Stubbs, Bavuma extend SA lead after early loss of wickets

Proteas duo Temba Bavuma and Tristan Stubbs ensured their side remained slightly ahead of Sri Lanka as they ended on 191/3 on day 3 of the second Test in Gqeberha on Saturday.

Bavuma remained unbeaten on 48, while Stubbs accumulated 36, steering them to the close of play with a lead of 221 runs.

Earlier, a Dane Paterson five-wicket haul helped SA dismiss the Sri Lankans for 328, 30 runs short of SA’s first-innings total of 358.

Batting for a second time, and with a slender lead, Proteas openers Aiden Markram and Tony de Zorzi got the Proteas off to a flying start as they raced to 55 without loss. The left-hander made his way for 19 before a Prabath Jayasuriya delivery snuck between bat and pad, smashing into the stumps.

Markram and Ryan Rickelton then kicked on, taking SA to 76/1 at tea with a lead of 106, and returned for the final session to continue to frustrate the bowlers.

Markram crossed the 50-run mark for only the second time in 2024 with a flashy cover drive. However, he would perish after chasing a delivery off Vishwa Fernando that could have been left alone but instead found his edge and was stunningly caught with one hand by Kusal Mendis behind the stumps.

First-innings centurion Ryan Rickelton struck three fours on his way to 24 but he too was bamboozled by Jayasuriya, trapping the southpaw dead in front of his stumps, with SA slipping to 109/3.

Stubbs and Bavuma picked up the baton and anchored down as they shared a 50 for the fourth wicket to take SA to beyond 150 with only three wickets lost and a lead of 181. Bavuma ended the day two runs short of a fourth score of 50 or more in four innings as their partnership grew beyond 80.

Earlier, SL started the day on 242/3, still 116 runs behind. However, clinical bowling by Paterson saw them dismissed for 328 shortly after lunch. Marco Jansen, Paterson and Keshav Maharaj shared the final seven Sri Lankan wickets as the tourists added just 86 runs.

Angelo Mathews and Kamindu Mendis had ambitions to wipe out the 116-run overnight deficit as quickly as possible and shared 43 runs for the fourth wicket before Jansen had them both removed for 44 and 48 respectively.

Not to be outdone, Paterson got in on the action in the 89th over, striking off the first ball of the over to dismiss visiting skipper Dhananjaya de Silva (14) of the first ball of the over. Two balls later he disturbed the stumps of Kusal Mendis (16) and two balls after that Lahiru Kumara was back in the hut without troubling the scorers.

Jayasuriya and Vishwa weathered the early storm to take their side past 300 and to the lunch interval without any further damage.

Paterson completed his five-fer shortly after the break when he removed Vishwa (2), before Maharaj wrapped up the innings with the wicket of Jayasuriya, who Kyle Verreynne stumped for a gritty 24.

Paterson was the pick of the SA bowling attack with his career-best figures of 5/71 coming off 22 overs, while Maharaj and Jansen claimed 2/65 and 2/100 respectively.