Sri Lanka vs South Africa, 2nd Test Review: Hosts complete the cleanup and complete series sweep

The Lankans completed an impressive win with a day and a half to spare.

Published - 23 Jul 2018, 13:41 IST | Updated - 23 Jul 2018, 13:41 IST

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In spite of an impressive century from 25-year old Theunis de Bruyn, he was seemingly no match for the uncanny Rangana Herath who picked an impressive six-wicket haul in what seems to be the conclusion of an illustrious career for Sri Lanka over the years. However, the 2-0 series win and a clean sweep over one of the best sides in the World will certainly come as a welcome relief following the controversy-marred 1-1 Test series in the Caribbean.

Beginning the day on 139/5, Theunis de Bruyn and Temba Bavuma began proceedings with some fantastic batting. Both batsmen were seemingly indestructible as they went about their batting prowess with ease. The tactics that were employed was the sweep and the reverse sweep, something that saw Herath claim the wicket of Aiden Markram the previous evening.

It became worrisome for stand-in skipper Suranga Lakmal, especially when he made futile attempts to change the Lankan spin bowling combination from time to time. While de Bruyn had crossed a well-deserved half-century, it was Bavuma who eventually prished as the lunch interval approached. In fact, Bavuma had batted quite positively between the two and was en route to a century before being dismissed in a rather unfortunate fashion.

Quinton de Kock began his innings with a whack to the fence, but soon fell victim to the uncanny Dilruwan Perera who dismissed him with the leg-before decision going the way of the bowler and the trajectory showingthe wickets just clipping.

The lower order might have come in, but de Bruyn was batting and as long as he was there, it was quite clear that South Africa may have well had a fighting chance. However, shortly after reaching a well-deserved century, Pommie Mbangwa and his commentator’s curse came to light as he completely misread a delivery from Herath and was bowled.

Herath eventually completed his six-wicket haul after Dale Steyn was dismissed and the series was wrapped up 2-0.