Player of the Match
Player of the Match

A dominating win for South Africa in Durban, their first against Sri Lanka at Kingsmead. They go 1-0 up and we will have the second Test from next Thursday, so do join us back for that. As for live cricket games, the South Africa Women take on England Women in a T20I later this evening, do join us for that coverage as well. On behalf of Madushka, Ranjith and Ekanth, this is Sudarshanan bidding you goodbye. Till the next time, do take care and stay hydrated. Ciao!

1:52pm Time for the presentation

Kagiso Rabada is given a plaque for completing 300 Test wickets. He did so in the series against Bangladesh last month.

Marco Jansen, the Player of the Match: "Never thought I would get ten wickets. It is a dream and that is what we work for. The second innings we felt the wicket was low and slow and a bit flatter. Getting wickets was going to be tough. A training period, nice and strong to be fit again. Now the body feels stronger and much fresher. I don't know, I'll find out [about the celebrations] after this."

Dhananjaya de Silva, Sri Lanka captain: "We lost the grip when we batted in the first innings. We bowled well but Temba took the game away from us. All about the first innings, even our bowling and batting. We had to bowl well and get the opposition out. 80 for 4 and we could have bowled well to keep them to 120 or 150. [42 all out] We didn't have time to read Jansen. We hadn't had anything to think about, just 12 overs for 42 runs. Had better plans in the second innings. In the past we know we have batted well in these conditions, we didn't bat well in the first innings and the match got away from us."

Temba Bavuma, South Africa captain: "Tough cricket out there, quite happy with the result. We were in a tough position, knew we had to dig deep. We spoke about getting in a comfortable position and were able to do so. Got a good partnership in the first innings and that helped. We saw how the wicket was playing and the conditions were favourable for seamers. We were confident that if they could put us in trouble, we could do so. We knew conditions were in our favour. Batting always felt tricky, you never felt in. Loose ball, you tried to put it away, good ball you played it well. Yesterday and today it became slow, we lost Mulder and that got tricky, Gerald wasn't fully fit, but he and Keshav did their thing. Not a big break between. Wiaan is out of the series, we have to find a replacement. Gerald Coetzee, the medical team will have do to their best. The conversation [about WTC] has been there, we are not too loud about it. It will come. OUr focus needs to be more internally, what we have been doing as a team and control that, let whatever happens happen. GQ - hopefully the weather behaves and looking forward to playing in the band."

Long John Silve: "ANY place except England for the WTC final!! With that out of the way, my Player of the match is Bavuma for his innings to keep SAF in the match in the first inningas and the century to pile it on SL in second. Had Jansen taken two five fors , he would have been mine by a whisker. Since he didn't, it is Bavuma." Might still be Jansen, we'll find out soon. Stay tuned for the presentations. Sudarshanan will cover it here.

Robbie : "The points table isn't updated yet (PCT) but if my calculations are correct, SA are now second on the table, aren't they?" Yes

Meenakshi : "In the nick of time! Sri Lanka bundled out within 79.4 overs, and just inside the margin of 80 overs. Phew." Lol. Btw it's confirmed, SA won't be docked points even if their over rate in the second innings was slow

Neel: "The WTC final could be kept on a rotating basis in different venues of the participating teams, just like the World Cup "

Chandra: "How about disqualifying the team that lost two in a row for the WCT finals? " There should be, in my opinion and perhaps of a few others', a promotion and relegation system. Alas, there is no clear pathway for the non-WTC teams to make it in as of now.

yazoo: "Cheers for the interactive commentary, Eknath, really makes following games more interesting when the commentators engage in conversation and discussions regarding the cricketing world - have a good one!" Thanks for the excellent comments. Was great fun to address the WTC and over-rate stuff.

1:36pm, Day 4, End of Match: Jansen leads the team out of the field. Handshakes going around on the stairs and the edge of the ground. A good display from Sri Lanka's batters in the second dig, especially this morning, but that 42 all out started their long journey behind the eight-ball. South Africa weren't as clinical today but there were positives - Rabada and Coetzee were probing at the start of the day, Maharaj held up an end and got drift plus spin, and Jansen - who wasn't at his best earlier on in the day - cleaned up the tailenders and finished with a four-for in the innings and ten-for for the match.

79.4
W
Jansen to AM Fernando, OUT, Jansen finishes the Test with 11 to his name, bowls Fernando neck and crop to complete a 233-run win. Length ball at 135ks angling in towards leg, Fernando was sliding leg side all the time. Was opened up big time as he tried to cover the line using his hands. Ended up having his stumps rattled

AM Fernando b Jansen 0 (7m 8b 0x4 0x6) SR: 0.00

79.3
0
Jansen to AM Fernando, no run, Wide and fullish, stays leg side and reaches out for a flirty steer. Beaten

Nathan: "If Jansen finishes things up here, he will reach 50 wickets in just 13 tests. Where does that place him on the overall list?" Just out of the list

79.2
0
Jansen to AM Fernando, no run, Makes room to ensure his body's not in danger. The length ball is at the stumps. So that's not the issue. Fernando manages to defend it nicely to cover
79.1
1lb
Jansen to Kumara, 1 leg bye, Length ball is a touch down leg, beats the flick and goes off the trouser to deep fine leg

Venkat : "Getting out SL within 80 overs, is it an advantage to SA." Yeah, over-rate deductions won't be an issue. Can Jansen strike over the next six balls?

END OF OVER:
79 | 5 Runs | SL: 281/9

  • Asitha Fernando0 (5b)
  • Lahiru Kumara5 (14b)
  • Keshav Maharaj24-5-67-2
  • Marco Jansen21-5-73-3
78.6
0
Maharaj to AM Fernando, no run, Flicks the fullish ball to the leg side
78.5
0
Maharaj to AM Fernando, no run, Mighty heave across the line. Wanted to slog sweep that out of the city, toes it to cover.
78.4
0
Maharaj to AM Fernando, no run, Defends it back to the bowler
78.3
1
Maharaj to Kumara, 1 run, Excitement builds up among the crowd as Kumara skies the slog sweep. Bavuma runs back from the infield but the ball teases him at midwicket, goes past his outstretched hands while in the air. Just 74ks the pace there, might've bounced more than Kumara expected
78.2
0
Maharaj to Kumara, no run, Length on off, defended back to the bowler
78.1
4
Maharaj to Kumara, FOUR, Free licence for Kumara, and he takes it by charging down the pitch, staying leg side of the length ball and flays it over cover

Slip and leg slip in with short leg and silly mid-off

END OF OVER:
78 | (wicket maiden) | SL: 276/9

  • Asitha Fernando0 (2b)
  • Lahiru Kumara0 (11b)
  • Marco Jansen21-5-73-3
  • Keshav Maharaj23-5-62-2

Venkat : "Is the 2 nd new ball necessary for SA now. " Nah. Two overs to go for it to be available just fyi

77.6
0
Jansen to AM Fernando, no run, Squared up but he manages to block it tow the off side
77.5
0
Jansen to AM Fernando, no run, Wide on a length, let go

Test can now be over in one ball

77.4
W
Jansen to BKG Mendis, OUT, Jansen gets his tenth for the match! The length is perfect this time, has Mendis unsure whether to play on the front or the back foot. With the line being around fifth-stump, he wanted to play it late and steer it to third again. But the around-the-wicket angle did him in. It was closer than he expected, the bat was windscreen-wiped indecisively. The edge was taken to the keeper. Jansen is pumped!

BKG Mendis c †Verreynne b Jansen 48 (89m 77b 9x4 0x6) SR: 62.33

ashish: "@ekanth - dont you think deciding the final venue based on the table topper is going to be logistically difficult since we will need to wait till majority of the matches get over and we know for sure whi would be topping the table." Yeah, perhaps they should be offered options. Is that good enough middle ground?

77.3
0
Jansen to BKG Mendis, no run, Lovely square drive, very late. Gets it to deep third. It's a fifth-stump length ball. A small crouch from Mendis before using his wrists nicely
77.2
0
Jansen to BKG Mendis, no run, Fullish length ball a touch down leg, glanced to deep fine leg
77.1
0
Jansen to BKG Mendis, no run, Pulls the shortish ball a touch down leg to deep fine leg

Sri Lanka 4th innings Partnerships

WktRunsPlayers
1st12FDM KarunaratneP Nissanka
2nd26LD ChandimalP Nissanka
3rd44AD MathewsLD Chandimal
4th17LD ChandimalPHKD Mendis
5th2LD ChandimalNGRP Jayasuriya
6th95LD ChandimalDM de Silva
7th75LD ChandimalBKG Mendis
8th1MVT FernandoBKG Mendis
9th4BKG MendisCBRLS Kumara
10th6CBRLS KumaraAM Fernando