Bowlers Give Sri Lanka Some Heart

Samaraweera reaches his hundred

The second day at Kingsmead was a day when bowlers provided the action and Sri Lanka charged, unexpectedly, back into the Test series against South Africa. 14 wickets fell, ten of them South African, as they collapsed to the left handed combination of fast bowler Chand]aka Welegedara and spinner Rangana Herath.

Sr Lanka added only 49 to their overnight score, with Thilan Samaraweera going on to his first Test hundred for more than a year and his thirteen in a ten year Test career. After stubborn resistance by Herath which added 46, the last three wickets tumbled to Marchant de Lange, giving him a debut return of 7-81and the best figures on debut by a South African.

South Africa looked comfortable until lunch but crashed afterwards,  losing its two openers and Kallis before 30 and inside eleven overs. Jacques Rudolph left first, playing am ordinary hook shot off Perera and Welegedara took a good low catch at fine leg. Smith left next, playing a lazy shot outside the off stump to Welegedara and being smartly snapped up by the new keeper, Dinesh Chandimal who dived to his left and Kallis made it three when he was forced to play a beauty from Welegedara and snicked it to Mahela Jayawardene who held the first of three catches.

Welegedara 5-52

AB de Villiers provided Hashim Amla with much needed support and the pair batted safely to tea and raised the hundred. Amla went for long periods hardly scoring, grim in defence of his wickets but interspersed this determination to survive with shots from his classic cupboard - cover drives, cuts in front and behind point and balls sent down the ground with barely a lean and zero footwork. de Villiers was held in check by Herath, using his feet but never able to break free. Only occasionally was he able to attack Fernando and Perera and break the shackles being placed around his normally sparkling footwork. After tea, it all went horribly wrong, with de Villers tempted in the first over to slash a drive at a ball well wide of off stump and he instead deposited the edge to Jayawardene. Two overs later, Amla was beaten on the inside and Chandimal held the catch. Both wickets fell to Welegedara.

From there it was a quick decline which only Dale Steyn held up with some monster heaves, hitting Herath for two big sixes. Herath cut a swath through the lower half and Welegedara returned to take the last and claim his fifth. Chandimal finished with four dismissals on debut, including the stumping of Imran Tahir and South Africa had surrendered yet again at Kingsmead.

Trailing by 170, Dale Steyn had his second delivery slashed over cover point's head by Tillerkaratne Dilshan and found the edge of his bat, only poked at the next ball and flying to Graeme Smith. South Africa are capable of miracle comebacks and Sri Lanka have more crumple zones than the average family sedan so this could yet be an exciting match but don't buy tickets for day four just yet.