Day 1 or One day at Centurion?

This has never happened to Sri Lanka in the past decade or so when they happen to be tamed on their home soil. I remember Sri Lanka winning the test series 1-0 in 2004-05 with the hosts having a high upper-hand in the first test that was drawn aided with Kumara Sangakkara's 232. Now, Sri Lanka have been bowled out for just less than 200 runs n the board against the Proteas when they ended their innings at 180. The match was one of its kind with the Proteas piling up exactly half of what the Sri Lankan batsmen could manage hours before.

There was no batsmen from Sri Lanka who could post even 40 runs individually let alone a half century. I had written on this blog before about the lack of experienced bowlers in the Sri Lankan squad though their batting line up happens to be pretty decent. But, after this, it looks as though someone like Sanath Jayasuriya and Aravinda De Silva have to come back as 25 year olds to save their team from humiliating defeats. Noted batsmen from Sri Lanka namely - Tilekeratne Dilshan and Kumara Sangakkara could not manage more than 6 runs and one run respectively.

Batsmen who rode over 30 runs include Angelo Mathews who top scored 38, Jayawardane (30), Samaraweera (36) and Paranavitana (32) that comes up to 136 runs out of 180. It was not some Dale Steyn, Morkel or Jacques Kallis who did the damage with the ball but was some Vernon Philander who scalped 5 wickets in his third test against a strong batting line-up as mentioned above. Of course, a lot of support was provided from the other end by the experienced Dale Steyn who also picked up 4 wickets which was equally instrumental in the Sri Lankan batting collapse.

The match was played at South Africa which can form as an excuse for the touring team in case they fail to keep up their fans' hopes. With South Africa also being an equally strong outfit, the blame cannot be completely on the Sri Lankan team. One can say that, "had South Africa toured the sub-continent nation, they might have also met with the same fate". That forms the "ifs and buts of the story." Whatever, in days to come (in the ongoing 1^st test), with their batsmen giving up hopes, nothing much can be expected from their inexperienced bowlers.