Pathum Nissanka falls at 89; SL scores 230 after dismissing SA for 358

GQEBERHA:  Sri Lanka put up a determined fight against South Africa’s hostile pace attack with Pathum Nissanka scoring 89, as they began their first innings on the second day of the second test and reached 230/3 after tea on Friday.

Sri Lanka trail by 128 runs after South Africa were 358 all out before lunch with Kyle Verreynne scoring a thrilling morning century as the home side wagged their tail and added 89 runs to their overnight score of 269-7.

The tourists would have been hoping to restrict their hosts to a smaller first-innings total but their frustration was tempered as their batters got off to a good start to their fightback bid.

Dimuth Karunaratne fall first at 41, scoring 20 before being undone by a rising delivery from Kagiso Rabada that forced an edge behind to wicketkeeper Verreynne.

Pathum Nissanka was dropped in the slips by David Bedingham after another unplayable delivery from Rabada took a healthy edge but was 41 not out at tea.

He and Dinesh Chandimal, 44, went a long way to blunting the three-man attack of Rabada, Marco Jansen and 35-year-old Dane Paterson, who bowled eight overs in a row, giving up only 11 runs.

As the game resumed after the tea, a delivery of Dane Paterson sent Dinesh Chandimal to pavilion when Sri Lanka was at 150. His wicket was followed by Pathum Nissanka, who scored 89 off 157 balls.

The pre-lunch session was dominated by the heroics of Verreynne, who took his overnight score from 48 to 105 not out in an exciting knock.

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He was still one run shy of his 50 when South Africa lost their eighth wicket in the third over of the morning but his partnerships with the last two batsmen — Rabada and Paterson — saw him to an unlikely century.

Together with Rabada, he put on 56 for the ninth wicket with Rabada adding 23 runs to the total before Asitha Fernando took out his stumps.

Verreynne needed 19 runs for his third test ton when No. 11 batsman Paterson came in but he bludgeoned the bowling to swiftly get to three figures. The pair added 33 off 17 balls for the last wicket with Paterson the last man to fall.

Lahiru Kumara, who celebrated his 100th test wicket on Thursday, finished with the best bowling figures of 4-79.

Verreynne was the second South African batter to hit a century in the innings after Ryan Rickelton scored 101 on the opening day.

The test is a must-win for both countries in their bid to reach next year’s World Test Championship final at Lord’s.

South Africa beat Sri Lanka by 233 runs in Durban last week to take the first of the two-test series.