Keeping it simple in seamer-friendly conditions again paid dividends for South Africa's Vernon Philander who continued his impressive start to his Test career with another five-wicket haul.
The 26-year-old rocked Sri Lanka with figures of 5 for 53 on the opening day of the first Test - his third five-wicket haul in his first three Tests.
Philander took 14 wickets in two Tests in his debut series against Australia last month and produced another impressive display as Sri Lanka was skittled for just 180 at Centurion.
Captain Graeme Smith scored a half-century but fell late in the day as South Africa reached 1 for 90 at stumps.
Smith looked in fine form as he stroked seven fours in his 61 - his 30th half-century in his 94th Test - but played around a full delivery from Dilhara Fernando to be trapped lbw. Opening partner Jacques Rudolph was unbeaten on 27.
"I just try to keep it as simple as possible. There was a bit of assistance there today and I tried to exploit it," Philander said.
"For me, I just tried to bowl as if it was a flat pitch. Sometimes you get on a greentop and you think you should bowl bouncer, bouncer, yorker and then bowl the middle stump out. But the assistance is there, why try to bowl any differently?"
Sri Lanka's bowers were steady, but they struggled to obtain the same assistance the South Africans did, even though the home attack sprayed the ball around disconcertingly at times.
South Africa's much-vaunted attack were struggling in helpful conditions as Thilan Samaraweera and Angelo Mathews added 65 for the fifth wicket off just 80 balls.
The pair took Sri Lanka to 4 for 156 before Philander struck three times in four overs.
Philander's destructive burst began with two wickets in successive deliveries, both given out on review, as Samaraweera (36) edged an excellent delivery that nipped away off the seam and Kaushal Silva was adjudged to have brushed the ball with his glove as it flew to wicketkeeper Mark Boucher down the leg side.
Thisara Perera took a single off the hat-trick ball, but only lasted until the next over when he failed to read an Imran Tahir googly and Jacques Kallis made a stunning reflex catch at slip as the edge bounced off Boucher's thigh.
Sri Lanka had lost three wickets in five balls to slump to 157 for seven and Philander struck again to have Mathews caught by Kallis for 38.
Dale Steyn also finished with impressive figures of 4 for 18 to become the second fastest bowler to 250 Test wickets (49 matches), one match behind Dennis Lillee.
Philander believes the hosts still have work to do in order to take charge of the game.
"Tomorrow morning there'll still be something in the pitch and a lot depends on the overhead conditions. Obviously we hope the sun is out so it flattens the pitch. We still need to bat well and get through that initial patch," he said.
Reuters
Tags: cricket, sport, south-africa, sri-lanka First posted December 16, 2011 07:18:12
No comments:
Post a Comment