South Africa v Sri Lanka - 3rd Test, Day 1 - 5 Talking points
A scintillating 292-run stand between Hashim Amla – playing his hundredth Test match – and JP Duminy, put South Africa firmly in the driver's seat on Day 1 at Johannesburg. Although Duminy was dismissed in the penultimate over by Kumara for 155, the total had swelled to 338/3 by the end of the day.
Dean Elgar and Stephen Cook had got the South Africans off to a promising start on a lush green pitch after Faf du Plessis surprisingly opted to bat first. Although the duo were dismissed in quick succession, a fluent Duminy and a sedate Amla took South Africa to safe shores before forming a partnership that could define the result of this game.
TheSri Lankan bowlers looked short of ideas despite the pitch offering enough movement to encourage Lakmal and co. They were all over the place and failed to contain a flamboyant JP Duminy, who has thoroughly enjoyed his stint at no.4.
With a long batting line-up and four potent seamers at their disposal, Lanka will have tiresome days awaiting them unless they find some much-needed motivation.
Take a glance at the talking points from Day 1 at Johannesburg.
#5 South Africa bring in 4 pacers
On a lush green wicket at one of the quickest venues in the country, South Africa were expected to play four seam bowlers. But having lost Kyle Abbott in the midst of the series and with Keshav Maharaj doing a pretty good job, the possibility had dimmed.
Their bowling coach, Charl Laangveldt, had stressed that Maharaj did an excellent job of tidying up from one end, which in turn also gave Rabada a license to attack. Instead, South Africa ended up handing a debut to Duanne Olivier and beefing up their variety by including Wayne Parnell.
Parnell last played against the Aussies at home, where he picked two in his first over but walked off injured after bowling eight overs in the Test. Olivier is domestic cricket's Shaun Pollock and deserved a chance on a fast Jo'burg pitch.