South Africa’s quicks probed away after Verreynne raced to his first Test century at home

Firdose Moonda06-Dec-2024If Kyle Verreynne was going to get a hundred, he was going to have to get there quickly.South Africa were down to their last wicket, a player of much experience but little of it defending, and Sri Lanka’s quicks were finding late movement and extracting good bounce. Verreynne was 19 runs away. The second chance he got, he leapt out of his crease to hit Prabath Jayasuriya over the covers for six. Thirteen more to get.With four balls left in the over, Verreynne wanted to keep strike and swept hard to midwicket but a decent bit of fielding denied him the second. Dane Paterson had to face the next three balls. A couple of solid blocks and a push to the leg side meant he survived to put Verreynne back on strike. Sri Lanka put all nine fielders on the boundary, inviting one, tempting two and daring anything more. Challenge accepted.Related

Paterson, Bavuma and Stubbs put SA in driver's seat

Pathum Nissanka 2.0 – Quiet, disciplined, and just a little greedy

Test centurion Rickelton proves to himself that he belongs on international stage

Fun and runs aplenty courtesy no-fuss Bavuma

Nissanka 89 cuts down SL deficit after Verreynne 105*

First ball, Verreynne stepped across his stumps and sent Asitha Fernando over deep midwicket. Six away. The field stayed out. He tried for two to long-on but hit the ball too hard and to give Paterson potentially four balls. The field came in. Asitha greeted Paterson with a short ball that he just about ducked under. He smiled. The South African change room forced some smiles. Verreynne looked away. Then he met Paterson in the middle to discuss the next steps. Someone misunderstood.As Paterson miscued to mid-on, Verreynne set off, then realised he had to go back, the throw came in wide and missed but was misfielded so he went for the run again. Safe. The field went back out. Asitha went short, Verreynne thought long, cleared the front leg and swung over deep backward square. He ran the length of the pitch, arms aloft, before removing his helmet to take his signature bow for his first Test hundred at home. Paterson punched his bat and the air in delight and then lifted Verreynne off the floor. Job done. And it only took six balls.”This morning, I was on 40-odd and I didn’t really expect that I’d be close to getting a hundred,” Verreynne said afterwards. “I thought maybe if I can get 70 and those guys can contribute like 20 or 30, it’ll be quite a good morning. So yeah, I was really, really pleased that I managed to get there.”3:45

Takeaways: Why, Pathum Nissanka, why?

More so because none of Verreynne’s two Test centuries or three fifties before today had come at home. “I haven’t had a long Test career but I’ve scored most of my runs overseas, so it’s quite nice to add that to my career and get over that hurdle.”A bigger one was about to come because if South Africa wanted wickets, they were going to have to do it slowly. St George’s Park is known to be best for batting on the second and third days, even with grass on the pitch, even with clouds overhead, and especially if the westerly is blowing. At first, South Africa’s seamers made it look much more difficult.Kagiso Rabada found late movement and Marco Jansen, bowling from the end where there was more bounce, tested the batters with his height and lifters. In the six overs before lunch Pathum Nissanka was beaten three times and edged Rabada twice while Dimuth Karunaratne had to get out of the way of two balls from Jansen headed towards his helmet and survived an lbw shout off a third.Paterson, included as the third seamer, was exceptional in his first spell, which included three maiden overs and cost only 11 runs. He targeted the stumps, forced the batters to play and stalked the edge but there was no reward. Rabada got some in his second spell, when he changed ends and Karunaratne played a loose stroke, and should have another but David Bedingham juggled and dropped Nissanka on 11. South Africa had to wait 28.4 overs before another wicket came.In that time, they tried pretty much everything they could in the absence of an extra bowler and without getting too experimental. Jansen attempted a short-ball assault with a short fine in place in an attempt to bounce batters out, Keshav Maharaj operated by crowding the batters with close-in fielders and all the bowlers apart from Paterson changed ends to see how to make things work for them.Kagiso Rabada got the first wicket for South Africa•AFP/Getty ImagesThey all found something and in total, according to ESPNcricinfo’s ball-by-ball data, South Africa’s attack either beat the beat or induced an edge in 47 of the first 50 overs. They just don’t have the wickets to show for it and they don’t actually mind too much.”I know in South Africa in the last couple of years, Test cricket has been quite a quick game but it’s generally a hard toil and you get rewards later on in the game for things you do now,” Verreynne said. “In chats in the huddles and at the drinks break it was to just keep doing what we’re doing. The biggest strength is just trying to keep things simple. Test cricket works in funny ways. We’ve done a lot of investing today so hopefully we’ll get rewards for all of that tomorrow. It’s just about trying to stay nice and patient on a wicket like that and not get too funky.”None of this can be written without a nod to Sri Lanka’s excellent application, particularly Nissanka’s handling of the short ball, and the restraint they showed outside the off stump. After reckless strokeplay in the first innings in Durban, their disciplines were much improved in the second innings and they struck the balance between defence and attack perfectly at St George’s Park.But for Dinesh Chandimal being drawn forward by Paterson and Nissanka giving Maharaj the charge when he was 11 away from a century, their shot selection was smart, and although both camps labelled the state of play as in the balance, Sri Lanka, with seven wickets in hand, may feel slightly ahead.Not yet, said Verreynne, at a venue where the slow burn is to be appreciated, especially because things can speed up towards the end.”There’s still three days to go and we certainly feel that if we keep doing what we’re doing, we’ll come out on the right side,” he said. “It’s just about sticking to what we’re doing and staying nice and patient.”