Sri Lanka Trail 242 for 3 (Nisanka 89, Mathews 40*) South Africa 358 (Varenne 105*, Rickelton 101, Bavuma 78, Kumara 4-79) by 116 runs
With Angelo Mathews unbeaten on 40 and Kamindu Mendis unbeaten on 30 at stumps, Sri Lanka have seven wickets in hand and are in a good position to take a lead in the first innings. They have, for the first time in the series, put serious pressure on a South African attack that seemed short of options on a flat Gqebarha deck.
Kagiso Rabada was the most dangerous of their bowlers, conceding only 40 runs in his 15 overs and taking the wicket of Dimuth Karunaratne for the third time in the series. He dropped Nissanka to David Bedingham at second slip on 22 runs. Sri Lanka spoke to Marco Johnson with far more confidence than in the first Test, in which he took 11 wickets. By stumps, Jensen had conceded 75 runs from his 18 overs, and was the only frontline bowler without a wicket.
Although there were occasional plays and misses, especially against Rabada, Nissanka was largely cautious and managed only eight runs from his first 50 balls. Eventually he began to attack the shorter balls, and it was the pull shot that he favored for the remainder of the innings, particularly taking on the shorter balls from Jensen. Most of his runs came from square of the wicket, and he increased his batting pace in Chandimal’s company, especially getting into accumulation mode against the spin of Keshav Maharaj.
His dismissal to Maharaj, whom he clubbed early on for six over deep midwicket, would be particularly troubling, especially as he was closing in on a century. He simply ran towards the bowler, attempted a cross batting shot on a full ball and essentially yorked himself, causing the ball to hit the leg stump.
Nevertheless, the stand between him and Chandimal had provided a platform for Sri Lanka. Chandimal was looser in his strokeplay than any opener and hit a quick four behind the wicket early on. Yet he stuck to it with Nissanka, until a fluke against Dane Patterson ended with him being trapped behind the stumps.
Mathews was also a little troubled at the beginning of his innings, but hit some boundaries down the ground and later got into rhythm. Kamindu Mendis looked confident from the beginning. Before stumps, both of them together added 43 runs.
However, the morning was ruled by Verein. After South Africa lost Keshav Maharaj without adding to the score overnight, Vereen added 66 runs with Rabada as Sri Lanka focused almost entirely on bouncers and short deliveries to fall the last two wickets. Vereen hit three fours between deep backward square leg and deep midwicket in one over from Asitha Fernando, before Rabada was bowled by Asitha, risking even more big hits, leaving him with the company at number 11. But was abandoned.
With still 19 runs to go for his century, Vereen yanked the throttle with even greater intensity, first hitting Prabhat Jayasuriya over cow corner for six, then bowling Asitha to take him within a strike of 100. Dropped it in the bank. He reached triple figures with the second one. Strong pull in the same over, the ball goes over the head of fine leg.
The milestone drew huge celebrations, with Vereen taking a bow in the dressing room and Paterson a bear-hug. When the morning’s play began, Vereen himself would not have guessed that he would score a century, but he remained unbeaten on 105 runs from 133 balls, while on the second day he scored 58 runs from 50 balls.
Andrew Fidel Fernando is a senior writer for ESPNcricinfo. @afidelf
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