Nissanka leads strong Sri Lanka fightback against South Africa

Gqeberha: Opener Pathum Nissanka led Sri Lanka’s fight back against hosts South Africa on Friday as they closed the second day of the second Test on 242-3, trailing by 116 runs.

Nissanka was dropped when he was on 22 and went on to punish the South African bowlers, helping to blunt a hostile seam attack at St George’s Park in reply to the home side’s 358 all out. But he was out 11 runs short of a century after dancing down the wicket to spinner Keshav Maharaj and was bowled as he missed with a wild swipe.

Nissanka had featured in a 41-run opening partnership with Dimuth Karunaratne, who scored 20 before being undone by a rising delivery from Kagiso Rabada that forced an edge behind to wicketkeeper Kyle Verreynne.

The 26-year-old Nissanka was dropped in the slips by David Bedingham after another unplayable delivery from Rabada took a healthy edge and used the opportunity to put on 109 runs for the second wicket with Dinesh Chandimal, who perished on 44 as Dane Paterson forced him to prod away from his body and offer Verreynne another catch.

Angelo Mathews (40) and Kamindu Mendes (30) were not out at stumps and will resume on Saturday with Sri Lanka looking to wipe the deficit on the third day and then build a lead on a good batting track.

South Africa were dismissed before lunch but not before Verreynne notched up a thrilling morning century as the home side wagged their tail and added 89 runs to their overnight score of 269-7.

UNLIKELY CENTURY: Verreynne was still one run shy of his 50 when South Africa lost their eighth wicket in the third over of the day but his partnerships with the last two batsmen -- Rabada and Paterson -- saw him to an unlikely century, as he went from 48 to 105 not out in an exciting knock. Together with Rabada, he put on 56 for the ninth wicket, adding 23 runs to the total before Asitha Fernando took out his stumps.

Reuters

Brief scores:

South Africa 358 in 103.4 overs (K. Verreynne 105 not out, R. Rickelton 101, T. Bavuma 78; L. Kumara 4-79, A. Fernando 3-102) vs Sri Lanka 242-3 in 67 overs (P. Nissanka 89, D. Chandimal 44, A. Mathews 40 not out, Kamindu Mendis 30 not out)

Match situation: Sri Lanka trail by 116 runs with seven wickets remaining in the first innings.