The First test between South Africa and Sri Lanka was nothing less than an electroshock for the fans, while the cricket world was expecting another thrashing of a subcontinental team by South Africa, Kusal Perea defied all the expectations playing one of the greatest knocks in history of the game , can South Africa bounce back at Port Elizabeth
In 130 years of their proud Test history South Africa have lost only to two of the eleven test opponents at home, Australia and England but in next five days at Port Elizabeth Faf du Plessis’s men will be trying their best to preserve their proud home record. No one has ever thought that a team who had lost their last five tests including a whitewash at home would put them under such a pressure, such huge win was registered by Sri Lanka at Durban with arguably one of the greatest test innings of all time from a player who have always been accused of not living up to the expectations. However seeing him at Durban it seemed the man Sri Lanka have always waited for has arrived, at last, the big challenge will be to sustain the performance.
South Africa who was left stunned by Perera at Durban is looking to get young allrounder Wiann Mulder into the side which will help them get a much-balanced side apart from boosting the batting it will help to ease the burden on bowling. However, South Africa will need runs from their most experienced batsmen Dean Elgar and Hashim Amla both of them failed at Durban. It will also be crucial for Aiden Markram and Temba Bavuma to make their start counts. Bavuma off late has been throwing away after getting the start, especially in the 40s. As Coach Ottis Gibson has also stressed the importance of scoring more in the first innings the onus will be on the batsmen to get the side benefit of huge first innings lead. With Vernon Philander’s absence there an extra burden on Dale Steyn, Kagiso Rabada and Duanne Olivier to perform and show that they are the most fearsome attack in world cricket and Durban was just a blip in their proud record.
Sri Lanka on the other is on the moon thinking that they have a great chance to create history in South Africa . While they should be proud of what they have achieved but it wouldn’t be wrong to that Sri Lanka have achieved the feat, not by teamwork but one man brilliance. Therefore the challenge will be to sustain their performance. Good thing for Sri Lanka is that it is just 2 test match series and a decent performance for next five days may help them to achieve a draw which will be enough for them to make a marker in history. However, Dimuth Karunaratne who is confident in his team but knows very well they will be facing a host which is hurt and seeking serious revenge on one of their favorite ground.
South Africa are clear with their team however Sri Lanka has decided to wait on Kusal Mendis’s fitness and will take a final call in the morning. If he is not fit on time chances are Angelo Perera might get a Test Debut. Milinda Sriwardena the spin allrounder also is expected to be in contention.
Teams : South Africa : Dean Elgar,Aiden Markram,Hashim Amla, Temba Bavuma, Fad Du Plessis (Captain) Quinton de Cock, Wiann Mulder,Keshav Maharaj,Dale Steyn,Kagiso Rabada, Duanne Olivier
Sri Lanka : Dimuth Karunaratne (Captain), Lahiru Thrimanne, Kusal Mendis, Kusal Perea, Dhananjaya De Silva, Oshada Fernando, Niroshan Dickwella,Lasith Embuldeniya,Suranga Lakmal,Kasun Rajitha, Vishwa Fernando
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