If Sri Lanka put up anything like a fight, they should be farewelled as heroes and awarded their country’s highest honour on their return home.
Telford Vice | Johanneburg
MANY will remember the Centurion Test for Faf du Plessis’ 199, Wiaan Mulder’s sturdy performance with bat and ball, Lutho Sipamla’s ballsy rebound from a meh beginning, South Africa’s innings victory and, of course, the Sri Lankans lurching from one injury crisis to the next. Fewer will recall that South Africa were chasing the game until almost an hour into the second day.
Sri Lanka’s first innings of 396 is the third-biggest total made by any team against South Africa at Centurion, and the Lankans’ biggest in a country where they have reached 300 only eight times but been dismissed for fewer than 200 on 14 occasions — five times at Centurion itself. So this effort represented significant progress in their coming to terms with a pitch that is nothing like anything they would have learnt to bat on, and which has led to the undoing of almost every visiting team who have played Tests there.
What might have been had five Sri Lankans, four of them frontline bowlers, not been sidelined by assorted mishaps and calamities? We will never know. The Wanderers would have presented an opportunity to answer the question had Dinesh Chandimal, Kasun Rajitha, Lahiru Kumara, Dhananjaya de Silva, Suranga Lakmal and Oshada Fernando not all been ruled out of the second Test. And it could get worse: Wanindu Hasaranga’s selection is subject to a fitness test.
It was seen as something of a miracle, especially by South Africans, when Dimuth Karunaratne’s team became the first Asian side to win a Test series in the country in February 2019. It wasn’t magic, of course: they played the better cricket. Not least Kusal Perera, who delivered among the most epic innings the game has seen in scoring an undefeated 153 in his team’s one-wicket win at Kingsmead. It should shock South Africans that Sri Lanka didn’t even need Perera to chase down their target of 197 to claim the St George’s Park Test by eight wickets. Likewise that Vishwa Fernando’s dozen wickets at 18.91 in the two matches was three more than Kagiso Rabada managed at 29.50. It’s a telling comparison considering each bowled 62.3 overs.
At Centurion, Perera — now opening, having batted at No. 5 in 2019 — made 16 and 64 and Fernando took 3/129. Those figures don’t reflect poor performances, but they are a long way from their matchwinning exploits of not quite two years ago. Happily, Perera and Vishwa Fernando are still in the mix. But it’s difficult to see them sparking the kind of revolution Sri Lanka would need to win at the Wanderers. That really would be a miracle.
Why should South Africa contemplate changes to an XI that has won so emphatically? If there was a case to be made for a departure from the Centurion side, it was that Rabada is back from a groin strain. But team management said on Saturday he would not be considered to ensure his readiness for the upcoming series against Pakistan and Australia. It’s a long shot, but that might open the door for the left-arm Beuran Hendricks, who represents a refreshing change from the home side’s otherwise steady stream of right-arm fast.
If it seems that there is too much dwelling on the past in this preview, which is after all meant to offer a look ahead to the next match, that’s because it’s hard to isolate the context of a match that promises to be less a contest between teams as a fight for survival by one of those teams. There is an unfairness about what the Sri Lankans are being asked to do, considering the wider circumstances. How could they possibly give a credible account of themselves when their ranks have been decimated by injury, and in the midst of a pandemic no less? The South Africans, meanwhile, would be forgiven for feeling queasy about being forced to throw punches at opponents who have a knee on the canvas and both arms tied behind their backs.
If the visitors put up anything like a fight, they should be farewelled as heroes and, on their return home, be awarded the Sri Lankabhimanya — or the Pride of Sri Lanka — the country’s highest honour. It is bestowed on “those who have rendered exceptionally outstanding and most distinguished service to the nation”. Certainly, they have fulfilled that criterion. But, like everything else about this tour, even this will not be simple: only five Lankans can hold the award contemporaneously.
When: Sunday January 3, 2021. 10am Local Time
Where: The Wanderers, Johannesburg
What to expect: A grinch of a pitch. Graeme Smith reckoned opening the batting at the Wanderers was tougher than any other job in cricket anywhere else, and it’s difficult to argue otherwise. The booming bounce and sneaky sideways movement eases slightly on days two and three. There is, at least, a downward sloping, lightning fast outfield to look forward to. But also variable bounce as the surface ages. And if the ever present cracks open up … look out.
Team news
South Africa: Mark Boucher is an old-fashioned cricketer, and old-fashioned cricketers don’t fiddle with winning XIs. Boucher said after the Centurion Test that he wasn’t about to tamper with a batting unit that had amassed 621, that he didn’t fancy an all-pace attack, and that Rabada’s return was not certain. An unchanged side seems the most likely outcome. Unless Hendricks is preferred to Anrich Nortjé, who is nursing a bruised foot. Raynard van Tonder, who was highly unlikely to play, is out of the reckoning anyway with a broken finger.
Possible XI: Dean Elgar, Aiden Markram, Rassie van der Dussen, Faf du Plessis, Quinton de Kock, Temba Bavuma, Wiaan Mulder, Keshav Maharaj, Anrich Nortjé, Lutho Sipamla, Lungi Ngidi.
Sri Lanka: Do they have 11 fit players? That’s not entirely an unserious question considering the epidemic of injuries that raged through Sri Lanka’s ranks at Centurion. Minod Bhanuka and Asitha Fernando should make debuts, and Dushmantha Chameera could crack the nod. If Hasaranga isn’t fit, Dilruwan Perera or Lasith Embuldeniya will likely be selected.
Possible XI: Dimuth Karunaratne, Kusal Perera, Lahiru Thirimanne, Kusal Mendis, Minod Bhanuka, Niroshan Dickwella, Dasun Shanaka, Wanindu Hasaranga, Asitha Fernando, Dushmantha Chameera, Vishwa Fernando.
What they said
“We had a convincing win in the first Test, but we know there’s a few red flags going into the second. Even though we scored 621 we shouldn’t take the hard work of batting for granted. We’ve got to be aware that we faced an attack that was affected by injuries. We’re mindful of that; we know we need to start afresh.” – Dean Elgar warns Sri Lanka not to expect any favours.
“Our bench is very strong, so I think we will be able to field a side that will compete with the South African team.” – Dimuth Karunaratne makes a profound prediction. Would that it comes true.
First published by Cricbuzz.
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