Du Plessis and De Kock set tough target for Sri Lanka

FAF DU PLESSIS shared successive half-century partnerships with Quinton de Kock and Vernon Philander to set a tough target for Sri Lanka on the third day of the first Castle Lager Test match at Kingsmead on Friday. The Standard Bank Proteas were bowled out for 259 in their second innings thanks in the main to Du Plessis’ innings of 90 (182 balls, 11 fours) and 55 from De Kock (62 balls, 6 fours) to set Sri Lanka a target of 304 – it would represent the third highest successful chase at this particular venue. Sri Lanka reached an early close brought about by bad light on 83/3, needing a further 221 to claim a famous upset victory. Du Plessis, who shared stands of 96 with De Kock and 60 with Philander, seemed certain to record his 10th career century and his second of the current home season until he totally misjudged the line of a delivery from the Sri Lankan left-arm seamer, Vishwa Fernando, and was trapped leg before wicket without offering a shot. His dismissal was part of a remarkable Proteas collapse that saw the last 5 wickets fall for just 8 runs against the combined onslaught from Fernando and the debutant left-arm spinner, Lasith Ambuldeniya, who took an outstanding 5/66 in 26 overs. Remarkably, the latter was only introduced into the attack more than halfway through the morning session by which time Du Plessis and De Kock had scored 59 runs in the first hour’s play. He dismissed De Kock with his 12th delivery of the day and thereafter Sri Lanka were always well in the game. Their target might have been considerably lower had he been introduced at an earlier stage. The most pleasing feature to come out of a disappointing Proteas batting performance throughout the match has been the new-found consistency of De Kock who has a century and three half-centuries to his credit from his 5 Test match innings this summer and has pushed his career average close to the benchmark of 40. He and Du Plessis have excelled in making runs when they are really needed as witnessed by their respective centuries against Pakistan at the Bidvest Wanderers Stadium and at PPC Newlands. The bowlers nevertheless have a reasonable total to defend, particularly as the three Sri Lankan wickets to fall include the key one of their captain, Dimuth Karunaratne, who was dismissed leg before wicket by Philander for the second time in the match. In addition, Keshav Maharaj can be expected to play a much more dominant role when play gets underway on the fourth day.