<p><strong>Kaushal Silva believes Sri Lanka can bounce back – Cricket News Update</strong></p>
<p>Sri Lanka may be down, but certainly not out of the first Test against South Africa at the SuperSport Park in Centurion, as wicketkeeper batsman Kaushal Silva believes his side can turn things around on day two of the match.</p>
<p>The tourists were put into bat by South Africa’s skipper Graeme Smith and the green top wicket suggested there will be a lot of struggle for the team batting first.</p>
<p>This was exactly what happened when the Lankan batsmen walked out to bat on the Centurion pitch. The ball was doing quite a few tricks and there was plenty of bounce for the bowlers.</p>
<p>Sri Lanka’s skipper Tillakaratne Dilshan was dismissed cheaply for six and was followed by veteran Kumar Sangakkara, who managed just one run in his short stay at the crease.</p>
<p>However, there was some resilience shown by opener Tharanga Paranavitana and middle-order batsman Mahela Jayawardene, who contributed 32 and 30 to the total respectively.</p>
<p>Other than that, Thilan Samaraweera and Angelo Mathews also scored some useful runs, but none of the batsmen managed to convert their starts into a big one.</p>
<p>As a result, Sri Lanka were all out for 180 and conceded 90 runs by the end of day one. Just before close of play, pacer Dilhara Fernando managed to pick up the opposition captain, who scored 61 runs.</p>
<p>This wicket game some hope to Silva who said, “He [Fernando] is at his peak. He has been doing well for the past couple of months. In the Abu Dhabi tour [against Pakistan], he bowled really quickly. If he bowls well and takes vital wickets, he will be the
key man for us.”</p>
<p>He further went onto say, “The last few overs, we bowled really well. It moves a lot in the morning. If we can take two or three early wickets in the morning, we can come back into the game.”</p>
<p>On the other hand, the South Africa team will be quite confident of posting a massive first innings total. They only trail by 90 runs with nine more wickets remaining and some world class batsmen like Jacques Kallis, Hashim Amla and AB de Villiers to come.</p>
Tags: