GQEBERHA, South Africa, (Reuters) – South African wicketkeeper Kyle Verreynne scored a thrilling early morning century to help his side to a first innings total of 358 all out before lunch on the second day of the second test against Sri Lanka at St George’s Park yesterday.
Sri Lanka were 19-0 in reply at the end of a first session dominated by the heroics of Verreynne, who took his overnight score from 48 to 105 not out in an exhibition of attacking batting as South Africa’s tail wagged furiously to the frustration of the tourists.
South Africa resumed on 269-7 and quickly lost the wicket of Keshav Maharaj, with Verreynne still short of his half century.
But together with Kagiso Rabada, he put on 56 for the ninth wicket with Rabada adding 23 runs to the total before Asitha Fernando took out his stumps.
Verreynne needed 19 to get to his third test hundred when No. 11 batsman Dane Paterson came in but two sixes off Asitha helped him to reach three figures. The pair added 33 off 17 balls for the last wicket with Paterson the last man to fall.
Lahiru Kumara, who celebrated his 100th test wicket on Thursday, finished with the best bowling figures of 4-79.
Sri Lanka faced 20 minutes, and six overs, of hostile pace from Rabada and Marco Jansen as they began their reply before lunch but Pathum Nissanka (2) and Dimuth Karunaratne (5) both survived. There were also 12 extras as Jansen’s bouncers easily cleared his own wicketkeeper
Verreynne was the second South African batter to hit a century in the innings after Ryan Rickelton scored 101 on the opening day.
The test is a must-win for both countries in their bid to reach next year’s World Test Championship final at Lord’s. South Africa beat Sri Lanka by 233 runs in Durban last week to take the first of the two-test series.
