Irrepressible Philander and Rabada torment Lankans

Sri Lanka were facing a lengthy uphill battle for survival as they reached stumps on 130 for four on the third day of the second Test against South Africa at Newlands in Cape Town on Wednesday.

Needing to either score a massive 507 for victory or bat out more than 200 overs to salvage a draw and stay alive in the series – both of them highly unlikely to happen – Sri Lanka were once again rocked by pace bowlers Kagiso Rabada and Vernon Philander.

Rabada took two for 10 in a lengthy, fierce eight-over second spell, while Philander claimed the first two wickets to fall in a superb six-over burst either side of tea.

At one stage Sri Lanka were 69 for four, struggling to take the match into the fourth day, but captain Angelo Mathews (29*) and Dinesh Chandimal (28*) held off the impressive South African attack for just over an hour before stumps, adding 61 for the fifth wicket.

Kusal Mendis’s looseness outside off stump was once again his downfall as he edged an expansive drive on the up against Philander into the slips; it was the shot of someone on 104 not just 4.

Sri Lanka were wobbling on 25 for two, but Kaushal Silva and Dhananjaya de Silva, probably the two gutsiest Sri Lankan batsmen on this tour, added 41 for the third wicket, the hour-long stand being ended by the arrival of the ferocious Rabada.

The Proteas’ leading wicket-taker in 2016  bombarded the diminutive Silva with short balls at the body and eventually the obdurate 30-year-old cracked, gloving the ball to short-leg. He had been at the crease for 111 minutes, scoring 29 runs off 70 balls.

The next over from Rabada saw the demise of De Silva for 22, the surprise element of the full ball  trapping the batsman lbw after the regular diet of back-of-a-length deliveries. The replays showed the ball was missing leg-stump however, but the Sri Lankans did not bother with the review.

Mathews and Chandimal survived some rash moments, but they did manage to cuff seven boundaries between them. They will need to muster all the defiance they can to keep South Africa in the field for much of the fourth day though.

Earlier, South Africa declared their second innings on 224/7 as most of the batters got starts.

But there were disappointments.

It was a great pity that Temba Bavuma immediately ran himself out for a duck, his bat bouncing in the air as he dived to try and beat De Silva’s direct hit from mid-off.

Hashim Amla’s poor run of form also continued.

His duck follows an innings of 29 in the first innings in which he seldom looked at home, and continues his run of 10 Test innings without a half-century, his average this summer being 21.66.

Dean Elgar anchored the innings with a solid 55 while captain Faf du Plessis was able to succeed in driving the scoreboard along, making 41 off 49 balls before Suranga Lakmal had him caught behind, trying to run a delivery down to third man.

The admirable Sri Lankan quick ended with 4/69.

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