Related Links : Sri Lanka Vs South Africa : 1st Test
South Africa is facing an inevitable innings defeat at the SSC, Colombo with Sri Lanka ending the second day’s play at 485 for 2, a first innings lead of 316! Yes, the wickets lost in the Sri Lankan innings was still two, which means that the Proteas couldn’t even get a single wicket in today’s play and were taken for two double centuries by the overnight batsmen – Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene. It looked as if the two teams had batted on two different pitches but that was mainly because of the pressure that the South African batsmen created on themselves in their first innings. The pitch is for sure a bowlers’ graveyard although someone like Murali can run through any batting line up on any pitch.
It was a new world record created by the two dashing stroke players Sangakkara and Jayawardene, they now hold the record for the highest 3rd wicket partnership in the history of the game. The partnership is still unbroken at 471 and it could be a lot more once play resumes on the third day and given the history of Sri Lankan Cricket, they are not a team who wouldn’t resist from going for the records given an opportunity instead of rapping up the match in quick time. Andrew Jones-Martin Crowe is the unlucky pair, whose previous record of 467 for the 3rd wicket has vanished on the 28th of July, 2006. The highest partnership for any wicket is 576 between Roshan Mahanama and Sanath Jayasuriya in that famous Test Match in 1997 against India. Sangakkara and Jayawardene would be looking to target that record, but it might be difficult for Sri Lanka to repeat the 952 for 6.
Sri Lanka resuming at an overnight total of 128 for 2, survived the initial burst from the South Africans and once Sangakkara and Jayawardene got their eye in, it was all leather hunt for the Proteas. There was hardly any assistance for the South African fast bowlers Makhaya Ntini and Dale Steyn. Infact, they looked ordinary on this slow and low track and nothing has to be taken away from their efforts. At lunch time, Sangakkara had comfortably gone past his hundred and Mahela Jayawardene was hanging in there at 99, Lankans added 99 runs in the 26 overs. The Afternoon session saw almost the same pace maintained by the two batsmen with 93 runs added in 29 overs, but in doing so, both batsmen were well into the 140s. The last session saw records tumbling with both batsmen reaching their double hundreds, and by then the South African bowlers had tired enough to bowl plenty of loose deliveries. The final session saw the real plundering with 165 coming in 31 overs. Four overs were lost due to bad light and at Stumps, Kumar Sangakkara had scored 5 runs more than Mahela Jayawardene, who was on 224. Sangakkara had hit 31 fours with his 229 coming in 307 balls and Jayawardene’s 224 coming in 356 balls with 27 fours and a six.
South Africa is in a no way out situation and they can only be saved by thunderstorms, it looks like. The bowlers need to forget about this game pretty soon as they might have been severely affected in their minds after today’s slaughtering. The Proteas might aim to go down fighting, but that doesn’t look to be a possibility looking at their poor approach with the bat in their first innings, in particular their Skipper Ashwell Prince, who crumbled under the pressure.