Sri Lanka VS South Africa Test Series 
1st Test Played at Centurion, December 26-30 ,2020

Brief Score Card at Stumps Day One

Sri Lanka 340/6 (Dinesh Chandimal 85, Dhananjaya de Silva 79, Niroshan Dickwala49, Dasun Shanaka 25*, Dimukh Karunaratne 22, Wiaan Mulder 3/68)
 
It rarely happens that teams from South Asia batting confidently takes the team to commanding position at stumps on day of a test match in South Africa considering the bowling strength of the home side and pace and bounce of the wicket. Yesterday at Centurion Strong middle order batting of Sri Lanka salvaging the team from early challenging circumstances took beyond the zone of comfort to a region of command. 340/6 at stumps of day one gives them not only assurance of safety but dreams for winning as well. The wicket has pace and bounces. Protean bowling was looking penetrative early on as Sri Lanka winning the toss opted to bat. Ngidi, Mulder, Nortze reduced them to58/3 by the 11 th over. But strong middle order comprising of Chandimal (85), de Silva (79) and Dickwala (49) batting brilliantly assured that Sri Lanka not only stays at the game but takes control. Another 100 runs from here may tilt the balance completely in favor of the tourist as batting last against quality spin attack of Lankans may not be easy on the wicket.

The baptism of Q de Cock as test captain appeared rosy early on as his pacers struck early blows removing top order batsmen Karunaratne, Kushal Perera and Kushal Mendis by the 11th over. With back to wall from there on Chandimal and de Silva batted with guts and determination keeping protean attack at bay. 131 runs at 4th wicket partnership laid a solid foundation before de Silva retired hurt getting injured after scoring impressive 79. Chandimal added another 99 runs with Dickwala before himself falling to Mulder after scoring 85. Dickwala scored 49. Tourists finished the day at 340/6 when stumps were drawn with 5 overs of the day still to play. By any standard 340/6 is an impressive total on day one. Sri Lanka can start dreaming from this position of strength. It seems that the tourists practiced and prepared well for the series even through Covid pandemic restricting Sri Lanka from playing international cricket for over 9 months. Protean bowlers started well but could not create sustained pressure on determined Lankan batting. The rookie medium pacer Mulder bowled impressively taking 3 /68.

BDST: 1220 HRS, DEC 27, 2020
AP