South Africa beat Sri Lanka in the first Test match© AFP
South Africa had to overcome determined resistance from Sri Lanka’s batsmen before winning the first Test by 233 runs at Kingsmead on Saturday. Set a massive 516 runs to win, Sri Lanka were bowled out for 282. Left-arm fast bowler Marco Jansen, the destroyer in Sri Lanka’s record-low first innings of 42, took four for 73 to finish with match figures of 11 for 86. In contrast to the first innings, the tourists made the South Africans work for their wickets on Saturday. Dinesh Chandimal (83) and captain Dhananjaya de Silva (59) put on 95 for the sixth wicket and kept South Africa in the field for most of the morning after resuming at 101 for five.
The breakthrough for South Africa came when De Silva chipped a catch to midwicket off left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj.
Kusal Mendis made an attacking 48 before he became Jansen’s 10th victim of the match, caught behind by Kyle Verreynne.
Chandimal and De Silva took advantage of the best batting conditions of the match against bowlers who were not as effective as they had been when the ball was shiny and new.
South Africa were also without all-rounder Wiaan Mulder, who was ruled out of the rest of the series with a broken finger.
Chandimal, who was 29 not out overnight, continued to defy the bowlers on the ground where he marked his Test debut with two half-centuries 13 years ago. He made his 83 off 174 balls before being caught and bowled by Gerald Coetzee.
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