The writing was very much on the wall for Sri Lanka when they finished Day 4 on 240 for 5 in pursuit of chasing down an improbable total of 488 and it was only a matter of delaying the inevitable for the visitors. But Day 5 was completely the opposite of the batting performance that Angelo Mathews’ men had displayed on the previous day. If Thursday was all about the Sri Lankan batsmen playing out of their skin to keep the Proteas bowlers at bay, Friday was all about the South African bowlers making light work of Sri Lanka’s remaining batsmen.
Sri Lanka skipper Angelo Mathews, who resumed the day on 58, was the last hope for his side to save the Test but he could add only one run to his overnight score before being trapped by Kyle Abbott in only the third over of the day. Looking to guide an inswinging delivery to the fine leg, the right-handed batsman failed to make contact with the ball and the ball hit him on the pads. South African players went up in unison and the umpire had no hesitation in raising his finger. Mathews, however, challenged the decision only to see it get wasted.
20 balls later, Abbott struck once again to remove Sri Lanka’s last recognised batsman Dhananjaya de Silva. The 25-year-old, who had scored 43 in the previous innings, was dismissed very much in the same manner as his skipper. He was given out by the umpire after being trapped and just like Mathews, he too decided to review but it did not save him as the visitors were staring down the barrel after being reduced to 258 for 7.
In the first ball of the very next over, Vernon Philander sent Rangana Herath back to the pavilion by taking a diving catch off his own bowling. South Africa skipper Faf du Plessis then reintroduced Kagiso Rabada and Keshav Maharaj into the attack and the move paid immediate dividends as both of them picked up a wicket each to help their side dismiss the visitors for 281 and win the match by 206 runs.
The second Test of the three-match series starts from January 2 at Cape Town.
Brief scores:
South Africa 286 (Duminy 63, Elgar 59, Lakmal 5-63) and 406 for 6 dec (Cook 117, de Kock 69, du Plessis 67*, Elgar 52) beat Sri Lanka 205 (Philander 5-45) and 281 (Mathews 59, Mendis 58, Rabada 3-77, Maharaj 3-86) by 206 runs