Watch cricket video highlights of Sri Lanka tour of South Africa 2024. 1st Test between Sri Lanka and South Africa. Venue of the match will be Durban.
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Before the quicks claimed five Sri Lankan wickets, Temba Bavuma and Tristan Stubbs cruised to Test hundreds in the opening two hours, giving South Africa a commanding advantage. South Africa ended the third day of a crucial World Test Championship series only five wickets shy of taking a 1-0 lead after completely controlling the game since lunch on day two. On a surface where the bounce can no longer be completely relied upon, Sri Lanka is 413 runs behind.
Although there was some drama from the late Sri Lankan wickets, the main event of Friday was the 249-run partnership, which tied a record for the fourth wicket at this ground. In the morning, Stubbs and Bavuma had negotiated some occasionally difficult early overs and set the stage for their century. But by that point, it was evident that the Kingsmead pitch had lost a lot of the edge it had gained throughout the first several periods of this game. In the second session, South Africa picked up the pace, hitting 4.81 runs per over in the afternoon.
As could be expected from an assault that was getting close to 150 overs for the match, the Sri Lankan quicks were lacking in speed on day three. Late in the second session, they were able to remove Bavuma and Stubbs. However, South Africa’s advantage had blown up to almost 500 by then. They had set Sri Lanka 516 to win when they declared at tea, just five wickets behind. However, the fans at Kingsmead was most excited by the hundreds scored by the two South Africa batsmen, and Bavuma’s voyage to triple digits was the most spectacular.
In the 1990s, he had come out as hesitant, as Sri Lanka had made LBW calls against him and forced plays and misses. When Bavuma reached his third century, it was the day’s most dramatic moment. He was smacked on the pad after getting low to lap sweep Prabath Jayasuriya while batting on 98. As the hitters ran three, the umpire rejected the lbw appeal. However, when Sri Lanka reexamined the ruling, he was forced to wait a little longer after taking off his helmet to celebrate.
The audience recognized Bavuma before the final “not out” judgment was made because, fortunately for him, real-time snicko had recorded the very little deflection from his glove into pad. Bavuma then swung his bat in the air as soon as this was displayed on the big screen. Although it was his second as captain, it was only his third career ton. Stubbs reached his second Test century in a more direct manner. He worked Asitha Fernando through midwicket for a pair to reach the milestone after spending just 14 balls in the 90s.
After reviewing, it was determined that the ball had struck Stubbs outside the line of off, even though he had been adjudged leg before wicket by Lahiru Kumara in the subsequent over. Angelo Mathews had also dropped him for 33 off Vishwa Fernando in the opening session after the latter squandered a chance low to his left at slip. Considering that 19 wickets had been lost the day before, Bavuma and Stubbs’ batting out the entire opening session was remarkable even if the conditions had improved.
Both were cautious at first, with Jayasuriya flighting the ball in an attempt to get early dismissals and Kumara going short at the batsmen. Bavuma was better at hitting square, frequently utilizing his feet to the spinner and occasionally playing the hard, flat sweep in addition to the dinky one past the keeper, but Stubbs was usually stronger down the ground. Although there were sporadic lbw calls, none of which were particularly near, both hitters seemed to be in control except from the one opportunity off Stubbs.
Even though the light was fading and the opposition was still hot, South Africa’s quicks were out of control once more in the last session, and Sri Lanka’s batsmen remained unruly. With Pathum Nissanka and Angelo Mathews reviewing lbw decisions that were essentially plumb, and Kamindu Mendis reviewing after giving the wicketkeeper a feather edge, Sri Lanka also managed to fire all three of their reviews. After falling for 10 in this innings and 13 in the first, Kamindu’s confirmed out was his first twin failure in his nine Test matches to date.
Even if circumstances had improved, Bavuma and Stubbs’ batting out the entire opening session was impressive, especially considering that 19 wickets had been lost the day before. At beginning, both were cautious, with Kumara going short at the batters and Jayasuriya flighting the ball to try to gain early dismissals. Stubbs was typically stronger down the ground, while Bavuma was better at hitting square, often using his feet to the spinner and sometimes playing the hard, flat sweep in addition to the dinky one past the keeper.
With the exception of the one opportunity off Stubbs, both batters appeared to be in control despite the occasional lbw rulings, none of which were very close.
