South Africa vs Sri Lanka Highlights, 1st Test, Day 4: South Africa beat Lanka by 233 runs

Gerald Coetzee to Dhananjaya de Silva, Straighter, pushed back to the bowler.

Gerald Coetzee to Dhananjaya de Silva, Landed outside off, dabbed towards gully.

Gerald Coetzee to Dinesh Chandimal, Around off, nudged through mid-wicket for a quick single.

Gerald Coetzee to Dinesh Chandimal, Another edge, does not carry! This is what we meant my patience. Such things will keep happening. Fuller, outside off, Chandimal lunged and reached out to defend. The ball moved away slightly and took the outside edge. But it landed well short of third slip, who parried it to Marco Jansen at gully, who stopped it with his right hand.

Gerald Coetzee to Dinesh Chandimal, Fuller, outside off, Dinesh Chandimal drives it towards short extra cover.

Kagiso Rabada to Dhananjaya de Silva, A length ball, outside off, kept out towards the cover region.

Kagiso Rabada to Dhananjaya de Silva, Excellent nut. Rabada angles this into the right-hander and gets Dhananjaya de Silva to poke at it. The ball moves away late and beats the outside edge.

Kagiso Rabada to Dhananjaya de Silva, This one stays a touch low from a good length, Dhananjaya de Silva pushes it back down the track.

Kagiso Rabada to Dhananjaya de Silva, Fuller, around off, kept out.

Kagiso Rabada to Dinesh Chandimal, Around off, tucked behind square leg for a single.

Kagiso Rabada to Dinesh Chandimal, Outside off, pushed towards cover. There we go again. The third umpire gets on the button early. NO BALL signalled for overstepping.

Kagiso Rabada to Dhananjaya de Silva, Around off, tapped to the off side for a single.

Gerald Coetzee to Dinesh Chandimal, Four! Slightly wide outside off, Chandimal opens the face of his bat and guides it to the right of point to find the gap and the boundary.

Gerald Coetzee to Dinesh Chandimal, Around middle and leg, Dinesh Chandimal works it through the leg side. But Tony de Zorzi at short leg puts his left hand out and deflects it towards short mid-wicket. Excellent fielding.

Gerald Coetzee to Dhananjaya de Silva, On a good length now, outside off, the skipper hops and pushes it towards point for a quick single. Small bit of happiness for the Lankans - runs needed under 400 now.

Gerald Coetzee to Dhananjaya de Silva, Fuller, around off, now DdS looks to drive but hits it off the toe end towards mid off.

Gerald Coetzee to Dhananjaya de Silva, FOUR! WALLOP! Coetzee goes short and Dhananjaya pounces. Coetzee perhaps aimed for the bouncer but this was nowhere high enough. It came around chest height and de Silva picked the length quickly. Was onto his back foot and pulled it through mid-wicket in a flash.

Gerald Coetzee to Dhananjaya de Silva, Around off, nipping back in, Dhananjaya de Silva stabs it to the off side.

Kagiso Rabada to Dhananjaya de Silva, Inside edge, misses the stumps! What a bluff from Rabada and Bavuma. With short leg moved back to deep square leg and deep mid-wicket brought in, Dhananjaya de Silva was perhaps expecting the short ball. He was rooted in his crease but Rabada smartly bowled it much fuller than Dhananjaya's expectation. It was outside off and de Silva reacted very late to try and defend. Got an inside edge, which missed the stumps and went to fine leg! A single taken.

Kagiso Rabada to Dhananjaya de Silva, FOUR! Stylishly done. Just a touch too straight from Rabada, perhaps trying to bowl that magic ball. Maybe a yorker or an inswinger. This is full, around middle and leg and Dhananjaya de Silva flicks it over mid-wicket for the first boundary of the day. Short leg goes out to deep square leg now. Short stuff coming?

Kagiso Rabada to Dinesh Chandimal, Around middle, Dinesh works it through mid on for a single. 409 more to win now. 

Kagiso Rabada to Dinesh Chandimal, What a beauty. Rabada bowls a beautiful inswinger and Chandimal, rightly plays for the ball coming in. But after pitching, the ball jags away off the seam, beating the outside edge. How do you play that? South Africa will be happy with that, but they need to be patient.

Kagiso Rabada to Dinesh Chandimal, Full and straight, around off, Chandimal pushes it down to mid on.

Kagiso Rabada to Dinesh Chandimal, On a good length, outside off, Dinesh Chandimal shoulders arms.

Gerald Coetzee to Dhananjaya de Silva, EDGED, SHORT! Excellent effort by Marco Jansen. Full, outside off, a touch wide, Dhananjaya de Silva plays a loose-looking drive. Almost similar to the way he was playing in the first innings. Got a thick outside edge which went between third slip and gully. But the tall Jansen at gully got down quickly with a dive to his left and stopped it with his left hand.

Gerald Coetzee to Dinesh Chandimal, Outside off, eased behind point for a single. Again, Chandimal is into the ears of the umpire, this time Saikat. Discussing about the sightscreen issue.

Gerald Coetzee to Dinesh Chandimal, A good short ball now, outside off. DC looks to defend but suddenly the ball rears off. Chandimal is surprised and is forced to take his top hand off the bat. The ball hits the top portion of the bat and dies down.

Gerald Coetzee to Dinesh Chandimal, Fuller, flicked away but cannot get it past mid-wicket, can Dinesh.

Gerald Coetzee to Dinesh Chandimal, Better. Coetzee lands it on a length, just outside off, Chandimal nudges it, on the bounce, towards Tony de Zorzi at short leg. After what de Zorzi did yesterday, against Prabath Jayasuriya, you don't want to be keeping the ball in the air anywhere near him. 

Gerald Coetzee to Dinesh Chandimal, Does not start well, Coetzee. A full toss and misdirected down the leg side. Dinesh Chandimal lets it pass. Seems like he lost his wrist position right at the time when he was about to deliver the ball.

Who will bowl from the other end? Surprisingly, Gerald Coetzee. Was all over the place yesterday. 5-0-39-1 so far.

Kagiso Rabada to Dhananjaya de Silva, This one nips back in, kept out by the Lankan skipper.

Kagiso Rabada to Dhananjaya de Silva, Beautiful delivery. Rabada gets this to jag back in from over the wicket and then makes it to move away off the seam. De Silva is squared up and pushes at it, almost getting an outside edge.

Kagiso Rabada to Dhananjaya de Silva, Good line from Rabada, around the stumps, perhaps stays a touch low, the skipper defends.

Kagiso Rabada to Dinesh Chandimal, Around off, Dinesh Chandimal opens the face of his bat and angles this behind point, for a run. He walks over to umpire Paul Reiffel and explains the issue he is facing with the sightscreen.

Oh dear. Early in the morning. Sightscreen issues first up. It is an electronic sightscreen, which turns white and black. Sometimes, it starts flickering on its own. So someone has to go and pull the curtain across. Ryan Rickelton ran all the way, tried to unfasten the curtains but was unable to. Eventually, the umpires decided to let it be and we continue with the sightscreen fluttering.

Kagiso Rabada to Dhananjaya de Silva, A bit too straight now, Dhananjaya nudges it through fine leg and gets a single. Sri Lanka are away for the day. The skipper is off the mark too.

Kagiso Rabada to Dhananjaya de Silva, On a good length, but slightly wider outside off, an easy leave for Dhananjaya de Silva.

A bright and sunny morning welcomes us in Durban. South Africa are just done with their huddle and pre-day talk and they spread out onto the field. Now, the overnight batters walk out - Chandimal and Dhananjaya. It will be Kagiso Rabada to start things off this morning. 11-2-34-2 so far. Here we go, with DdS on strike. Three slips and a gully await.

And now, the million-dollar question. How long? How long? One session? Two? Practically, because this is a long first session, scheduled for 135 minutes, one does not see this game dragging into the afternoon session. But say, Dinesh Chandimal and Dhananjaya de Silva see off the first 70 minutes without blemish, they could actually take this game into the second session. That's how they need to aim. Hour by hour and then session by session. Forget the runs for now, just concentrate on what you can get. In David Warner's words for Australia during the recent Perth Test, staring defeat in the face, 'Get a net session'.

The hosts would be eyeing to bowl in the right channels and areas and not give the Lankans any respite. No balls is something they would definitely be concerned, even though they are well ahead in this match and would want to bowl with as much accuracy as possible. Sometimes, when you are on top and not get much of a challenge, you get in that zone of getting things done quickly and not expect much resistance. And if and when you do, you start getting frustrated. South Africa seemed to be desperate in that second innings with the ball initially, wherein they were seen just wasting their reviews. They would be aiming to just do their work and let the result take care of itself. Remember, this is just the start of their home season, so they might take just that wee bit of extra time to get warmed up.

Now, South Africa. Any Protea fan reading the previous few paragraphs, would be rechecking where exactly has he / she entered. A fairytale book? From their point of view, clinical precision is what they seek. They got it pretty easy in the first innings, but found a glimmer of resistance when Angelo Mathews and Dinesh Chandimal were playing well. The pitch has definitely gotten better to bat but there were signs of inconsistent bounce on Friday and come Day 4, there could be even more.

There have been other comeback-from-dead miracles, not to mention the Dravid-Laxman epic in 2001, Kolkata against Australia or even the Abdur Razzaq-Kamran Akmal heist against India in 2008. The point is, it is Sri Lanka who need to believe that they can fight. Miracles do not happen every day, but if they have happened in the past, they can occur again. We cannot see the future, so we don't know what lies in store. Just imagine - Sri Lanka battle hard, say don't throw it away for two sessions - drag it into the third session and then suddenly, the weather opens up. Who knows - they could salvage a draw! Yes, it relies on hope but you also need to work hard to fathom that hope.

With everyone beside you telling directly or indirectly that this game is more or less done, how do you respond? Probably, look at some earlier games where legends from your country did the unthinkable. Let's go in reverse order. Kusal Perera - 16th February, 2019, Durban. Sri Lanka were set a target of 304 and were 110/5. But one man - Kusal Perera - blasted an unbeaten 153 - to maintain Sri Lanka's unblemished record at this venue in Tests. Let's go a bit beyond. Rangana Herath - 7th July, 2009, Galle. Sri Lanka had set Pakistan a target of 168 in the fourth innings and at Stumps on Day 3, the visitors were 71/2,  needing just another 97 to win. JUST. Come Day 4, a canny left-arm spinner, Rangana Herath, just ran through Pakistan, with a 4-wicket haul, dismissing them for just 117 as Sri Lanka won by 50 runs.

Many times, it is said that a good start is the foundation to a successful outcome. Sometimes, it is also said that it does not matter how you start. What matters is how you finish. The second case can be applied to the first Australia-India Test in Perth, where it did not even matter how much India made batting first there. But here, in Durban, Sri Lanka's 42 all out in their first innings has gone a long way in shaping their fortunes in the Test. A shambolic few minutes of batting completely erased their terrific effort with the ball earlier and now, they stand staring at a mountain, where they need to scale another 413 runs, with 6 sessions potentially available, but just 5 wickets in hand. Of which, only 3 proper batters are left.

3 matches played. 2 wins and a draw. This is Sri Lanka's Test record in Durban - the only team yet to suffer a defeat at this venue in this format. A very proud fact. But just as all good things have to come to an end, this record is on the verge of being broken today. Or perhaps tomorrow. With due respect to the nation, because of the massive task ahead of them, hard to see the Islanders battle for long, against a quality bowling attack. But, when one plays for pride, one can achieve exceptional things. Could we possibly see one or some of those exceptional things from the Lankans? On that note, hello and a warm welcome to the fourth and perhaps the final day of the opening Test between South Africa and Sri Lanka in Kingsmead, Durban.

... DAY 4 ...

How's the weather on Saturday? Excellent, says Mike Haysman on air. South Africa should wrap this up in the first session but for cricket's sake, let's hope Sri Lanka offer a fightback. Trying to score 413 runs from here will be a tall order but they can at least make the home side work for its wickets. It's Sunday where the forecast is poor but it will be a great achievement if the visitors take this to the second session. The first ball will be bowled at 7.30 am GMT on Day 4, on Saturday, 30th November 2024, but our build-up will begin much earlier. Do tune in early then. You can also catch all the action from the New Zealand-England Test and keep yourselves entertained. ADIOS! TAKE CARE!

South Africa will be more or less happy with their state right now. Temba Bavuma and Tristan Stubbs batted beautifully, setting up a huge target and then the bowlers have done fairly well. But one felt that they were just a bit too desperate with the new ball. They wasted 2 out of their 3 reviews pretty early but after those 2 quick wickets, they kind of settled down. The new-ball bowlers, Kagiso Rabada and Marco Jansen, were consistent but were indisciplined with their no balls. The pair has bowled 8 no balls already, 5 by Rabada and 3 by Jansen and need to work that out for the coming days. Gerald Coetzee, looking to bowl as quick as possible, was all over the place, while Maharaj might just want to forget this Test as one with his guest appearance, simply because the seamers are not leaving him with much work to do.

After a surprise declaration at the Tea break, with no one given any whiff, Sri Lanka started their innings like a rollercoaster. They were flying at 5 an over but also lost their openers fairly cheaply. Two experienced stalwarts, Dinesh Chandimal and Angelo Mathews, then got the repair job underway nicely, adding 44 for the third wicket, before the gloomy conditions altered their path. Chandimal is still battling out there, on a valiant 29, but he will have a massive job on Saturday, to try and take Sri Lanka to a competitive total.