Proteas take advantage of Sri Lanka’s recklessness

As the year winds down, Sri Lanka served up Test cricket’s latest batting “disaster class” at Kingsmead.

File Thursday’s 42 all out made in 13.5 overs alongside India’s 46 against New Zealand in Bangalore, or the Black Caps’ 88 all out in Galle, Australia’s 104 in Perth last week and England’s 112 in Rawalpindi as illustrations of batting implosions in 2024. 

SA too have a 55 all out next to their name in 2024, but that came on a “minefield” at Newlands that saw a match end in less than two days and thus provides some mitigation. 

Kingsmead is not a “191 all out pitch”, and it’s definitely not a “42 all out pitch”. SA may be excused for their first innings, because half of the batters were dismissed with dark clouds hanging over the ground, while seam-friendly conditions were also enhanced with the swing that was on offer. 

Yet, techniques nowadays appear looser and certainly the mindsets of modern batters are different to what it was even a decade ago.

Sri Lanka’s first innings began in bright sunshine but their approach spoke to the desire of this generation of batters to constantly feel they should be attacking and the scoreboard needs to be moving. 

Of course batting against the new ball is challenging. When is that not the case? But Sri Lanka’s approach was reckless, even stupid. Surely it is not what they practised with local consultant Neil McKenzie in the fortnight leading up to the series.

The tourists didn’t need to provide their hosts with a helping hand but in a 78-minute period of mayhem, they were extremely charitable. Their travails were best exemplified by their four leading run-scorers this year: Kamindu Mendis, skipper Dhananjaya de Silva, Angelo Mathews and Dinesh Chandimal. 

Mendis seemed intent on hitting every ball to the boundary, which may be his natural way, but requires more judicious application than Sri Lanka’s new star demonstrated. He hit three fours, but swung wildly when chasing a wide ball from Gerald Coetzee that was edged to first slip. SA’s delight at his dismissal was understandable given he averaged 91.27 in 2024 and was thus a central figure in the home team’s prematch planning.

Meanwhile Mathews, the most experienced of the visitors’ batters, wafted at a ball from Marco Jansen that he should have left alone, Dhananjaya drove unnecessarily and was bowled, while Chandimal pushed tentatively away from his body, and deflected the ball onto his stumps via the inside edge. 

There will be a serious debrief in the touring camp, but there should also be heavy fines if such carelessness is repeated in the second innings. 

They look set to be chasing something substantial in the last innings after SA finished the second day on 132/3, their lead already 281 runs. Aiden Markram, in conditions that were much easier for batting than what greeted him on Wednesday, looked in good touch, striking some lovely boundaries during his innings of 47. He may feel it should have been more, but his innings signalled progress after recent struggles. 

Despite all the assistance he got from the Sri Lankans, Jansen’s efforts are deserving of praise. Conditions were certainly in his favour, but it still demands discipline — and usually patience — to earn reward. He had no need to concern himself with the latter virtue, but put enough balls in the right spot to register his best Test return and the second five-wicket haul of his career. 

He needed just 41 balls to pick up 7/13, and the full benefits of the 12-week strength and conditioning programme weren’t required. He had hinted at good form with bat and ball during the T20s with India, but this kind of outcome will provide satisfaction and self-belief ahead of an important season for the 24-year-old.