Maharaj wraps up 2-0 win to take South Africa to the top of WTC table
Sri Lanka lost five wickets for 19 runs in 62 balls in a lower collapse that undid their work from the previous day
South Africa 358 and 317 (Bavuma 66, Markram 55, Jayasuriya 5-129) beat Sri Lanka 328 and 238 (Dhananjaya de Silva 50, Maharaj 5-76) by 109 runs
South Africa have moved to the top of the World Test Championship (WTC) table after a 109-run win over Sri Lanka at St George’s Park. They swept the series 2-nil after bowling Sri Lanka out for 238 in 69 minutes on the final morning with the second new ball still 10.5 overs away.
Keshav Maharaj completed his tenth Test five-for, and fourth at St George’s Park, and took four of the final five wickets on the last morning. Sri Lanka lost five wickets for 19 runs in 62 balls in a lower-order collapse that undid their work from the previous day. They were fairly well set overnight and resumed on 202 for 5, with two batters well-set on a fairly placid pitch. Kusal Mendis and Dhananjaya de Silva’s sixth-wicket partnership was worth 83 and they both looked comfortable against a South African attack who admitted to searching a little too hard on the fourth day.
They returned fresh on the final morning, with a fired-up Kagiso Rabada still finding a hint of away movement in the easterly breeze. Maharaj broke the Kusal-Dhananjaya stand in the seventh over of the morning with a delivery that turned away from Kusal as he drove with hard hands. Aiden Markam took the catch low to the ground and the third umpire needed to check that he had fingers underneath it to confirm Kusal’s dismissal.
Fourteen deliveries later, Rabada was rewarded for spells of accuracy and menace through the series with the wicket of the Sri Lankan captain. Dhananjaya drove at a ball that tailed away, edged and was caught behind.
With no recognized batters left, it was only a matter of time for Sri Lanka’s tail. Prabath Jayasuriya’s eyes lit up when Maharaj produced a long-hop and tried to smoke it over the offside but found the hands of Temba Bavuma at extra cover. Sri Lanka made it to the drinks’ break but in the second over after the interval, Vishwa Fernando slogged across the line and sent the ball aerial. Marco Jansen at mid-on had enough time to get under it and take a simple catch. Jansen was given the ball in the next over and only needed one short delivery to get rid of Lahiru Kumara, who swung hard and top-edged. Ryan Rickelton, at short mid-wicket, judged the catch well in a mild swirl and completed South Africa’s series win.
South Africa are now one win away from a guaranteed place at next year’s final. They can get there with a victory over Pakistan at home in either the Boxing Day and New Year’s match, which are their last of this cycle. Sri Lanka remain in contention but must beat Australia at home early next year and hope other results go their way.
South Africa 1st Innings
Batting R B M 4s 6s SR
Aiden Markram
b Kumara
20 35 55 4 0 57.14
Tony de Zorzi
lbw b AM Fernando
0 1 6 0 0 0.00
Ryan Rickelton
c Nissanka b Kumara
101 250 361 11 0 40.40
Tristan Stubbs
c †BKG Mendis b Kumara
4 18 16 0 0 22.22
Temba Bavuma (c)
c †BKG Mendis b AM Fernando
78 109 152 8 1 71.55
David Bedingham
b Jayasuriya
6 19 26 0 0 31.57
Kyle Verreynne †
not out 105 133 202 12 3 78.94
Marco Jansen
b MVT Fernando
4 5 6 1 0 80.00
Keshav Maharaj
c Karunaratne b MVT Fernando
0 4 8 0 0 0.00
Kagiso Rabada
b AM Fernando
23 40 60 5 0 57.50
Dane Paterson
c PHKD Mendis b Kumara
9 10 14 2 0 90.00
Extras (b 1, lb 1, nb 2, w 4) 8
Total
103.4 Ov
(RR: 3.45)
358
Fall of wickets: 1-0 (Tony de Zorzi, 1.1 ov), 2-32 (Aiden Markram, 11.2 ov), 3-44 (Tristan Stubbs, 15.4 ov), 4-177 (Temba Bavuma, 52.6 ov), 5-186 (David Bedingham, 59.2 ov), 6-263 (Ryan Rickelton, 85.3 ov), 7-269 (Marco Jansen, 86.3 ov), 8-269 (Keshav Maharaj, 88.1 ov), 9-325 (Kagiso Rabada, 100.5 ov), 10-358 (Dane Paterson, 103.4 ov) •
DRS
Bowling O M R W ECON WD NB
Vishwa Fernando
22 6 65
2
2.95 0 0
Asitha Fernando
24 2 102
3
4.25 3 0
Lahiru Kumara
17.4 3 79
4
4.47 1 2
Prabath Jayasuriya
31 4 84
1
2.70 0 0
Dhananjaya de Silva
9 1 26 0 2.88 0 0
Sri Lanka 1st Innings
Batting R B M 4s 6s SR
Pathum Nissanka
b Maharaj
89 157 236 11 1 56.68
Dimuth Karunaratne
c †Verreynne b Rabada
20 43 65 4 0 46.51
Dinesh Chandimal
c †Verreynne b Paterson
44 97 114 5 0 45.36
Angelo Mathews
c †Verreynne b Jansen
44 90 130 6 0 48.88
Kamindu Mendis
c Markram b Jansen
48 92 93 4 0 52.17
Dhananjaya de Silva (c)
c Markram b Paterson
14 27 52 1 0 51.85
Kusal Mendis †
b Paterson
16 28 38 3 0 57.14
Prabath Jayasuriya
st †Verreynne b Maharaj
24 32 53 4 0 75.00
Lahiru Kumara
c Jansen b Paterson
0 2 1 0 0 0.00
Vishwa Fernando
c †Verreynne b Paterson
2 31 43 0 0 6.45
Asitha Fernando
not out 0 2 3 0 0 0.00
Extras (b 13, lb 8, nb 5, w 1) 27
Total
99.2 Ov
(RR: 3.30)
328
Fall of wickets: 1-41 (Dimuth Karunaratne, 15.4 ov), 2-150 (Dinesh Chandimal, 44.2 ov), 3-199 (Pathum Nissanka, 55.2 ov), 4-261 (Angelo Mathews, 76.2 ov), 5-268 (Kamindu Mendis, 80.3 ov), 6-297 (Dhananjaya de Silva, 88.1 ov), 7-298 (Kusal Mendis, 88.3 ov), 8-298 (Lahiru Kumara, 88.5 ov), 9-327 (Vishwa Fernando, 98.4 ov), 10-328 (Prabath Jayasuriya, 99.2 ov) •
DRS
Bowling O M R W ECON WD NB
Kagiso Rabada
24 7 56
1
2.33 0 0
Marco Jansen
25 4 100
2
4.00 0 0
Dane Paterson
22 4 71
5
3.22 0 5
Keshav Maharaj
24.2 5 65
2
2.67 1 0
Aiden Markram
4 0 15 0 3.75 0 0
South Africa 2nd Innings
Batting R B M 4s 6s SR
Tony de Zorzi
b Jayasuriya
19 38 57 2 0 50.00
Aiden Markram
c †BKG Mendis b MVT Fernando
55 75 101 5 0 73.33
Ryan Rickelton
lbw b Jayasuriya
24 45 63 3 0 53.33
Tristan Stubbs
run out (Karunaratne/Kumara)
47 112 147 2 0 41.96
Temba Bavuma (c)
b Jayasuriya
66 116 172 3 2 56.89
David Bedingham
c de Silva b Jayasuriya
35 55 69 3 0 63.63
Kyle Verreynne †
c †BKG Mendis b MVT Fernando
9 27 33 1 0 33.33
Marco Jansen
c AM Fernando b Jayasuriya
8 11 13 1 0 72.72
Keshav Maharaj
not out 14 22 38 1 1 63.63
Kagiso Rabada
c †BKG Mendis b Kumara
8 8 15 2 0 100.00
Dane Paterson
b AM Fernando
14 8 17 2 1 175.00
Extras (b 1, lb 7, nb 1, w 9) 18
Total
86 Ov
(RR: 3.68)
317
Fall of wickets: 1-55 (Tony de Zorzi, 13.4 ov), 2-96 (Aiden Markram, 24.3 ov), 3-109 (Ryan Rickelton, 29.1 ov), 4-213 (Tristan Stubbs, 60.5 ov), 5-254 (Temba Bavuma, 71.4 ov), 6-268 (David Bedingham, 77.2 ov), 7-273 (Kyle Verreynne, 78.6 ov), 8-279 (Marco Jansen, 79.6 ov), 9-290 (Kagiso Rabada, 82.4 ov), 10-317 (Dane Paterson, 85.6 ov) •
DRS
Bowling O M R W ECON WD NB
Vishwa Fernando
19 4 47
2
2.47 7 0
Asitha Fernando
14 2 52
1
3.71 2 0
Lahiru Kumara
16 0 71
1
4.43 0 0
Prabath Jayasuriya
34 2 129
5
3.79 0 1
Dhananjaya de Silva
3 0 10 0 3.33 0 0
Sri Lanka 2nd Innings (T: 348 runs)
Batting R B M 4s 6s SR
Pathum Nissanka
c †Verreynne b Paterson
18 44 54 4 0 40.90
Dimuth Karunaratne
lbw b Rabada
1 3 13 0 0 33.33
Dinesh Chandimal
lbw b Paterson
29 57 75 5 0 50.87
Angelo Mathews
b Maharaj
32 59 81 4 1 54.23
Kamindu Mendis
c †Verreynne b Maharaj
35 35 56 4 1 100.00
Dhananjaya de Silva (c)
c †Verreynne b Rabada
50 92 121 7 0 54.34
Kusal Mendis †
c Markram b Maharaj
46 76 100 3 2 60.52
Prabath Jayasuriya
c Bavuma b Maharaj
9 19 22 1 0 47.36
Vishwa Fernando
c Jansen b Maharaj
5 24 25 0 0 20.83
Lahiru Kumara
c Rickelton b Jansen
1 11 16 0 0 9.09
Asitha Fernando
not out 0 1 2 0 0 0.00
Extras (b 5, lb 1, nb 6) 12
Total
69.1 Ov
(RR: 3.44)
238
Fall of wickets: 1-10 (Dimuth Karunaratne, 2.2 ov), 2-47 (Pathum Nissanka, 12.3 ov), 3-64 (Dinesh Chandimal, 20.6 ov), 4-117 (Angelo Mathews, 31.5 ov), 5-122 (Kamindu Mendis, 33.1 ov), 6-219 (Kusal Mendis, 58.6 ov), 7-225 (Dhananjaya de Silva, 61.3 ov), 8-233 (Prabath Jayasuriya, 64.6 ov), 9-238 (Vishwa Fernando, 68.5 ov), 10-238 (Lahiru Kumara, 69.1 ov) •
DRS
Bowling O M R W ECON WD NB
Kagiso Rabada
21 3 63
2
3.00 0 3
Marco Jansen
10.1 1 54
1
5.31 0 2
Keshav Maharaj
25 3 76
5
3.04 0 0
Dane Paterson
12 3 33
2
2.75 0 1
Aiden Markram
1 0 6 0 6.00 0 0
