Player of the Match
Player of the Match

2.55pm That's it, then, from us. A thumping victory for Sri Lanka in two-and-a-half days. A lot for South Africa to ponder before they head to the SSC for the second Test. That begins next Friday. Until then, it's goodbye from me and Raghav.

Davinder: "Where you will rate Ind vs SA first Test earlier this year and this Test." -- An excellent comparison. India lost that Cape Town Test with their bowling on day one, allowing South Africa to make 280-odd on an extravagantly seaming pitch. Pretty much the same here, with Maharaj and, to a lesser extent, Shamsi letting Sri Lanka off the hook on day one, and South Africa having to play catch-up through the remainder of the game.

Mustafa Moudi: "In past 12 Months (From Aug '17 to July '18) in Test cricket: Eng defeated WI at home and lost their next series in Aus (Ashes), Aus after winning Ashes at home lost the away series to SA and now SA after beating Aus at home is on the verge of losing their away series to SL. So now whichever team SL will play next in an away series, must be licking their lips."

Suranga Lakmal: Roshan Abeysinghe paraphrases, very briefly, what he said in Sinhala - he said captaincy was a challenge, and hailed the efforts of his spinners.

Faf du Plessis: "We've only got ourselves to blame. That was a big turning point - when you bat first and they are 170 for 7, we needed to get them 220 all out. 280 was a big total, and even though we bowled well in the second innings, it was too far to catch up. Karunaratne looked like he was batting on another pitch. It was a fantastic effort from him. No matter how much you train before a series like this, you can't face the quality of spin you'll get in the Test match when you're playing in the nets. I think the surprising thing for us was the wetness of the outfield with the rain. Sri Lanka looked to get 20 wickets with spin. If it reverses, our seamers become a threat, but because of the wet outfield reverse wasn't a factor."

Dimuth Karunaratne is the hero of the match - not sure if that's also the man of the match award. I think it is. "After I got injured, I worked really hard in the A team to get my form back. I had to work really hard on this wicket. I think I always want to play positively and back my strengths. That's what I always do on turning tracks."

Dilruwan Perera: "Every spinner likes to bowl in Galle. I get a lot of drift here. It's very easy to bowl with Herath at the other end. South Africa have struggled in the past against offspinners. Rangana created pressure from one end, and I got the wickets."

Adithya: "How much difference would ABD have made?" -- Not enough to change how this Test match went, but this batting line-up could really, really do with someone of his class in the middle order. In these conditions, Bavuma and de Kock have looked terribly edgy and unable to trust their defence.

Salman Zafar: "All the eyes were set on Steyn as he stood on 419 Test scalps and just needed three to become South Africa's leading wicket taker. But nobody noticed that Rangana stood one step behind Dale (418 wickets), and has already gone past Shaun Pollock while Steyn has just equalled Him ..."

Kosala : "Karunaratne 218/1, SA 199/20. Karunaratne won by 19 runs."

2.28pm This is South Africa's lowest score since readmission. They had no answers to Herath and Dilruwan who bowled beautifully on a pitch full of turn and bounce. Some of their batsmen will also need to think about the kind of shots they played - there were two stumpings, and a whole lot of sweeps off the stumps. But that came about because they couldn't trust their defence against two bowlers who didn't give them an inch. South Africa's spinners in contrast, Maharaj in particular, gave the batsmen a lot of respite in Sri Lanka's first innings, and that was where this match was mostly won and lost. It also helped Sri Lanka that Dimuth Karunaratne, in both innings, batted like he wasn't just on another pitch but on another planet.

28.5
W
Sandakan to Shamsi, OUT, big appeal for lbw. Paul Reiffel isn't interested. Sri Lanka review. Shuffled across again and the bat came down from gully, as always. This was the googly, beat the outside edge of his defensive bat and hit back pad. Pitching just in line with off stump, straightening to strike just in line, and it will - according to ball-tracking - go on to hit off stump. Reiffel has to overturn his decision, and Sri Lanka win by 278 runs

T Shamsi lbw b Sandakan 2 (19m 21b 0x4 0x6) SR: 9.52

28.4
0
Sandakan to Shamsi, no run, wrong'un, straightening towards middle and leg. Shamsi - he bowls left-arm wristspin too - seems to pick it, defends towards silly point
28.3
0
Sandakan to Shamsi, no run, big spin from middle and leg, turns a long way down the leg side
28.2
1
Sandakan to Philander, 1 run, back of a length, spins in from outside off, goes back and across to work it through square leg
28.1
0
Sandakan to Philander, no run, full, close to off stump, blocked back to the bowler

Sandakan. Sri Lanka have other bowlers! Round the wicket to Philander.

Avidhital: "Even if you take out Karunaratne's runs from both innings, south africa will come short. Such has been the batting from them given that even for SL, no one else has really done well. " -- Thing is, South Africa's spinners, who should have done the bulk of the bowling on this pitch, were pretty poor in the first innings, particularly Maharaj, and a set batsman, especially one who was batting as well as Karunaratne, was bound to capitalise. Their bowling is more at fault for this situation than their batting.

END OF OVER:
28 | (maiden) | SA: 72/9

  • Tabraiz Shamsi2 (18b)
  • Vernon Philander21 (36b)
  • Dilruwan Perera14-4-32-6
  • Rangana Herath14-4-38-3
27.6
0
Perera to Shamsi, no run, doesn't come forward at all, does he? Shuffles across to a pretty full one on off stump, clips it towards leg gully
27.5
0
Perera to Shamsi, no run, back of a length wide of off. Shuffles across and defends into the point region

Over the wicket now.

27.4
0
Perera to Shamsi, no run, down the leg side again, left alone
27.3
0
Perera to Shamsi, no run, this one straightens on middle stump. Shamsi somehow brings his bat down in front of pad and defends into the leg side
27.2
0
Perera to Shamsi, no run, slower now, pitches outside leg and spins further down, sharply. Left alone
27.1
0
Perera to Shamsi, no run, flat at the pads. Clips it on the bounce to leg gully

Dilruwan continues from round the wicket. Slip, gully, short leg, leg gully.

END OF OVER:
27 | 2 Runs | SA: 72/9

  • Tabraiz Shamsi2 (12b)
  • Vernon Philander21 (36b)
  • Rangana Herath14-4-38-3
  • Dilruwan Perera13-3-32-6
26.6
1
Herath to Shamsi, 1 run, back of a length, slides on towards middle stump. Shuffles across and manages to work it behind square
26.5
0
Herath to Shamsi, no run, shuffles across again to defend. The ball doesn't turn, passes inside edge and pops up to short leg off the pad
26.4
0
Herath to Shamsi, no run, ooh, falls just short of silly point. Roshen dives forward as Shamsi defends one in front of his pad, bat coming down from gully. Hits the outside half of the bat and drops down towards silly point
26.3
0
Herath to Shamsi, no run, full, round-arm, slides down the leg side as Shamsi misses the flick
26.2
0
Herath to Shamsi, no run, slow length ball outside off. Shamsi shuffles across and leaves
26.1
1
Herath to Philander, 1 run, flat, back of a length, straightening towards leg stump. Goes back to work it through midwicket

END OF OVER:
26 | (maiden) | SA: 70/9

  • Tabraiz Shamsi1 (7b)
  • Vernon Philander20 (35b)
  • Dilruwan Perera13-3-32-6
  • Rangana Herath13-4-36-3
25.6
0
Perera to Shamsi, no run, shuffles again rather than come forward or back. This one turns in from just outside off and he gets an inside edge into pad
25.5
0
Perera to Shamsi, no run, Shamsi has no idea where the ball will go. Floated across to off stump and he shuffles across to defend. Goes with the arm and beats the outside edge

Goes round the wicket now.

25.4
0
Perera to Shamsi, no run, flatter length ball, defended with the turn
25.3
0
Perera to Shamsi, no run, appeal for lbw as Shamsi plays across this one in defence. Bat comes down at an angle from gully, and the ball beats outside edge to hit pad, but he'd shuffled across and the impact was outside off
25.2
0
Perera to Shamsi, no run, flatter, and he shuffles across and pats it back down the pitch
25.1
0
Perera to Shamsi, no run, dangled up slow, outside off. Shamsi's a little late coming forward to defend, and it spins sharply to take the inside edge

South Africa 4th innings Partnerships

WktRunsPlayers
1st12D ElgarAK Markram
2nd4HM AmlaAK Markram
3rd8T BavumaAK Markram
4th1F du PlessisAK Markram
5th7Q de KockAK Markram
6th4VD PhilanderQ de Kock
7th22VD PhilanderKA Maharaj
8th0VD PhilanderK Rabada
9th9VD PhilanderDW Steyn
10th6VD PhilanderT Shamsi