Sports
A lot at stake in Sri Lanka – South Africa Tests

Rex Clementine in Durban
Sri Lanka’s cricketers wrapped up their final training session in Durban yesterday, exuding a sense of calm confidence ahead of the two-match Test series against South Africa. Touring South Africa has historically been a trial by fire, with fiery fast bowlers and hostile pitches ready to humble visiting teams. But times have changed. With past victories on these shores under their belt, Sri Lanka seems to have cracked the code, proving that no mountain is too high to climb.
Both teams have their eyes firmly set on the World Test Championship final, adding extra spice to this series. Sri Lanka currently sit third in the standings, just behind Australia and India, with New Zealand and South Africa hot on their heels. A series victory here could put either team in the driver’s seat for a spot at Lord’s next year, where the grand finale awaits.
To prepare for this crucial assignment, Sri Lanka’s Test squad landed in South Africa ten days early for a residential camp, guided by former Proteas batter Neil McKenzie, who previously served as South Africa’s batting coach.
Skipper Dhananjaya de Silva was quick to highlight the value of McKenzie’s expertise.
“Neil McKenzie ran some excellent batting sessions for us. He’s played a lot of cricket and shared vital insights—like how to handle the bounce and what to expect from the conditions here. The sessions were really productive,” Dhananjaya told reporters.
The Sri Lankan captain, who was part of the historic series win in 2019 when Sri Lanka became the first and only Asian team to win a Test series in South Africa, remains grounded despite past glories.
“We can draw confidence from that series, but what’s done is done. This is a new challenge, and we have to start from scratch. The pitch looks flat, but we’ll decide on our combination after another look,” he said.
Dhananjaya also emphasized the importance of finishing 2024 on a high.
“We’ve had a fantastic year in Test cricket, and it’s crucial to cap it off with strong performances. Every Test matters, and winning away from home is a huge source of pride for us. We pushed England hard earlier this year and were disappointed not to win that series, but it was satisfying to get a Test victory there,” he added.
South Africa skipper Temba Bavuma acknowledged Sri Lanka’s resilience, particularly in adapting to pace-heavy conditions.
“If Sri Lanka were vulnerable against fast bowling, they wouldn’t be sitting third in the Test Championship standings. They’ve performed well across different conditions. Playing in South Africa is always tough, but I’m sure their preparations will help them meet the challenge head-on,” Bavuma said.
Bavuma also tipped his hat to Sri Lanka’s middle-order sensation Kamindu Mendis, who has been in red-hot form in 2024. The 25-year-old has scored five centuries and three fifties in just seven Tests this year, making him the backbone of Sri Lanka’s batting lineup.
“I haven’t played much against him, so it’ll be interesting to see him in action. But we’ve done our homework and have plans in place for him. The guy’s been phenomenal, anchoring their middle order. We respect his ability but won’t be caught off guard,” Bavuma noted.
Sri Lanka (Probable XI):
Dimuth Karunaratne, Pathum Nissanka, Dinesh Chandimal, Angelo Mathews, Kamindu Mendis, Dhananjaya de Silva (Captain), Kusal Mendis (Wicketkeeper), Prabath Jayasuriya, Asitha Fernando, Lahiru Kumara, Vishwa Fernando.
South Africa (From):
Temba Bavuma (Captain), David Bedingham, Tony de Zorzi, Aiden Markram, Ryan Rickleton, Tristan Stubbs, Kyle Verreynne (Wicketkeeper), Marco Jansen, Wiaan Mulder, Senuran Muthusamy, Gerald Coetzee, Keshav Maharaj, Dane Paterson, Kagiso Rabada.
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Vandersay wins ESPNcricinfo 2024 men’s ODI bowling award

Jeffrey Vandersay has won the ESPNcricinfo 2024 men’s bowling award for his feat of 6 for 33 in the second ODI against India in Colombo.
Sri Lanka hadn’t won a bilateral ODI series against India since August 1987. They came into this one having lost each of their last six ODIs against India. They came in on the back of losing two unloseable games in a 3-0 T20I defeat.
This Sri Lanka side had finished ninth out of ten teams at the 2023 World Cup, and had missed out on qualifying for the 2025 Champions Trophy.
In the soil of Khettarama, however, lay a possible route to redemption. Spin. The first ODI, a classic that finished in a tie that shouldn’t have been, showed the way.
But Sri Lanka’s chances of bettering that effort in the second ODI took a blow when a hamstring injury ruled out the talismanic Wanindu Hasaranga. In his place came Vandersay, a perennial understudy who had played only 22 of Sri Lanka’s 158 ODIs since his debut in December 2015.
By the time of Vandersay’s introduction with the ball, Sri Lanka were struggling to stay in the game. India, chasing 241, were 80 for no loss in 11 overs. Rohit Sharma was batting on 53 off 34 balls. Sri Lanka had packed five spinners into their attack, but the three who had bowled till then had gone for 57 in seven overs.
Onto this stage strode the unlikeliest of heroes. From his second over to his seventh, Vandersay struck six times as India slumped from 97 for no loss to 147 for 6, scything through a star-studded top order on a pitch that, albeit helpful, wasn’t bringing his spin colleagues any success. Vandersay’s removal from the attack contributed to an India fightback, but he’d done enough damage by then, and Sri Lanka eventually wrapped up a 32-run win. They went on to win the third ODI too, and seal a most unexpected series triumph.
What did Vandersay do differently to Sri Lanka’s other spinners? He came on after the first powerplay, and spread-out fields allowed him to settle into a rhythm. He bowled legspin, and got the wristspinner’s natural bounce to go with generous amounts of turn – this widened the extent of natural variation he was able to extract from the surface. And above all, his line and length heightened the natural variation’s venom; releasing his legbreaks with subtle adjustments of wrist and seam orientation, he got the ball to test both edges of the bat from off roughly the same area of the pitch while relentlessly keeping the stumps in play.
The lbws of Virat Kohli and Shreyas Iyer summed up Vandersay’s menace; both batters stretched out to defend, and both times the ball hurried past the inside edge to strike the front pad, straightening a touch but turning far less than expected.
It wasn’t a classic legspinner’s dismissal, but it sowed the seeds of everything that followed: Rohit caught at backward point for 64 off 44 balls, failing to keep a reverse sweep down. That wicket broke open the floodgates, and the way that ball turned and bounced also contributed to future dismissals, putting the threat of the big legbreak in the batters’ minds and leaving them particularly vulnerable to the skidder.
The ones apart from Vandersay to pick six or more wickets in an ODI against India are Muthiah Muralidaran, Ajantha Mendis, Angelo Mathews and Akila Dananjaya .
[Cricinfo]
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Pakistan vs New Zealand in a title clash and a dress rehearsal

It’s rare for a tournament final to be a dry run, but that’s almost what this Pakistan vs New Zealand game will be. There’s a trophy on the line in Karachi, five days before another Pakistan vs New Zealand game in Karachi – that is the big one, the opening game of the Champions Trophy. In that sense, when this tri-series was planned, this was the final that would have made the most sense, if you’d asked anyone bar, perhaps, South Africa.
New Zealand have comfortably been the team of the tournament so far, but Pakistan arguably come in on a bigger high, riding a wave after coming back from the dead to steal the second place on the table after an epic ODI chase against South Africa. The execution of the win was more satisfying than the fact that it happened. Two men in Pakistan’s middle order stringing together Pakistan’s third-highest ODI partnership – Mohammed Rizwan and Salman Agha put on a whopping 260 for the fourth wicket, masterfully pacing a chase while seemingly not playing a single shot in anger. Most notably, it will allay fears of an over-dependence on Fakhar Zaman up top if the middle order can find a way to stand up for itself more regularly, balancing Pakistan’s batting line-up ahead of the Champions Trophy.
But Pakistan’s death bowling remains a cause for concern. They conceded 98 in the final six overs against New Zealand and 87 in the final seven on Wednesday against South Africa. On both occasions, one man in a purple patch took the attack to them – the fast bowlers in particular. It was Glenn Phillips one day, Heinrich Klaasen the next. It keeps New Zealand in the game till late, knowing they can catch up against a bowling line up that has revealed it it vulnerable.
New Zealand have just about played two perfect games, with control the key feature of their performances. There is a calm this side exudes when it appears a passage of play is going against them. They didn’t panic when they weren’t quite at the run rate they wanted to be against Pakistan until deep in the innings, keeping their ammunition dry until the opportunity to use it presented itself. When Matthew Breetzke took them on at the death, they retained their composure, aware the target was still below par, and then made short work of it with a near faultless chase.
Most notably, New Zealand have shown how to use spin as a leash for the opposition on these surfaces, and possess more experienced, more varied and, frankly, superior slower bowlers. Mitchell Santner has been in the middle of special run the last few months, and stifled Pakistan alongside Michael Bracewell, Phillips and Rachin Ravindra last week. They bowled 26 of the 47.5 overs through that innings, and while Pakistan’s spinners bowled a similar amount, they weren’t nearly as effective.
It is a game with silverware up for grabs, and the group-stage rubber between the two next week inflates its importance rather than diminishing it.
Kane Williamson followed up a half-century against Pakistan with an unbeaten hundred to vanquish South Africa. New Zealand haven’t played too many ODIs since the 2023 World Cup, but he appears to have picked up where he left off, on surfaces that are perfectly suited to his immense ability. He showed in the first game he could grind it out on a “tackier wicket”, as he put it, while picking the pace up on the flatter surface against South Africa. His legendary unflappability has handled far bigger occasions, with his current form not just a warning sign for Pakistan, but every side he comes up against in the next few days.
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Record chase sends Pakistan to tri-series final

Led by centuries from Mohammad Rizwan and Salman Agha, Pakistan registered their highest successful ODI run chase, beating South Africa by six wickets in a high-scoring encounter in Karachi on Wednesday. The win, their first in the tournament, has now sent them to the final of the tri-series to be played on Friday (February 14).
Pakistan had made a steady start to the run-chase with Babar Azam and Fakhar Zaman putting on a half-century stand in less than six overs, before the former departed. Even as Babar had set the tempo with two boundaries in the opening over, much of the attack in this period had come from Zaman’s bat. The southpaw had taken a liking to Corbin Bosch and smashed him for 25 runs in two overs.
Zaman’s assault aside, South Africa kept chipping with regular wickets to reduce the home side to 91 for 3 by the 11th over. Saud Shakeel holed out to Wiaan Mulder at deep mid wicket while Zaman’s jab caught the outside edge to the ‘keeper. Nonetheless, the brisk start offered time for Agha and Rizwan to settle in.
Even as Rizwan got going by pulling the first ball of his innings for a boundary, he soon moved towards a more conservative approach. In the early part of their partnership, Agha and Rizwan depended more on rotating the strike, and were pacing at well below run-a-ball by the time they brought up the half-century of their partnership.
Even as there were the occasional boundaries flowing, the first intent of pressing the accelerator was noticed in the 29th over, when Rizwan slogswept Keshav Maharaj for a six and then went down the track to Senuran Muthuswamy for the same result. Agha was more pleasant with his strokeplay even as he played some fine shots on the up. As the partnership swelled, the flow of boundaries also increased. Runs came at a faster pace and the bowlers seemed less threatening.
Rizwan brought up his century by pulling Wiaan Mulder for a six, only three balls before Agha reached the mark with a single – his maiden ODI ton. The duo added 260 runs for the fourth wicket before Agha’s innings was cut short, two runs short of the target. Tayyab Tahir completed the formalities by stroking the first ball of his innings for a boundary to help Pakistan over the line with an over to spare.
Earlier in the day, half-centuries by Temba Bavuma, Matthew Breetzke and Heinrich Klaasen had set the stage for South Africa’s total of 352 for 5. Opting to bat, the visitors had blazed away to 51 runs within the eighth over before losing their first wicket, when Toni De Zorzi’s edge was pouched by a fine diving effort from Agha at slips. It was the first of the two stunning catches he had taken.
The second had come much later, against the run of play at the start of the 39th over, when Breetzke’s powerful cover drive on the up was intercepted by Agha, who dived to his right. However, between those two catches by Agha, South Africa had laid a strong foundation with Bavuma and Breetzke stitching a 119-run alliance and Breetzke adding 68 more in the company of Klaasen.
On a pitch where there wasn’t much assistance for the bowlers, it was an well-paced innings by South Africa. Without having to take too many risks, Bavuma used the width of the crease well to find a regular flow of boundaries. Breetzke, on the other hand, was more assertive with his intent to score. Every now and then he gave the charge to the bowlers, unsettled them from their lengths and used it to his advantage.
The flow of boundaries continued in a good flow as they marched along at close to run a ball. Much like Breetzke’s innings later, Bavuma’s stay too was cut short in the 80s and without the bowler having much of a role to play in it. Bavuma set off for a single after cutting the ball to backward point. However, Breetzke aborted the run, leaving his captain stuck mid-way on the pitch. The dismissal led to aggressive celebrations from the Pakistanis, which even forced the umpires to intervene and warn the captain.
While Breetzke continued in his pace, Klaasen cut loose in the 34th over, smashing Mohammad Hasnain for four boundaries. He kept the attack going and drilled two boundaries off Naseem Shah too just before Breetzke’s fall. Even as two set batters were dismissed, the stage was set for a late flourish, and Klaasen capitalised on it in the company of Kyle Verreynne. The most ruthless of the attacks came against Shaheen Afridi, who was taken apart for 20 runs in the 46th over. Hasnain came under fire again in the last over of the innings when Corbin Bosch launched him for a boundary and a six. In a contest where more than 700 runs were scored, it seemed like South Africa’s acceleration came a little too late.
Brief scores:
South Africa 353/5 in 50 overs (Heinrich Klaasen 87, Matthew Breetzke 83, Temba Bavuma 82; Shaheen Afridi 2-66) lost to Pakistan 355/4 in 49 overs (Salman Agha 134, Mohammad Rizwan 122*; Wiaan Mulder 2-79) by 6 wickets
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