Pretoria: Seam bowlers Wiaan Mulder and Lutho Sipamla took two wickets each as South Africa bowled injury-hit Sri Lanka out for 180 to complete a handsome victory by an innings and 45 runs on day four of the first Test at Centurion Park on Tuesday.
The tourist resumed its second innings on 65 for two on a wicket that provided plenty of assistance for the seam bowlers and when dangerous opener Kusal Perera was out for 64, its hopes of saving the Test were realistically over.
Sri Lanka had suffered crippling injuries to its bowling attack in the Test and was also without middle-order batsman Dhananjaya de Silva for the second innings, a major concern for its home series against England that starts on January 14.
De Kock, South Africa captain, said, ‘Feels very good. (Winning a) Test match never easy. Were disappointed after day 1 with our bowling performance. But came back well the other day. In the third innings, the boys came out with great intent with the ball. Getting off to a great start always helps the team. The way they came out and showed intent (Elgar and Markram), it filtered to the rest of the team. The way we came out and bowled today especially, the guys showed how well they can bowl. Holding their areas a lot longer. That’s what we’ll take forward. It was exactly that – the over rate (starting with spin after lunch).’
Dimuth Karunaratne, Sri Lanka captain, said, ‘We were in the driver’s seat, not easy to score 400 here. We did well as a batting unit, unfortunately we lost a couple of bowlers which is why we ended up this way. We couldn’t play Lakmal because of injury. We need to have a positive mindset, not worried about the injuries. Vishwa Fernando, Dasun did well whenever turned to them in the absence of Kumara and Dhananjaya. That’s a positive sign for us. We will look to do well at the Wanderers.’
Faf du Plessis, Man of the Match, said, ‘It was a good one. I thought we bowled okay on day one, pretty disappointed. But to start the second innings, 400 down and to come back like that it shows good character from our batting unit. Very proud of my CV as it says 199, little disappointed (missing the double) but happy that the team got the win.The important thing for us as a batting unit was that we started well, the opening pair made life easy for the rest of us. Coming to the crease I took my time and got used to the pitch, then later started getting a move on. We had to work together as a partnership, myself and Temba started building on that and once the partnership starts growing then the big score looks closer. It was a pretty good pitch, Test match pitch. I thought there was always something in it for the bowlers if you hit the channel. Both teams did not bowl as they would have liked. Credit to the groundsman for an even contest between bat and ball. I have been feeling good to the lead up. I had a good IPL and carried that form. It was just about making sure of getting back to basics and being specific on the game plan.’