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Sri Lanka shot out for 157 at Bull Ring  

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Ruan van der Merwe at Wanderers 

Not many Asian teams want to play at the Bull Ring. It’s not only one of the quickest wickets in the world alongside WACA in Australia, the high altitude of Johannesburg – 5750 feet –makes life difficult for players. The Wanderers is fondly known as the Bull Ring for its intimidate nature. 

The Sri Lankans – depleted and moral down – after four who featured in the opening game being ruled out with injuries – shouldn’t lose hope though as far better teams have come to the Bull Ring and  have eaten humble pie.

The only bright spot in the innings after they won the toss and opted to bat first was Kusal Perera, who batted superbly to post 60 runs off 67 balls with 11 fours. 

Incidentally, it happens to be the highest score by a Sri Lankan here and only captain Dimuth Karunaratne had managed a half-century before Perera. This is Sri Lanka’s third Test match at the Bull Ring.

After the early dismissal of Karunaratne (19), Perera along with Lahiru Thirimanne had added 52 runs for the second wicket. Perera was doing all the scoring and with him picking up boundaries frequently, there were some worries among the Proteas. 

But Wiaan Mulder provided the breakthrough to settle nerves. Mulder is not the typical South African fast bowler with outright pace. His strength is building up the pressure through disciplined seam bowling and he got the better of Perera who drove loosely and was caught at gully. 

In the same over he dismissed Kusal Mendis for a duck and in the next over picked up Thirimanne for 17 and the Sri Lankans were in disarray. 

Minod Bhanuka on debut showed his inexperience when he attempted to drive the last  ball before lunch for four. But Anrich Nortje has that extra yard of pace and the bounce at Bull Ring is far more genuine than his home ground – SSC.

Mulder’s opening spell of three overs fetched him three wickets for just one run. He had set the stage for Nortje to dominate. His pace was too quick and the Sri Lankan tail couldn’t handle him. 

Nortje finished with six for 56, the fourth best figures by a South African quick against Sri Lanka.

 

Brief Scores: 

Sri Lanka 157 all out in 40.3 overs

(Kusal Perera 60, Wanindu Hasaranga 29, Dushmantha Chameera 22, Anrich Nortje 6/56, Wiaan Mulder 3/51)

South Africa 148 for 1 in 37 overs

 (Dean Elgar 92, Rassie van der Dussen 40)

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