Lankans 'Steynd'

Hashim Amla, in his first outing as South Africa's Test captain, made history yesterday when South Africa clinched their first-ever Test victory against Sri Lanka in Galle by 153 runs.

The end came 45 minutes before tea on the fifth day. By then, the contest had effectively been over for two-and-a-half hours.

South Africa cannot now lose the two-Test series, meaning that their unbeaten run on away tours now rises to eight years. The last time they lost on an away tour was in Sri Lanka in 2006.

Yesterday, this Test was all but decided 35 minutes before lunch when JP Duminy shambled in to bowl his first delivery of the day and served up a looping long-hop that pitched outside Kumar Sangakkara's off-stump.

Sangakkara could have hit that wretched ball to Colombo, 105km to the northwest, where the second Test starts on Thursday. Or he could have sent it all the way back to his home town of Matale, some 166km to the northeast.

He looked as if he was weighing those options as he wound himself up and waited for the ball - only to send it curving gently into the hands of Hashim Amla at short mid-wicket. Never mind 105km or 166km. Try 30m.

For what seemed an age, a disbelieving Sangakkara did not move from the crease. If he had been on the golf course, he would have asked for a Mulligan.

The biggest crowd of the match fell as ghostly silent and motionless as the fort behind them has been for 426 years.

It was over, and two-and-a-half hours later Sri Lanka were dismissed for 216.

Morné Morkel's 4-29 was the star turn of the innings, 81 deliveries of high-quality fast bowling.

But the uber-bowler was Dale Steyn. His 5-54 in the first innings and 4-45 in the second earned him match figures of 9-99 - the best performance by a foreign fast bowler in Sri Lanka.

Steyn, every inch the world's No1 bowler, bullied, bluffed and blew his victims away.

Between them, Morkel and Steyn had claimed four of the five wickets SA took for 51 runs in the morning session.

But wait; there is an asterisk. SA's victory was achieved under the cloud of Vernon Philander being found guilty of ball-tampering.

And Steyn? Did he think SA's victory was tainted?

"Tomorrow it will say in the paper that we won this game regardless," he said.

That's not all it will say, Dale.

Proteas' cover-up bid foiled

Strong-arm tactics by Sri Lanka Cricket heavyweights yesterday foiled the South African camp's attempts to bully the broadcasters of the Test series against Sri Lanka into not showing Vernon Philander tampering with the ball.

The footage was aired yesterday - almost 48 hours after the Proteas fast bowler had been caught on camera gouging the ball with his fingernails during the third day's play in the first Test in Galle on Friday.

Instead of being broadcast at the time, the film was shown to match referee Jeff Crowe.

Philander did not contest charges of illegally changing the condition of the ball and was fined 75% of his match fee. Asked why the broadcasters had not screened the footage nearer the time it was shot, a TV insider said: "They didn't want to create a negative image of the game."

Reminded that Ten Sports had aired pictures of Faf du Plessis rubbing the ball on a zip in his trouser pocket during the second test against Pakistan in Dubai in October, the crew member said: "They put the footage on the air in Dubai and that's exactly what happened in that instance: a negative impression was created. They wanted to avoid that happening again." -

Scoreboard

Sri Lanka vs South Africa

First test, Galle, Day 5

South Africa 1st innings 455-9 decl

Sri Lanka 1st innings 292

South Africa 2nd innings 206-6 decl

Sri Lanka 2nd innings (o/night 110-1)

U Tharanga c de Kock b Steyn 14

K Silva c de Kock b Steyn 38

K Sangakkara c Amla b Duminy 76

M Jayawardene c de Kock b Morkel 10

L Thirimanne c de Villiers b Steyn 12

A Mathews not out 27

D Chandimal c de Kock b Morkel 1

D Perera c de Kock b Steyn 0

R Herath c de Villiers b Duminy 20

S Lakmal c Tahir b Morkel 12

S Eranga c Elgar b Morkel 0

Extras: (b-1, lb-4, nb-1) 6

Total: (all out; 71.3 overs) 216

Fall of wickets: 1-14 2-118 3-138 4-149 5-153 6-158 7-161 8-190 9-216.

Bowling: Steyn 17-4-45-4, Philander 11-4-34-0 (nb-1), Morkel 13.3-6-29-4, Tahir 19-3-64-0, Duminy 10-4-38-2, Elgar 1-0-1-0

Second Test: Colombo, July 24-28