South Africa jump to number two with comprehensive thrashing of Sri Lanka. Humbled Lankans tumble from number three spot.- BY TREVINE RODRIGO IN MELBOURNE. (eLanka Sports Editor).
South Africa steamrolled Sri Lanka and jumped to number two in the world Test cricket rankings while pushing the third placed Lankans to number five as the top teams battle for a place innings the final against India or Australia.
Indisciplined batting by Sri Lanka, but more importantly, terrific line and length by South Africa’s bowlers saw the inevitable happen as the home team humbled the Lankans by 233 runs at Kingsmead in Durban.
South Africa were clinical in their plans to use familiar conditions with the bounce and movement to their advantage. They executed it to perfection.
What was clearly evident was Sri Lanka’s batters inability to handle the bounce and movement on faster tracks, and unless this can be remedied, they are staring down the barrel of a rout in this series.
Obviously the information from the local consultant had no bearing on how they handled the conditions. Hindsight suggests, some input from past experience would have been a sounder option.
The experience of players such as Dimuth Karunaratne, Angelo Matthews, Skipper Dhananjaya de Silva and Dinesh Chandimal counted for little as they struggled to inspire the younger players in the team. With this as an indication going forward, the light at the end of the tunnel is certainly a far way off.
Chandimal, skipper Dhananjaya de Silva and Kusal Mendis showed better application in their second effort but not enough to save the game.
Sri Lanka’s lowest score ever in the first innings 42, erased the embarrassing 71 against Pakistan at home in Kandy.
The wicket settled to easy paced on day three as the South African batters took control of Sri Lanka’s attack to smash 366 for five declared and establish a 516 run target that literally took the fight out of the hapless Lankans.
But then the trend continued for Sri Lanka, as they faced the uphill task of running down the target in over two days.
They showed no sign of learning from their first innings embarrassment making the result inevitable as they crashed once more to 105 for 5 by the close.
Backs to the wall on day four, Sri Lanka’s later batters showed a glimmer of fighting back. But the loss of half the side cheaply, never made it a realistic possibility, as Dinesh Chandimal made a spirited 83, Skipper Dhananjaya de Silva 59 and Kusal Mendis 48 in a vain effort to thwart the inevitable.
First innings destroyer Marco Jansen and Gerald Coetzee returned to the scene of destruction leaving the technique absent Lankans falling in a heap once more.
Jensen grabbed another four wickets adding to his 7 for 13 in the first innings for a match bag of 11 in a remarkable effort that left Sri Lanka’s batters with no answer. Gerald Coetzee, Rabada, and Keshav Maharaj grabbed two each to put the Lankans out of their misery.
Day four was to complete the mere formality it seemed.
They need to work on their technique against the bounce and movement in South Africa or return home with a sorry tale to tell.
