KAGISO RABADA claimed his 50th Test wicket and Vernon Philander his 150th as the Standard Bank Proteas took complete control against Sri Lanka after two days of the second Sunfoil Test at PPC Newlands in Cape Town on Tuesday.
The pair shared eight wickets between them to help blast the tourists out for 110 in reply to the hosts’ 392, which they got thanks to Quinton de Kock’s third career century.
The young wicketkeeper struck an impressive 101 (124 balls, 11 fours) that enabled South Africa to add 95 for the final four wickets, before they then replied with an untroubled 35/0 in their second innings – a lead of 317 – to leave the Sri Lankans with plenty to do in order to avoid a series defeat.
It was a totally dominant day for the home side, who started out on 297/6. Apart from losing nightwatchman Kyle Abbott (16) to Rangana Herath (2/57) to the eighth ball of the day, it was one-way traffic thereafter.
De Kock added 33 and 40 with Philander (20) and Keshav Maharaj (32 not out) for the eighth and ninth wickets respectively, with the latter pair, as well as Rabada (eight) all falling to the pace of teenager Lahiru Kumara, who finished with 6/122.
Rabada then go stuck into the Sri Lankan top and middle order as he claimed 4/37 – his wicket of Dimuth Karunaratne (24) taking him to 50 wickets in just his 13th Test match.
Philander, meanwhile, took 4/27 – his 150th scalp being that of Suranga Lakmal (0) as the South African bowlers were rewarded for their discipline and aided by some poor shot selection by their opponents, who lost their last nine wickets for 54 runs to be bowled out in 43 overs.
Upul Tharanga top scored with an unbeaten 26, while Keshav Maharaj chipped in with 2/32.
Dean Elgar (19) and Stephen Cook (15) scored freely in the 11 overs they faced to leave the Proteas in the driving seat.
