South Africa vs Sri Lanka 2016: 1st Test, Day 1 - 5 talking points
Sri Lanka fought back hard on a flat surface at Port Elizabeth to slowly claw their way back into the game after a damp display of seam bowling in the first session. Quinton de Kock and Vernon Philander remain unbeaten as Proteas sit at 267/6 at stumps on Day 1.
Earlier, Dean Elgar and Stephen Cook were largely untroubled in the first session as the duo put on a rare hundred run partnership. But the lunch break seemed to have done wonders for the lacklustre Lankan seamers as both Lakmal and Pradeep bowled with more intent post the break.
The rewards soon started coming as one after the other the Proteas batsmen perished to some wonderful bowling. Later, a fluent, brisk knock from JP Duminy drove South Africa before Herath dismissed him.
Herath proved to be a tough spinner to deal with even on the grassy surface as he continuously probed the South African batsmen. Expected to don a containing role, the spinner plucked out two vital scalps to aid Lakmal who took the remaining four to fall in the day.
Here are the talking points from the day's play.
#5 Cook and Elgar barely tested
Stephen Cook and Dean Elgar had quite a few questions to answer as they went into the Boxing Day Test. The duo were put at ease by some wayward and inconsistent bowling by the Lankan seamers in the first session.
While Lakmal barely made the batsmen play, Pradeep was mostly on their pads aiding some easy runs. Matthews and Chameera were better than the opening bowlers in the first session but both rarely beat the bat.
Cook notched up a fine half-century to follow up on his hundred in the day-night Test against Australia and Elgar got some crucial runs too. The duo put on their first century partnership but were dismissed by a different looking Lakmal post the lunch break.