Proteas close in on snuffing out Sri Lanka

Zaahier Adams

Second Test, Day 4

South Africa: 358 & 317

Sri Lanka: 328 & 205/5

De Silva 39*, Mendis 39*, Maharaj 2/33, Paterson 2/62

Sri Lanka need 143 runs, South Africa five wickets for victory

Sri Lanka have a history of epic chases here at St George’s Park.

Perhaps that’s why the Proteas could take nothing for granted when they embarked on trying to bowl the visitors out with 142 overs at their disposal in this second and final Test.

But maybe now with Sri Lanka’s top-order all back in the hut, and with five wickets remaining, the home team can finally believe they are in the pound seats to close out the victory that will take them within touching distance of a place in next year’s ICC World Test Championship final at Lord’s.

The bare numbers saw the Proteas bowled out for 317 in the second innings, which left Sri Lanka a record 348 to chase in just over a day and a half. By stumps on day four, they had moved to 205/5.

Dimuth Karunaratne (1) ended his wretched tour with another failure when Kagiso Rabada (1/44) trapped him LBW before first-innings hero Dane Paterson (2/62) grabbed the wickets of Pathum Nissanka (18) and Dinesh Chandimal (29) to take his match tally to seven.

And when Keshav Maharaj (2/33) joined the party with the two big scalps of Angelo Mathews (32) and Kamindu Mendis (35), it left Sri Lanka on the brink at 122/5 - still 226 runs in arrears.

The Proteas were circling in the bloodied waters like Great White Sharks at that point, but Sri Lanka’s captain Dhananjaya de Silva (39 not out) and Kusal Mendis (39 not out) have ensured this gripping Test will head into a final day due to an unbroken 83-run stand.

Sri Lanka’s target could likely have been much greater when Proteas captain Temba Bavuma and Tristan Stubbs were in full control during the morning session. The pair were accumulating runs without any fuss, until a break in miscommunication saw Stubbs needlessly run out for 47 to close off the 104-run partnership.

Bavuma went on to his fourth consecutive half-century of the series, but the innings had lost its momentum with the Sri Lankan seamers once again exposing David Bedingham’s glaring weakness against the short-pitched ball.

It certainly is an area of his game that Bedingham will need to work on urgently for every Test attack will now have a target to aim at when the Western Province batter walks to the crease. Bedingham tried his best to negotiate this awkward period, and in the process picked up a couple of free boundaries straight down the ground, but it certainly wasn’t pretty to watch.

Meanwhile, Sri Lankan left-arm spinner Prabath Jayasuriya (5/129) continued to chip away at the other end and eventually collected his 11th five-wicket haul to stem the Proteas run flow.

Bavuma (66), Bedingham (35) and Marco Jansen (8) were among his victims to go along with Tony de Zorzi and Ryan Rickelton’s scalps of the previous day. But just when Sri Lanka may have believed they had it all wrapped up, the Proteas’ tailenders Kagiso Rabada, Keshav Maharaj and Dane Paterson all struck a few lusty blows to take momentum into the dressingroom.

The Proteas will hope an early breakthrough this morning will see an end to Sri Lanka’s defiance, but there the tourists have also shown before that any task is not beyond the realms of possibility.