South Africa were 4-1 at stumps Thursday in reply to Sri Lanka’s 287 all out on the opening day of the first Tat Galle International Stadium. Both teams had their moments, but Dimuth Karunaratne and his excellent batting helped him make some runs for Sri Lanka.
He scored an excellent 158 in 222 balls to make more than half of the 287/10 the team managed. Danuskha Gunathilaka, Kusal Mendis, and most of all, Lakshan Sandakan also helped Sri Lanka to make a good final score.
Thereafter, with about ten minutes left, South Africa, at the very least, needed to end the day without losing a wicket. They couldn’t quite do that, Rangana Herath took Aiden Markram’s wicket at the start.
Here is the match squad
Sri Lanka: Dimuth Karunaratne, Danushka Gunathilaka, Dhananjaya de Silva, Kusal Mendis, Angelo Mathews, Roshen Silva, Niroshan Dickwella (wk), Rangana Herath, Suranga Lakmal (capt), Akila Dananjaya, Lahiru Kumara
South Africa: Dean Elgar, Aiden Markram, Hashim Amla, Temba Bavuma, Faf du Plessis (capt), Theunis de Bruyn, Quinton de Kock (wk), Vernon Philander, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Dale Steyn