South Africa v Sri Lanka, 3rd Test, Day 2 - 5 Talking Points

The third and final Test between South Africa and Sri Lanka had a lot at stake for the visitors. The hosts having already sealed the series 2-0 Sri Lanka had nothing but pride to play for. However, they had a disappointing start to the final Test as well. The day 1 of the Test pretty much summed up what has been the story of the series thus far.

Proteas thoroughly dominated the proceedings on day 1 and the story of the second day was no different. Resuming at 338/3 on day 2, they managed to score 426 in their first innings. The Lankans, in their response, had hoped for greater resistance in the batting. But their top order failed to impress yet again.

Had their not been bad light called on the second day, the dominance of the hosts would have continued. Sri Lanka finished at 80/4 on the second day with two of their senior most players at the crease, Dinesh Chandimal, and Angelo Mathews. Here are 5 talking points from the day 2 play of the third and final Test:

1. Big guns fail to add to the misery of the visitors

South Africa resumed the second day at 338/3. They had the stalwart in Hashim Amla at the crease with firmly standing on 125. Amla, who is playing his 100th Test, brought up his 27th Test ton on day 1. The team expected him to continue his good run on the second day as well.

But Amla could only add 12 runs to his overnight score before being dismissed by Lahiru Kumara. The batsmen who followed him could not contribute much either. Skipper Faf du Plessis departed cheaply after scoring just 16.

Also read- SA v SL 3rd Test, Day 2 Review: Bowlers help South Africa consolidate on a position of strength

2. Temba Bavuma’s rough run continues

The 26-year-old batsman Temba Bavuma walked into the series with a reputation of being the next big thing in South African cricket. But his scores have been far from impressive. He has scored just 21 runs across the 5 innings that he has played in the series thus far.

His string of low scores continued in this match as well. Prior to this game, Bavuma had the scores of 3, 8, 10 and 0 in the four innings of the first two Tests. This game, too, he lasted just 2 deliveries for his duck before being sent packing by Nuwan Pradeep.

3. South African batting collapse

The Proteas were looking threatening to post a huge total on the board. With just 3 wickets down on the day 1 for a score of 338, nothing was going right for the visitors. However, their bowlers did a fair job to bring them back in the hunt to some extent. A rare batting collapse for the hosts was on display.

They lost Duanne Olivier cheaply at the start of the day. Hashim Amla was restricted to just 134. Despite lower order contributions from Quinton de Kock (34) and Wayne Parnell (23), South Africa could only add 88 runs for the last 7 wickets.

4. Pacers bring Sri Lanka back in the game, Herath goes wicketless

The downfall of South Africa’s middle and lower order can largely be accredited to the Lankan pacers. The attack that looked lackluster on the first day, came back strong on the second day. Nuwan Pradeep and Lahiru Kumara bagged 4 wickets each to keep the hosts down to 426 despite a high pounding start.

Kumara gave away 107 runs for his four-fer while Pradeep was the more economical one as he gave away just 78 runs. Surprisingly and unfortunately for Sri Lanka, their spin bowling wizard Rangana Herath went wicketless in the innings.

5. New match, same old problems for visitors

The new match did not bring in new fortunes for the visitors. Their batting, the top order in particular, failed yet again on a day when they needed to show some resilience. Dimuth Karunaratne was sent back on a duck by Vernon Philander and he needed just 4 balls for that. It was all about the bowling duo of Philander and Kagiso Rabada yet again.

Both the bowlers bagged two wickets each to leave Sri Lanka at 80/4 at the end of day 2. Kaushal Silva, the other opener, managed to score just 13. Kusal Mendis looked good for his 41 but gave it away towards the end of the day. Dhananjaya de Silva had a rare failure on the day.