Lunch South Africa 135 for 2 (Petersen 54*, Kallis 47*, Prasad 2-30) v Sri Lanka
Alviro Petersen made a confident return to Test cricket, while Jacques Kallis enjoyed his new-found batting freedom as South Africa merrily progressed at five runs per over in the first session at Newlands. The lunch-time tally of 135 suggested the move to bowl first had backfired on Sri Lanka, despite a couple of breaches by their replacement seamer Dhammika Prasad, who came in for the injured Dilhara Fernando.
There was merit to Sri Lanka's decision; their historic win in Durban did not mask their problems against pace and bounce, and was founded upon South Africa's own abject form with the bat. Dilshan's call to bowl shielded his weaker suit, and gave his seamers the mandate to attack South Africa in marginally helpful conditions. The call was, however, let down by a sketchy plan of action.
Sri Lanka erred on the fuller side in the first hour of play, before swinging to the other extreme after drinks. Chanaka Welegedara produced prodigious swing from full lengths but without the pace to make it menacing. Thisara Perera, too, went full in search of the dream away seamer, allowing the batsmen to press forward and drive. In the latter stages of the session, Angelo Mathews and Prasad dropped short repeatedly, inviting South Africa to duck out of danger, or pull with power. The indiscreet lengths meant 21 boundaries were hit in the 27-over session.
In between-times, though, Prasad managed to hit the in-between lengths. His ability to ramp the pace up to 140 kph - a shade more than the average speeds hit by his colleagues - earned him success. Graeme Smith began with a couple of robust straight drives against Welegedara, but succumbed to a familiar failing against Prasad's first ball. It angled across Smith without offering room for the cut, or the length for the drive, but Smith sparred at it without getting across, and inside-edged onto the stumps.
Hashim Amla, too, checked in with a bunch of ominous boundaries, which must have left Tillakaratne Dilshan a touch worried. Prasad, however, nipped him out for 16 with another length ball that shaped in and rapped the pad as Amla walked across the stumps. Amla consulted with Petersen, and rightly chose not to review the decision. That wasn't the only instance of Petersen's exemplary judgement on his return to Test colours.
Exactly a year after playing his last Test, at the same venue against India, Petersen would have felt the nerves when he took guard. Sri Lanka eased him into early touch, though, failing to test him often enough outside off stump. A couple of early drives down the ground and a nudge through square leg signalled that he had carried his domestic form into the big league. Thereafter, Petersen built steadily, before summoning the spirit to thrash Prasad over square leg for a six. He brought up his fifty with a brace of boundaries against Perera, and looked good for a lot more.
Kallis came out throwing punches in all directions, reminiscent of his half-century against Australia in the recent Johannesburg Test. He nearly pulled Prasad straight to fine-leg, where Welegedara inexplicably backed out of going for the catch. Another pull off Mathews spiralled towards midwicket and landed safe. Encouraged, Mathews persisted with the short stuff, but Kallis pounded him with a series of pull shots. Perera tested him on the front foot with lunch in sight, and Kallis unfurled a series of gorgeous cover drives that left South Africa in charge.
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