GQEBERHA: Dane Paterson continued his late-career revival when he bowled South Africa into a strong position on the third day of the second Test against Sri Lanka at St George’s Park on Saturday.

Paterson took a Test-best five for 71 as Sri Lanka were bowled out for 328, which gave South Africa a 30-run first innings lead. The hosts increased their advantage by scoring 191 for three by the close, an overall lead of 221.

Paterson took three wickets in an over as Sri Lanka could add only 86 runs for the loss of seven wickets to their overnight total of 242 for three.

Paterson, 35, played in 12 white-ball internationals followed by two Tests against England in 2019-20. That seemed to have been the extent of his international career.

He had a successful stint for Nottin­gham­shire in England and received a call from new South African Test coach Shukri Conrad when he failed to attract a bid to play for any of the six franchises in the 2024 SA20 league.

With franchise-contracted players ineligible for a series in New Zealand in February, Paterson joined a team of franchise rejects and played two Tests.

Paterson performed well as the team was being outplayed.

Injuries to Gerald Coetzee and Wiaan Mulder during South Africa’s win in the first Test in Durban provided an opening for Paterson in Gqeberha, where his accuracy and control proved the ideal foil to the pace of Kagiso Rabada and Marco Jansen.

Marco Jansen made the first breakthroughs on Saturday, dismissing Angelo Mathews for 44 with the old ball and Kamindu Mendis in the first over with the second new ball.

Paterson was brought into the attack and raced through the Sri Lankan lower middle order as he removed visiting captain Dhananjaya de Silva (14), Kusal Mendis (16) and Lahiru Kumara (0) in the space of five deliveries.

Kumara was out to a sensational catch diving to his left at gully by Jansen, while Paterson completed his maiden Test five-for with the wicket of Vishwa Fernando (2), caught by Kyle Verreynne in a superb display of swing bowling.

Tony de Zorzi was the first wicket to fall in South Africa’s second innings when he was bowled between bat and pad by Sri Lanka’s left-arm spinner Prabath Jayasuriya for 19.

First-innings centurion Ryan Rickelton (24) was then trapped leg before wicket by Jayasuriya, while Aiden Markram looked in good touch for his 55 before he was brilliantly caught by wicket-keeper Kusal Mendis off the bowling of Fernando.

The match was still in the balance at 109 for three but Tristan Stubbs and captain Temba Bavuma added an unbeaten 82 before the close.

It is a must-win game for both sides in their bid to reach next year’s World Test Championship (WTC) final at Lords.

If South Africa win the second Test and beat Pakistan in a two-match home series starting later this month, they will be guaranteed a place in the WTC final.

Scoreboard

SOUTH AFRICA (1st Innings) 358

SRI LANKA (1st Innings):

P. Nissanka b Maharaj 89

D. Karunaratne c V’ynne b Rabada 20

D. Chandimal c V’ynne b Paterson 44

A. Mathews c Verreynne b Jansen 44

K.D. Mendis c Markram b Jansen 48

D. de Silva c Markram b Paterson 14

K. Mendis b Paterson 16

P. Jayasuriya st Verreynne b Maharaj 24

L. Kumara c Jansen b Paterson 0

V. Fernando c Verreynne b Paterson 2

A. Fernando not out 0

EXTRAS (B-13, LB-8, NB-5, W-1) 27

TOTAL (all out, 99.2 overs) 328

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-41 (Karunaratne), 2-150 (Chandimal), 3-199 (Nissanka), 4-261 (A. Mathews), 5-268 (K.D. Mendis), 6-297 (de Silva), 7-298 (K. Mendis), 8-298 (Kumara), 9-327 (V. Fernando), 10-328 (P. Jayasuriya)

BOWLING: Rabada 24-7-56-1, Jansen 25-4-100-2, Paterson 22-4-71-5 (5nb), Maharaj 24.2-5-65-2 (1w), Markram 4-0-15-0

SOUTH AFRICA (2nd Innings):

T. de Zorzi b Jayasuriya 19

A. Markram c K. Mendis b V. Fernando 55

R. Rickelton lbw Jayasuriya 24

T. Stubbs not out 36

T. Bavuma not out 48

EXTRAS (LB-7, W-2) 9

TOTAL (for three wkts, 55 overs) 191

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-55 (de Zorzi), 2-96 (Markram), 3-109 (Rickelton).

STILL TO BAT: D. Bedingham, K. Verreynne, M. Jansen, K. Maharaj, K. Rabada, D. Paterson.

BOWLING: V. Fernando 14-4-34-1 (2w), A. Fernando 9-1-29-0, Kumara 10-0-40-0, Jayasuriya 20-1-75-2, De Silva 2-0-6-0

Published in Dawn, December 8th, 2024