Second Test, Day 1
South Africa: 269/7 (Rickelton 101, Bavuma 78, Verreynne 48*, A Fernando 2/67, Kumara 3/54)
Ryan Rickelton’s maiden Test century offset the Proteas’ mission to rewrite the schoolboy howler manual yesterday in trying to let Sri Lanka off the hook.
Thirty minutes of batting madness either side of the tea interval would have left both head coach Shukri Conrad and batting coach Ashwell Prince seething. The duo did their best to disguise their disgust when the cameras zoomed in on them during this wild period on the first day of the second Test at St George’s Park, but there’s no doubt the old hairdryer may have come out in the home dressing room last night.
If only Temba Bavuma and David Bedingham - the two batters dismissed during this period - had shown a smidgeon of the guts, intelligence and character that centurion Rickelton displayed, the Proteas would not still be battling away trying to get to 300 in their first innings.
Bedingham’s 19-ball stay was simply a farce. Two dropped chances in the deep, attempting to hook with two fielders back, before walking past a straight ball from left-arm spinner Prabath Jayasuriya.
Bavuma’s dismissal was more frustrating though. The skipper had batted beautifully up until the juncture when the Sri Lankans changed tactics to a barrage of short deliveries. With the tea interval fast approaching, common sense dictates to leave everything that’s not aimed at the stumps.
Instead, Bavuma allowed his ego to get the better of him and looked to take on the boundary riders. Even this he did not achieve as he only managed to uncomfortably glove the ball behind to wicket-keeper Kusal Mendis off a fired up Asitha Fernando.
Sri Lanka had broken the 133-run partnership between Bavuma (78, 109 balls, 8x4, 1x6) and Rickelton for the fourth wicket, and more importantly now had renewed hope of limiting the Proteas’ first innings after earlier reducing the home team to 44/3 before lunch.
But all the while this chaos was transpiring, Rickelton stayed in his bubble and looked to continue the hard graft he was busy with.
Promoted to No 3, Rickelton desperately wanted to make the most of his opportunity at the top of the order. Normally attacking and free-flowing, he was prepared to give himself time to assess the conditions and work his way into his innings.
It helped that he was served up a delectable full toss first up that he simply pushed to the cover boundary to get off the mark, but from thereon it was a battle of the mind.
And that’s exactly what was required, especially as Bavuma was playing with the freedom of a man that had scored a century in his last innings.
Equally, Rickelton was prepared to “wear” the deliveries aimed at his rib cage with his fingers, in particular, taking a pounding on a few occasions after being wrapped on the gloves.
The feature of his innings, though, was the ability to pounce on the loose deliveries when they eventually presented themselves, like when he got on top of the bounce to punch a boundary through the covers that took him to 98.
But it's not called the “Nervous 90’s” for no reason and Rickelton’s heart would have been pounding when he was struck on the pads by Vishwa Fernando two balls later. Umpire Joel Wilson upheld the appeal and Rickelton and the entire Proteas dressingroom was distraught.
After consultation with batting partner Kyle Verreynne, it was though sent upstairs for review, and much to the home team, and in particular Rickelton’s delight, the decision was overturned.
This allowed Rickelton to push the next ball down the ground that brought up the Proteas’ seventh Test century in the last three Tests.
The Proteas do have another little battler in Verreynne too though. And it was he that brought some much-needed calmness to the Proteas’ innings during the final session with an undefeated 48.
Utilising his unique technique that sees Verreynne move all around the crease, the wicket-keeper managed to upset the Sri Lankan seamers rhythm enough to form an invaluable 77-run partnership with Rickelton for the seventh wicket.
Sri Lanka’s double strike with the second new ball ,though, which saw Rickelton caught in the gully for 101 and Marco Jansen cleaned up with the final ball before the close has left this Test firmly in the balance still after an absorbing opening day.