Smiling Sri Lankans upset the cricket world cup odds
By most standards of logic, South Africa’s two-Test series against Sri Lanka should have produced two comfortable wins for the home team. Instead, Sri Lanka won both matches in one of cricket’s greatest upsets, playing with a smile on their faces and with brave, positive cricket to become the irst Asian side to win a Test series in South Africa. Their win in the irst Test owed much to an astonishing innings by Kusal Perera; their triumph in the second was emphatic. South Africa, with arguably the world’s best fast-bowling attack, had won 16 of their previous 19 home Test matches and seven successive home series. Sri Lanka had lost six of their previous seven Test matches, were coming off two heavy defeats in Australia and before that defeats in New Zealand and at home to England – and seemed to be in disarray with injuries, shock omissions, apparent turmoil in the boardroom and coach Chandika Hathurusingha stripped of his role as a selector. Dinesh Chandimal, the captain, had been sent home to regain form by playing in domestic cricket. In a less than ringing endorsement, opening batsman Dimuth Karunaratne was named as ‘stand-in captain’. If there was encouragement for Sri Lanka, it was that the two Tests were scheduled for Durban and Port Elizabeth, the two South African venues that offered the least assistance to fast bowling. Sri Lanka’s only Test win in 13 Tests in South Africa had been at Durban in 2011/12. Notwithstanding the expected slowness of the pitch, South Africa picked four fast bowlers and added left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj for the irst Test, leaving just six recognised batsmen, including wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock. Both matches followed similar patterns in the irst innings, with South Africa leading despite moderate totals. De Kock made 80 at Durban and 86 at Port Elizabeth. Vishwa Fernando, a 27-year-old left-arm bowler, caused immediate problems with his late swing, away from left-handers and in to right-handers. Dean Elgar was caught behind in Fernando’s irst over of the series and bowled by one that went straight on in the bowler’s third over at Port Elizabeth. He was comfortably the most successful bowler of the series with 12 wickets at 18.91.
Sri Lanka’s irst innings were marked by aggressive strokeplay that bordered on the selfdestructive but in both matches their positive approach paid off in the second innings. Faf du Plessis and de Kock seemed to have played South Africa into an impregnable position in the second innings of the irst Test, but the last ive wickets fell for eight runs, with the persistent Fernando and the impressive debutant leftarm spinner Lasith Embuldeniya exposing a lengthy tail. Needing 304 to win, Sri Lanka lost their irst ive wickets for 110. With Vernon Philander absent because of a hamstring strain, Dhananjaya de Silva helped Perera add 96 for the sixth wicket, but Sri Lanka were 78 runs short of their target when last man Vishwa Fernando, with four runs and four dismissals in his previous three Tests, joined Perera, who was on 86. Du Plessis set as many as eight ielders on the boundary for Perera, inviting him to take singles so that his bowlers could attack the No.11. Perera had been in and out of the Test team and had a career Test average below 30, with just one century, against Zimbabwe. With the pressure of potential dismissal largely removed, he was able to manipulate the strike while still inding the boundary often enough for the target to reduce rapidly.
Fernando vowed to defend his wicket with his body if necessary and survived the 27 deliveries he had to face. The new ball was taken with 41 still needed. Perera hit Steyn (twice) and Kagiso Rabada for sixes. Two balls after depositing Steyn on the bank at midwicket he stole the strike off the last ball of theover. Three balls later he steered Rabada past a lone slip for four and victory was sealed. After leading by 68 runs on the irst innings at Port Elizabeth, South Africa collapsed to an abject 128 all out. Suranga Lakmal inally gained reward for consistent bowling, while off-spinner de Silva, forced into action because Embuldeniya had been ruled out with a damaged left thumb, had career-best igures. Du Plessis was left stranded on 50 not out and could not explain his team’s collapse on what he said was a good batting pitch. Sri Lanka, needing 197 to win, were 60 for 2 overnight and a tense inish seemed in prospect, but Kusal Mendis and Oshada Fernando needed just 29.4 overs to score the remaining 137 runs with dazzling and sometimes audacious strokeplay. Karunaratne said afterwards: “When I started, I said to my boys: ‘Whatever happens you have to keep smiling, keep enjoying. If you’re not enjoying you don’t get to a hundred per cent.’” His players responded in the best way possible. Their exuberance on the ield was a delight to behold. In the two Fernandos, fast bowler Kasun Rajitha and spinner Embuldeniya they have young players who surprised South Africa and who have a promising future. South Africa though, had much to ponder, not least the diminishing returns of Hashim Amla and the ineffectiveness over the last three innings of Dale Steyn. They will both turn 36 before South Africa play another Test match. One player who deinitely will not be on the light to India in September is Duanne Olivier, the most successful fast bowler of the summer, who rejected a Cricket South Africa contract in favour of a Kolpak deal with Yorkshire. Source: cricket world cup match schedule