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South Africa crush Sri Lanka by an innings and 81 runs – 1st Test – Match recap

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http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757 crush Sri Lanka by an innings and 81 runs – 1st Test – Match recap
South Africa thumped Sri Lanka by an innings and 81 runs in the first Test of the three match series at the SuperSport Park, Centurion in South Africa on Saturday, December 17, 2011.
The hosts were in control of the match since day one and never really looked like being in trouble even once until the end.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/GC-Smith-c1473, South Africa’s Test captain, had a good start in the match, winning the toss on a lively pitch. He had no hesitation in mind and opted to field first straight away. Looking at the grassy wicket in Centurion, Sri Lanka’s skipper Tillakaratne
Dilshan said that he would have done the same had he won the toss.
Considering the bowling friendly conditions, the tourists were expected to struggle a lot against a top quality attack, which comprised of fast bowlers http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Vernon-Philander-c2753.
This was exactly what happened, as Sri Lanka lost two quick wickets of Dilshan and veteran http://www.senore.com/Cricket/KC-Sangakkara-c1779.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/DPMD-Jayawardene-c1397 offered some resistance, scoring 32 and 30 respectively, but failed to convert their respective starts into big ones.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/AD-Mathews-c913 also looked good, but gave their wickets away after getting starts. They scored 36 and 38 respectively before the innings was wrapped up on 180.
Philander was the pick of the bowlers, claiming five wickets in the innings.
South Africa got off to a solid start in reply to Sri Lanka’s first innings total. Openers http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Smith-c90598 put on 88 runs for the first wicket before the latter was sent back to the pavilion after adding 61 runs to the total.
Rudolph also batted solidly in the innings, but missed out on a half-century by six runs in the end.
However, the highlight of the innings was a spectacular batting display by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/MV-Boucher-c2048, who scored 65 runs before being dismissed.
The hosts gained a first innings lead of 231 runs, scoring 411 runs. They were not really troubled by the opposition’s bowlers, but http://www.senore.com/Cricket/UWMBCA-Welegedara-c2735 bowled well, scalping three wickets in the end.
In reply to that, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758 could only managed 150 runs in their second outing. None of the batsmen managed to make an impression, as wickets continued to fall at regular intervals.
Samaraweera was the top scorer of the second innings, contributing 32 runs to the total.
South Africa’s emerging fast bowler Philander took another five-for in the match, which earned him the player of the match award in the end. He has had a dream run since making his Test debut against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 recently.

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