, but began scoring runs behind the square on the side of his leg when players hit him in the ribs again later in the session. He was especially harsh on Lungi Ngidi, who gave him too wide, and his innings contained 11 fours, in all.
But it was his window that started the massive Sri Lanka slide. Having played a maiden against Mulder’s first over, Perera pushed a next ball with a wide latch and sent a catch into the ravine. Kusal Mendis was then cut by Mulder later in the end, and Lahiru Thirimanne’s lead found the end after that as well. When Nortje had rookie Minod Bhanuka trapped behind the last ball before lunch, Sri Lanka had lost four wickets for 13 runs in the space of four overs to go 84 for 5 at the end of the first session. Niroshan Dickwella and Dasun Shanaka did not last long against Nortje after lunch, both fell playing attack shots. In total, that collapse had cost Sri Lanka six plots of land for 39.
Wanindu Hasaranga and Dushmantha Chameera offered a semblance of endurance, putting up a full-blown 39 for the eighth wicket as they both achieved scores above 20, but Nortje eventually came back to clear the tail.
Dean Elgar and Aiden Markram looked solid in response when South Africa came out to bat. They had moved to 22 with no loss for tea.
Andrew Fidel Fernando is the ESPNcricinfo correspondent in Sri Lanka. @afidelf
.
