South Africa vs Sri Lanka 2016: 1st Test, Day 2 - 5 talking points
South Africa bossed around Sri Lanka when the visitors turn came to bat on a windy Port Elizabeth ground. Lanka ended Day 2 at 181/7 with Dhananjaya de Silva and Angelo Matthews the only batsmen to cross 30. The trio of Proteas seamers, in particular, Philander and Abbott bowled probing lines and Sri Lankan batsmen, who were adamant on being aggressive, found the edge far too often.
Earlier, De Kock could not inspire the tail enders to help South Africa past 300, forget the 350+ score Duminy was hoping for when he spoke after Day 1. Lakmal was rewarded for some fine bowling with his first five-wicket haul in Tests and cleaned up the South African tail along with Pradeep, who bowled De Kock with a picture perfect yorker to put curtains to the first innings.
Any hopes of retaining the advantage given by their bowlers were quickly dispelled when Abbott had Karunaratne chopping onto his stumps and Kusal Perera slashed at a wide Philander delivery to edge behind. Abbott dismissed Kusal Mendis for a duck to put Lanka at 22/3. Though Matthews and Chandimal did a repair job, the Proteas bowlers continued picking up wickets to get a firm grip in the Test.
Here are the talking points from the day's play at PE.
#5 Lakmal's inspired bowling performance
Suranga Lakmal was expected to lead this Sri Lankan attack in spite of his Test career stats looking unimpressive. On a lush green pitch, Lakmal found early swing on Day 1 but failed to land the ball accurately. However, post lunch on Day 1, he bowled exceptional lines and had three in the bag soon.
He added Du Plessis' wicket later in the day to take his tally to four at close of play. On Day 2 he had to contour an aggressive minded Quinton de Kock and a determined Philander. Once Philander was dismissed by Pradeep, Lakmal found the perfect line for Maharaj, who nicked behind for a duck.
Lakmal's five-wicket haul, four of which read "caught Chandimal bowled Lakmal", helped Sri Lanka get an early grip on the Test match. He received little help from the other seamers on Day 1 although Pradeep bowled well on Day 2.