While Jansen and Rabada shared the new-ball, it was Baartman, who made his international debut less than two weeks ago, who opened the floodgates. With no boundary balls on offer, Patthum Nissanka wanted to climb into Baartman’s first ball, a fullish length wide delivery. The opener saw a boundary ball but the extra bounce meant he couldn’t get the desired connection. Third man did the rest. Five balls later, the drop-in pitch had its first maiden of the day.
24/1 after six overs was, in hindsight, an okay start given the conditions. Itching to get a move on, Kamindu Mendis tried to flick Nortje over square leg. But he didn’t get the necessary distance. This wicket signalled the start of an extraordinary period of play where every time a pacer or a spinner bowled, they picked up a wicket. For the record, they slumped from 1/31 to 6/44. Coupled with the movement on offer — something which the Lankan bowlers also found when they came out to defend the small total — they were also hurrying the batters. Dasun Shanaka and Angelo Matthews raised brief visions of a total in excess of 100 when they hit three sixes in a nine-ball period immediately after the sixth wicket but Shanaka showed the perils of misjudging a par score on the surface. With more than five overs still remaining, he cleared his front leg and swung for the hills. A pace on delivery at the stumps dislodged the furniture behind. That was the beginning of the end.
If the first match in the pop-up Stadium is anything to go by, how will the other teams react? Will the other surfaces on the square be of a similar nature (he four South African pacers, between them, returned joint figures of 7/52 in 15.1 overs)? The answers to these two questions will decide which team sets the momentum in the early part of the World Cup. Considering India play three of their four games here, they will know they have to find the right answers quickly.
Brief scores: Sri Lanka 77 in 19.1 ovs (Rabada 2/21, Maharaj 2/22, Nortje 4/7) lost to
South Africa 80/4 in 16.2 ovs (de Kock 20, Klaasen 19 n.o).