India probably possess the best pace attack in the world. Their batting is quite formidable too spearheaded by one of the true greats of the modern game – Virat Kohli. Yet, they have cut a sorry figure in South Africa losing the opening Test match by an innings inside three days.
Many thought that this was India’s best chance to record their first series win in South Africa especially given their excellent run in Australia in recent years. Yet, India have failed this time as well. Even if they win the New Year Test in Cape Town, the series will be levelled at 1-1 as this is a two-game series. The final frontier is yet to be breached.
That makes Sri Lanka the only Asian team to have won a Test series in South Africa. In fact, other than Sri Lanka, England and Australia, no other country has won a Test series in South Africa. Just how did they do that? Unlike India, Sri Lanka did not have any stars in their ranks. Rangana Herath was gone. Angelo Mathews was injured, and Dinesh Chandimal was axed.
It was also a period of intense turmoil within the team and confidence levels had been shattered. Then, unlike the current South African side, the one that Sri Lanka beat in 2019 had all their greats still playing – Hashim Amla, Dale Steyn, Francois du Plessis and Vernon Philander.
In December 2018, Sri Lanka had launched the longest tour in their history that ran for more than three months across three countries. It was a bizarre schedule. They started off with New Zealand from where they travelled to Australia for a two match Test series and the ordeal wasn’t over as they had two more Tests in South Africa. The team flew direct from Sydney to Johannesburg.
Between the second Test against Australia in Canberra and the first Test against South Africa in Durban, there was a mere seven-day gap and no warm-up game to get acclimatized to the conditions. In between the Tests, Sri Lanka’s Test captain had been sacked and the reins had been handed to Dimuth Karunaratne.
Dimuth was a reluctant leader for he didn’t know what to expect and there was little time to get the team together. He had also spent a night in a Canberra hospital after copping a nasty one on the head from Pat Cummins. He had company as Kusal Janith Perera had joined him having been hit by Mitchell Starc.
To his credit, Dimuth got the team together by tinkering a bit with the team culture. As captain, he gave the players a bit more freedom. Head Coach Chandika Hathurusinghe made a few technical adjustments with the batters getting them ready to face a barrage of short pitched bowling now that some weakness had been exposed by the Aussies.
The seamers – Suranga Lakmal, Kasun Rajitha and Vishwa Fernando – did a terrific job – getting wickets with the new ball and then containing the opposition when there was nothing for the seamers.
Sri Lanka’s fielding was top notch as well backing up the bowlers. They caught well, ran out batters with direct hits and were converting the half chances. It was a clever move to get Steve Rixon under their radar as the Fielding Coach. Under Rixon the team fielded best in recent years.
They owed the first Test win to KJP, who played a blinder taking South Africa by storm. It’s rated the greatest knock by a Sri Lankan in Test match cricket. Sadly, since that stunning knock, KJP has been a pale shadow of his former self with injury and surgery severely restricting him.
In the second Test in Port Elizabeth, Sri Lanka conceded a first innings lead of 68 but in South Africa’s second innings, Suranga Lakmal bowled like a man possessed taking four wickets. He deserved a five for.
Apparently, Lakmal was going to be dropped for the second Test on flimsy grounds and Bowling Coach Rumesh Ratnayake, the kindest man you will come across in cricket, had to corner the selector on tour not to disrupt the winning momentum. Brendon Kuruppu saw the larger picture and let the team have it their way.
Brendon doesn’t get the credit for the contributions he has made as a selector. Some of the talents that he has pushed towards the senior side include Kumar Sangakkara, Chamara Silva and Oshada Fernando.
Oshada was a surprise choice on that tour but made a match winning 75 not out in Port Elizabeth and played Dale Steyn like someone who had played over 100 Test matches. The 163 run unbroken stand he shared with Kusal Mendis for the third wicket gave Sri Lanka an eight wicket win and the series.
As the winning runs were scored, umpire Ian Gould was seen drawing out a stump. The press box and the change rooms at Port Elizabeth are next to each other and Gould was spotted having a smoke outside after the game. He was asked about the stump and he replied. ‘I am not a collector. That’s for that young man. He batted so well,’ the former England wicketkeeper said. Gould of course was talking about Oshada.
That series win will remain etched in our memories for a long time. A lot of people deserve credit. Cricket South Africa deserve lot of credit too. They blundered by slotting the two Tests in Port Elizabeth and Durban, the two slowest pitches in the country. Perhaps they were cocky. Pakistan were touring South Africa prior to Sri Lanka and they had scheduled the three Tests in Johannesburg, Centurion and Cape Town; those are the quicker wickets in the country. They probably thought that they can roll over Sri Lanka in the slower tracks of Durban and Port Elizabeth. That backfired.
