Tea Sri Lanka 197 for 5 (Samaraweera 40*, Chandimal 26*) v South Africa
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Twenty-one-year-old tearaway Marchant de Lange joined the flood of exciting bowling talent coming into Tests this year with a pacy spell that troubled Sri Lanka on a sunny opening day in Durban. There was little movement on offer off the Kingsmead track, but that didn't stop de Lange from striking twice in his first three overs, before adding the scalp of Angelo Mathews before tea. Sri Lanka's batsmen put in a better effort than in Centurion, but still have plenty to do if they are to pose a serious threat to South Africa.
Tillakaratne Dilshan boldly set his floundering batting unit a challenge by choosing to bat on the usually fast-bowler friendly Durban pitch. Dilshan's adventurousness continued when he batted - he attempted several flashy on-the-up drives, which he rarely middled though he also managed to avoid edging to the slip cordon. He and Tharanga Paranavitana saw off the challenge of a slightly out-of-sorts Dale Steyn and an improved Morne Morkel before de Lange came on to transform the session.
Bowling off a surprisingly short run-up for someone who regularly hits the mid-140s, the 1.9m de Lange delivers the ball with a high-arm action that gives a trampoline effect to several of his deliveries. That, coupled with his tight line outside off troubled Sri Lanka: first Paranavitana attempted a drive to a full ball, only to nick to the keeper, before Kumar Sangakkara got a peach that moved a hint away and forced him to play at, feathering through to Mark Boucher to give de Lange his second wicket in three deliveries.
Fears of a familiar Sri Lankan capitulation were eased as Dilshan and Mahela Jayawardene set about rebuilding the innings. Dilshan's cavalier strokes started to come off, including a controlled pull off Steyn for four, and he also capitalised on some freebies from Imran Tahir. Jaywardene got the single he needed to become the first Sri Lankan to 10,000 Test runs and looked assured in the middle. One of the highlights of his innings was a flat six over square leg, off a short ball down the leg side from Tahir.
Dilshan was also given a hit-me ball by Tahir: a knee-high full toss outside leg stump. Dilshan, instead of taking advantage, slapped it straight to deep-backward square leg to end his innings on 47 and raise more questions about the captain's shot selection. Jayawardene and Thilan Samaraweera struck a flurry of boundaries to take Sri Lanka to lunch without further damage. Soon after the break, though, Morkel was finally rewarded for his probing bowling, as he got one to swerve in and crash into Jayawardene's offstump.
For the fourth time in the day, Sri Lanka then put on a promising partnership which ended before reaching 50. Samaraweera and Angelo Mathews picked off regular boundaries, some convincing - like a pull by Mathews off Steyn - and some unconvincing, like Samaraweera's streaky four to third man as he lifted his bat late. A gentle push by Mathews past mid-off for four brought up Sri Lanka's 150 before drinks, but just as the batsmen looked comfortable, a full toss did the job for South Africa again. de Lange was the beneficiary this time as Mathews punched it right back at the bowler.
Samaraweera dug in after that, but the debutant Dinesh Chandimal didn't hold back. His first Test runs came off a cross-batted swat down the ground for four, and a volley of boundaries took him to 24 off 26. It wasn't all middle-of-the-bat stuff, though, as he miscued one straight over the in-field and then nearly holed out in the final over before tea, as de Lange couldn't latch on to a mis-hit at mid-on.
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