SA vs SL 2024/25, South Africa vs Sri Lanka 2nd Test, Day 4, Gqeberha Match Report, December 05 – 09, 2024

Sri Lanka 328 and 60 for 2 (Chandimal 29, Mathews 6, Paterson 1-9, Rabada 1-10) need 288 runs to beat South Africa 358 and 318 (Bavuma 66, Markram 55, Jayasuriya 5-129)

Having set Sri Lanka a mammoth target of 348 runs, South Africa’s quicks removed Sri Lanka’s openers before tea. Kagiso Rabada rapped Dimuth Karunaratne in front of the stumps, to dismiss him cheaply for the fourth time in the series. Pathum Nissanka, who had overturned an lbw decision against him in the second over, nicked off driving away from his body in the 13th over.

By tea, Sri Lanka had scratched their way to 60 for 2, the ball – 19 overs old – still doing plenty for the likes of Paterson. Though South Africa are clearly ascendant, Sri Lanka will feel they are not out of it yet, having orchestrated two difficult run chases in their 2019 series here. Still, they need to chase more runs than have ever been successfully chased in South Africa. The record in the country is South Africa’s running down of 340 against Australia, in 2002.