Proteas throw away much good work in Galle

The Proteas’ old problem of failing to land knockout punches against opposition teams’ tailenders reared its had once again on the opening day of the first Test against Sri Lanka in Galle on Thursday.

Having persevered well to land the home side in trouble at 176/8, South Africa’s attack lost its composure and conceded a potentially 112 runs for the last two wickets.

Sri Lanka finished with 287.

The main figure in that revival was 30-year-old opener Dimuth Karunaratne, who played an excellent innings in carrying his bat to end on 158.

Kagiso Rabada was the mainstay of the Proteas’ attack with 4/50.

Sri Lanka’s defiance gave them such a boost that they even managed to nip out Aiden Markram for a duck as South Africa closed on 4/1.

Rabada roars

Proteas captain Faf du Plessis had predicted that 23-year-old Rabada would be the leader of his attack despite the presence of Dale Steyn.

The world’s No 1 ranked bowler in Tests duly delivered on those words with a superb burst in the second session, when he took two wickets in three balls.

First, he had Angelo Mathews caught behind with a fine delivery on a fourth-stump line before roughing up Roshen Silva with a brute of a short delivery that was fended to short leg.

Rabada’s workload was clearly managed as he only bowled 14 overs when he was clearly the Proteas’ most dangerous bowler.

He has just recently recovered from a stress fracture in his back.

Frustration sees Proteas lose their heads

This was a day where South Africa seemed to lack a bit of emotional intelligence.

They had done well to put the Sri Lankans on the back foot but the doggedness of stand-in captain Suranga Lakmal and Lakshan Sandakan, who added 48 and 63 respectively for the 9th and 10th wicket with Karunaratne, seemed to mess with their minds.

The quicks bowled progressively shorter instead of focusing on good lengths while Keshav Maharaj doesn’t seem to have recovered quite fully yet from the illness that kept him out of last week’s warm-up game.

He struggled to find a consistent length in particular.

His spinning partner, Tabraiz Shamsi, bowled creditably to finish with 3/91 but he eventually began to lack support and his discipline waned.

Dazzling Dimuth, dreary Dale

Karunaratne frustrates a lot as a Test batsman.

The left-hander is clearly capable of big scores – as a highest of 196 attests to – but before this match he only averaged 34.63 in Test cricket.

On a pitch that is already taking substantial turn, Karunaratne showed great skill and application in becoming the fourth Sri Lankan batter to carry his bat in an Test innings.

Contrasting to his fortunes, Dale Steyn struggled for rhythm.

He did grab a wicket after lunch which puts him within two wickets of the all-time Test record for South Africa (421 wickets by Shaun Pollock) yet he certainly didn’t make the expected impact.

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