1. Unlucky: Tony de Zorzi
To receive an in-swing yorker first up is unfortunate in isolation. But then for the ball to smash into the pads, having pitched in line only by virtue of umpire’s call before going on to brush the outside of the leg stump is simply wretched. But that was De Zorzi’s fate this morning, and with Paul Reifell upholding the decision, the Proteas opener was on his way without scoring.
2. Ball: Lahiru Kumara
The Sri Lankan paceman was visibly pumped up in the first session. And he was duly rewarded with two wickets in the space of a couple of overs. The first was a beauty, which nipped back through the defence of Aiden Markram to crash into the middle stump. It had extra significance for Kumara with Markram being his 100th Test victim.
3. Shot: Ryan Rickelton
Temba Bavuma played a couple of delightful strokes, but there was none better than Ryan Rickelton’s perfect on-drive off Kumara displaying the full face of the bat. Bavuma, batting at the non-striker’s end, acknowledged it as much with a “Shot Boy!”
4. Helter skelter: Shortly before tea and immediately after
Bavuma and Rickelton had batted beautifully for the majority of the second session. They had the Sri Lankan attack on their knees, which prompted the tourists to counter with one last roll of the dice. The Sri Lankan pacemen adopted a short ball strategy with two fielders back and started to target Bavuma. Instead of riding out the storm, Bavuma looked to fight fire with fire and only managed to glove the ball down the leg-side. This brought David Bedingham to the crease, and he was even worse offering catching practice in the deep to the Sri Lankans.
5. Butter fingers: Sri Lanka’s catching
Dropped catches cost the tourists dearly in the first Test at Kingsmead. They were not much better at St George’s Park as they again put down a couple of straightforward chances.
6. Relief: Ryan Rickelton
Having survived an LBW decision from Joel Wilson earlier, Rickelton looked up to heavens to pay thanks after bringing up his maiden Test century.