|
Sri Lanka
consolidate after bundling out SA for 169 |
July 27, 2006
Ashwell Prince's first day in the office was far
from being impressive with his side crumbling
down to post just 169 after winning the toss and
electing to bat first. Sri Lanka in reply batted
sensibly through Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela
Jayawardene to end the opening day's play of the
1st Test Match at SSC, Colombo at 128 for 2. Sri
Lanka would be trying their level best to build
up a huge first innings total to bat the Proteas
out of the game. But the first hour of play on
the second day morning is going to be crucial
with South Africa having two tear away quicks in
Makhaya Ntini and Dale Steyn, who could run
through any batting line up on their day. It was
the pair of Dilhara Fernando and Muttiah
Muralitharan that ripped apart the South African
batting early on.
The Sinhalese Sports Club in Colombo is one
ground that assists movement for the pace
bowlers during the first hour of play and
Ashwell Prince took a bold decision in batting
first. South Africans decided to include all
rounder Andrew Hall in place of Boeta Dippenaar
and Sri Lanka included Prasanna Jayawardene, the
wicket keeper to relieve Kumar Sangakkara of the
taxing glove work and concentrate only on his
batting. The only man left out in the 12-man
squad was the leg spinner Malinga Bandara. South
Africa's start was promising but with the first
change in the bowling brought in the form of
Dilhara Fernando, things stared to happen for
the Lankans. First to go was Andrew Hall (17),
whose furniture was disturbed after he got an
inside edge while trying to drive Dilhara
Fernando's big inswinger on the rise through
covers. Herschelle Gibbs was also dismissed in a
similar fashion, but this time the movement was
a bit too much to go onto miss the inside edge
and crash straightaway onto the stumps. Gibbs's
comeback in the South African Squad wasn't
successful atleast for this innings as he was
out for 19 with South Africa at 45 for 2.
Rudolph and Amla then steadied the ship and took
South Africa through to lunch without any
further alarms and SA were at a shaky 78 for 2.
The post lunch session saw Rudolph (29) playing
a loose shot outside his offstump to present
Farveez Maharoof with his first wicket and that
was followed with Prince's exit which came just
like Rudolph's. Maharoof was a lucky bowler
getting two wickets off deliveries that were
just slanting across the left handers. Sri Lanka
at this stage were truly on top of South
Africans and with Muralitharan bowling from one
end, the Proteas struggled to score the runs.
Hashim Amla's stay at the crease ended too with
the youngster looking to turn Murali to the
onside and got stranded with that delivery being
a doosra that turned away to give Prasanna
Jayawardene an easy stumping. Amla made 19 after
being there for 64 balls and with his downfall,
South Africa were 112 for 5. Boucher didn't last
long to support AB de Villiers' fight and the
wicket keeper batsman fell after getting a top
edge in his sweep shot to Muralitharan. AB de
Villiers was the lone man trying to get
something on the board for the Proteas and he
took on Muralitharan with some well controlled
sweep shots and he got quite a few bad
deliveries from the pacers at the other end.
Nicky Boje was given out lbw to a doosra which
looked to be going over the top of the stumps,
nevertheless it was the third wicket of the day
for Murali and Dilhara Fernando at the other end
sent back the tail enders Andre Nel and Dale
Steyn by bowling right up onto the stumps. AB de
Villiers was the last man out after scoring 65
holing down to the man on the boundary on the
onside to Muralitharan. The South African
innings lasted for just over 50 overs and with
that Tea was taken.
South Africa could still come back in the game
with their bowling fire power and Dale Steyn
gave the impressions of a fightback as he
produced two quick deliveries when the Lankans
came out to bat to dismiss both the openers.
Jayasuriya was the first wicket to go down after
the veteran was late in getting his bat in line
of the ball and got struck in front of the
stumps. Tharanga was removed with a short
delivery to which the left hander gloved it to
the keeper in an attempt to go for the pull.
Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawadene then
played beautifully to take the game forward for
Sri Lanka. Both batsmen dished out their strokes
to get the game under control for the homeside.
Sri Lanka ended at 128 for 2 with bad light
bringing a halt to the play and robbing 13 overs
of the play. Both Sangakkara and Jayawardene
have scored unbeaten half centuries. Kumar
Sangakkara has done his job for the day playing
in the side as a pure batsman and he was lucky
to be there after being put down at point by
Rudolph when he was just on 1 and after a while
being bowled off a noball. Dale Steyn was the
bowler on both occasions. In the end, it was Sri
Lanka all the way with South Africa being
dominated with both bat and the ball and the
Lankans are now just 41 runs behind SA.
Top of the Page |
