Opener Pathum Nissanka led Sri Lanka to 242-3 in reply to South Africa’s bonus 358 on day two Friday of the second test at St George’s Park.
Nissanka’s 89, his seventh test fifty behind two centuries, shone in a steady effort by the top order to reduce the deficit to 116 runs by stumps.
Nissanka hit 11 fours and a six in his knock before Keshav Maharaj accounted for his wicket. After Dimuth Karunaratne departed for 20, Nissanka and Dinesh Chandimal steadied the ship for Sri Lanka with a handy partnership of 109 runs for the second wicket.
Chandimal fell to Dane Paterson after a well-made 44 off 97 balls. After Nissanka departed, Angelo Mathews and Kamindu Mendis saw off the remaining overs with a partnership of 43 runs for the fourth wicket. Mathews became the third Sri Lankan after Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene to reach 8000 Test runs.
Mendis did not disappoint either, scoring a quick-fire 30 off 38. Kagiso Rabada, Dane Paterson and Maharaj took a wicket apiece. Marco Jansen, who was devastating in the opening Test, hasn’t picked up a wicket with figures of 18-2-75-0. Aiden Markram also rolled his arms over for four overs without any success.
Earlier, Kyle Verreynne scored his third Test hundred as South Africa put up a decent score of 358 on the board in 103.4 overs. He made 105 runs off 133 balls with 12 fours and three sixes. Rabada also added 23 vital runs lower down the order.
For Sri Lanka, Lahiru Kumara was the pick of the bowlers with four wickets to his name. Vishwa Fernando and Asitha Fernando took two and three wickets respectively.
On Day 3, the Sri Lankan batters would first be looking to go past South Africa’s score before thinking about stepping on the gas.
