South Africa move to 2nd place in WTC standings with 233-run win over Sri Lanka

Durban: South Africa moved up to second place in the World Test Championship table, only behind India, after their emphatic 233 win over Sri Lanka at the Kingsmead Cricket Stadium on Saturday.

The Proteas bowling attack, spearheaded by Marco Jansen, ripped through the Sri Lankan batting line-up in the second innings as they bundled their opponents for a mere score of 42. Jansen became the first left-arm seamer to take a ten-wicket haul for South Africa since their re-admission into cricket in 1991.

After being put to bat in the first innings, the Proteas struggled to get going. As wickets fell one after another on end, skipper Temba Bavuma’s resilient 70 run knock propelled his side to 191/10.

With their first innings score not passing the 200 run mark, the Proteas bowlers took the field under immense pressure on Day-2 and stopped up brilliantly. Marco Jansen’s brilliant 6.5 over spell saw the Left arm pacer scalp seven wickets. Kagiso Rabada (1) and Gerald Coetzee (2) helped Jansen in bundling the visitors out for 42, giving them a 149 run lead.

Tristan Stubbs (122) and Bavuma (113) recorded the highest fourth-wicket partnership for South Africa in Tests against Sri Lanka with a 249-run stand and broke the record of 192 set by AB de Villiers and Jacques Kallis back in 2012 at the Newlands in Cape Town. With the score at 366/5, the Proteas declared their innings giving the visitors a massive target of 516.

Despite the best efforts of Dinesh Chandimal and skipper Dhananjay de Silva, the visitors fell well short as they were bundled out for 282 giving the hosts a memorable victory.

“Always dreamed of five, but never thought I will get 10, but this is what you work for. It hasn’t sunk in yet (talking about his first innings performance). In the second innings, we thought the surface was a bit flatter, slow and low but getting 11 wickets is a dream come true,” said Jansen after being awarded the player of the match honour.

Brief Scores: SA: 191/10 & 366/5 dec (Stubbs (122), Bavuma (113); Vishwa Fernando (2/64) beat Sri Lanka: 42/10 and 262/10 (Chandimal (83), De Silva (59) by 233 runs.

–IANS