SA v SL 2nd Test, Day 1 Review: Elgar, de Kock shine as South Africa gain upper hand

After winning the opening Test against Sri Lanka at Port Elizabeth, hosts South Africa were put in the backfoot in the 2nd Test at Cape Town before recovering in the final session to end the day’s play. The top order apart from opener Dean Elgar failed to get going which resulted in the loss of wickets at regular intervals.

19-year-old Lahiru Kumara who is playing in only his 3rd Test was exceptional with his pace and bounce and troubled the star-studded South African batting line-up on a consistent basis. He finished with 3 wickets to his name but the partnership between Elgar and Quinton de Kock helped the hosts finish Day 1 at 297/6.

Winning the toss on a sunny morning, Sri Lankan captain Angelo Mathews opted to bowl. Stephen Cook, a centurion from the previous match and Elgar started off the proceedings. The hosts received an early setback on the 4th ball of the innings as Cook was dismissed by a man in great wicket taking form, Suranga Lakmal. The pacer bowled a perfect delivery in the corridor of uncertainty which bounced sharply and moved away late. Cook was caught in two minds whether to leave or play and ended up edging it straight to Kusal Mendis at the 1st slip.

Hashim Amla joined Elgar in the middle and the duo played sensibly to neutralise the early loss of man-in-form Cook. While Hashim Amla looked rusty, Elgar played some delightful strokes en route to his brilliant century. Amla was beaten a number of times by the pace bowling trio and was also troubled by veteran spinner Rangana Herath.

Amla received a scorcher of a delivery from Kumara which came back sharply after pitching and breached through the gap between the bat and the pad. Kumara was quick to add one more to his tally by removing JP Duminy in the same over. It was not the best of deliveries but it was a tremendous catch by wicketkeeper Kusal Mendis. Duminy wanted to flick the delivery which took his gloves and was brilliantly taken by an acrobatic Mendis behind the stumps.

Captain Faf du Plessis joined Elgar in the middle and the duo shared a 76 runs partnership for the 5th wicket. Du Plessis looked a bit out of sorts during the initial phase of his innings but with Elgar batting alongside he started gaining confidence. He struck 4 boundaries during his innings of 38 before he was caught in the slip cordon off Rangana Herath’s bowling. It was a full pitched delivery which turned sharply. Faf went for a full-fledged drive but could only manage an outside edge which safely pouched by Angelo Mathews in first slip.

Temba Bavuma too failed to make an impact and was dismissed by a snorter of a delivery from Kumara. The ball took off from the good length area and struck Bavuma on his gloves. It lobbed up in the air only to be safely pouched by Upul Tharanga.

Quinton de Cock came at the fall of Bavuma’s wicket and started taking on the Sri Lankan bowlers from the outset. He played the drives and cuts to perfection and played the pacers with utmost comfort. He raced to his half-century in a very quick time as Elgar went on playing some marvellous shots. He reached his elusive century by driving a full pitched delivery from Nuwan Pradeep to the boundary ropes. Elgar was the man who held the innings together despite losing his partners one after the other.

He was dismissed during the twilight of the day while attempting an uppish drive of Suranga Lakmal. The ball moved away after pitching and took the outside edge from the flashing blade of Elgar. His innings of 129 were constructed with 15 hits to the fence. Kyle Abbott and de Cock were at the crease at the close of play with de Cock remaining unbeaten on 68 and Abbott on 16.

Brief Scores:

Sri Lanka: 297/6 (D Elgar 129, Q de Kock 68*; C Kumar 3/86)

Watch: Dean Elgar registers first century of 2017