Showing posts with label galle. Show all posts
Steyn, Morkel star in Big Victory for SA
Sri Lanka v South Africa, 1st Test, Galle, 5th day
South Africa 455 for 9 dec (Elgar 103, Duminy 100*) and 206 for 6 dec (De Villiers 51, D Perera 4-79) beat Sri Lanka 292 (Mathews 89, Tharanga 83, Steyn 5-54) and 216 (Sangakkara 76, Morkel 4-29, Steyn 4-45) by 153 runs
Pace-duo of Dale Steyn & Morne Morkel bowled South Africa to their 3rd Test win in Sri Lanka taking 16 wickets in Galle, including 7 on the final day.
Sangakkara remained the biggest obstacle in the South Africans' path, and he was dropped off Morkel, but later gave his wicket away to a JP Duminy long hop. Sri Lanka began the day on 110/1, 260 runs short of the target of 370.
Sri Lanka suddenly lost 5 wickets for 40 runs in 18.2 overs, Angelo Mathews left alone again. He put on a fight, like in the 1st innings & Rangana Herath fought with him briefly. The Proteas could not bring down Mathews, but they finally broke through at the other end.
Sri Lankans sent out the injured Eranga to bat for the 2nd time in the match, but Morkel ended the match with 2 wickets in 2 balls.
Dale Steyn Bursts through Lanka
Steyn picks up 5 wickets on a dull track
Dale Steyn unleashed fiery bowling on a dry and flat track to bag his 23rd five-wicket haul in Tests finishing with figures of 5-50.
Sri Lanka stumbled to 283/9 at stumps on day 3 thanks largely to Skipper Angelo Mathews' brave 89 run knock & Upul Tharanga's 83. Upul Tharanga, making his return to test cricket after 6 years, scored a gutsy 83 which included 14 fours & a six.
Steyn's 1st victim was opener Kushal Silva who was caught spectacularly by Vernon Philander while trying to hook him. This brought Sangakkara to the crease who had scored record 7 50s in his last 7 innings. Sanga & Tharanga started domonating the Lankan bowlers a little bit when Sanga chopped one onto his stumps from Morkel.
Jaywardene, due to retire in August, was trapped LBW by Steyn for just 3.
Scorecard
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Elgar shines for South Africa
Sri Lanka v South Africa, 1st Test, Galle, 1st day
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| Dean Elgar on route to his century. |
In his first Test as captain, Hashim Amla had won the toss on a pitch expected to turn later. Elgar, in only his third Test innings as opener, and his first outside South Africa, had responded with an innings full of positivity and equally high on concentration. Faf du Plessis, batting at No. 3 for the first time in Tests, had battled his way through scoreless periods with aggressive footwork against spin. By tea, the second-wicket partnership had grown to 124. Alviro Petersen's fall against the run of play for 34 in the morning had been the only blip for the visitors. To add to Sri Lanka's worries, Shaminda Eranga had been restricted to nine overs after splitting the webbing of his right hand while fielding.
But Sri Lanka had found some promising reverse swing after lunch, and they did so again after tea. The first examination yielded no results but during the second Elgar went after a Suranga Lakmal delivery that held its line and edged it behind. A small, but significant opening had been made.
Amla was intent on driving at anything pitched up, but the timing just wasn't there. He tried to loft the tireless Rangana Herath over the off side, but only spooned a catch to wide mid-off for 11.
