Durban: South Africa’s Marco Jansen produced a sensational bowling display to help his team seize control of the first Test against Sri Lanka, with the visitors collapsing to their lowest-ever Test score of just 42. Jansen took a career-best 7-13 as Sri Lanka were bowled out in just 14 overs on a lively pitch at Kingsmead on Thursday.
After being put in to bat, South Africa were in a precarious position at 80-4 overnight. However, they were dismissed for 191 by lunch in their first innings, before recovering to 132-3 in their second innings, giving them a commanding 281-run lead at the close of play.
Jansen’s remarkable 7-wicket haul came in just 6.5 overs, and he became only the second bowler in Test history to take seven wickets in less than seven overs. The first was former Australia captain Hugh Trumble, who achieved the feat in 1904. Jansen’s feat included three clean-bowled wickets and three catches in the slips, with the final wicket being a caught-and-bowled as last man Asitha Fernando lofted a delivery into the air.
Sri Lanka’s collapse marked the tied-ninth lowest total in Test history, and their own worst-ever total by 29 runs, surpassing their previous low of 71 against Pakistan. It also became the lowest Test score at Kingsmead, surpassing Bangladesh’s total of 53.
South African bowlers Gerald Coetzee (2-18) and Kagiso Rabada (1-15) also contributed with fine performances on a seamer-friendly pitch, while Sri Lanka’s batting was nothing short of disastrous, with five players dismissed without scoring.
Kamindu Mendis was Sri Lanka’s top scorer with 13 runs, while the rest of the team struggled to get into double figures. South African captain Temba Bavuma top-scored in their first innings with 70 runs, returning to the side after missing the recent series in Bangladesh due to an elbow injury. He was not out on 24 at stumps, alongside Tristan Stubbs on 17.
Aiden Markram contributed 47 in South Africa’s second innings before being bowled by Vishwa Fernando, and Prabath Jayasuriya took two wickets, reaching his 100 wickets milestone in just 17 Tests, making him the second-fastest to 100 Test wickets.
Scoreboard
SOUTH AFRICA (1st Innings, Overnight 80-4):
- A. Markram c Mathews b A. Fernando: 9
- T. de Zorzi c K.G. Mendis b V. Fernando: 4
- T. Stubbs c Karunaratne b Kumara: 16
- T. Bavuma c Kumara b A. Fernando: 70
- D. Bedingham b Kumara: 4
- K. Verreynne lbw b Kumara: 9
- W. Mulder not out: 9
- M. Jansen lbw b Jayasuriya: 13
- G. Coetzee c K.G. Mendis b Jayasuriya: 1
- K. Maharaj c de Silva b V. Fernando: 24
- K. Rabada c Chandimal b A. Fernando: 15
Extras (B-2, LB-5, NB-4, W-6): 17
Total (all out, 49.4 overs): 191
SRI LANKA (1st Innings):
- P. Nissanka c Stubbs b Jansen: 3
- D. Karunaratne c Bedingham b Rabada: 2
- D. Chandimal b Jansen: 0
- A. Mathews c Bedingham b Jansen: 1
- K.G. Mendis c Bedingham b Coetzee: 13
- D. de Silva b Jansen: 7
- K. Mendis lbw b Coetzee: 0
- P. Jayasuriya c Stubbs b Jansen: 0
- V. Fernando b Jansen: 0
- L. Kumara not out: 10
- A. Fernando c&b Jansen: 0
Extras (LB-1, NB-4, W-1): 6
Total (all out, 13.5 overs): 42
SOUTH AFRICA (2nd Innings):
- T. de Zorzi c A. Fernando b Jayasuriya: 17
- A. Markram b V. Fernando: 47
- W. Mulder lbw b Jayasuriya: 15
- T. Stubbs not out: 17
- T. Bavuma not out: 24
Extras (B-4, LB-8): 12
Total (for three wickets, 40 overs): 132
Still to bat: D. Bedingham, K. Verreynne, M. Jansen, G. Coetzee, K. Maharaj, K. Rabada
BOWLING:
- A. Fernando 8-1-25-0
- V. Fernando 10-1-33-1
- Kumara 7-3-14-0
- Jayasuriya 15-1-48-2
