Sri Lanka registered a thumping 278-run win over South Africa inside three days of the opening test on Saturday.
South Africa were all out for 73 in their second innings, the worst for them in Sri Lanka. They were bundled out for 126 in the first innings on Friday, their previous lowest total in the island nation.
South Africa were set a target of 352 runs to win the first Test on the third day after the hosts were bowled out for 190 runs in their second innings.
Spinners led by Dilruwan Perera led Sri Lanka to the win as only three South African batsmen reached double figures. Perera added six wickets to his four in the first innings while Herath took three.
It represents South Africa’s lowest Test score since their re-admission into international cricket in 1992 and their lowest since the 72 they scored against England in 1957.
Their match total of 199 runs is also the first time since re-admission that they’ve failed to score more than 200 in a Test and the first time since 1932.
The victory margin of 278 runs is Sri Lanka’s fifth-largest in Tests and South Africa’s fifth-heaviest defeat since re-admission.
Perera took 6-32 in the second innings to complete a match haul of 10-78, while veteran Rangana Herath took 5-77 for the match.
All but 4.3 of the 82.2 overs South Africa faced in the match were bowled by Sri Lanka’s spinners.
Earlier, Lakshan Sandakan became Dale Steyn’s 421st test victim as Sri Lanka were all out for 190 runs in their second innings. The wicket took Steyn equal to Shaun Pollock as South Africa’s highest wicket taker in Test cricket.
Sri Lanka had ended day two on 111 for four, leading by 272 runs at the Galle International Stadium.
