Colombo: Rangana Herath (6/98) finally came to the party and wrecked havoc with the ball in the second innings as Sri Lanka defeated South Africa by 199 runs on the fourth day of the second Test here to complete a 2-0 sweep, Monday. It was also their first series win over the Proteas since 2006.
Set an improbable target of 490 runs after Sri Lanka declared their second innings at 275/5, the visitors started the day on overnight score of 139/5 and were all out for 290 runs on a dry wicket. Akila Dananjaya who took a five-wicket haul in the first innings also grabbed two wickets. Sri Lanka had earlier won the first Test in Galle.
After losing skipper Faf du Plessis and Hashim Amla cheaply on the third day South Africa’s hopes were on Theunis de Bruyn (101, 232b, 12×4) and Temba Bavuma (63, 98b, 4×4) who kept the Lankan spinners at bay for most of the first session Monday, putting on a valiant sixth-wicket partnership of 123 runs.
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka will take particular joy with this victory as it came in the absence of their regular skipper Dinesh Chandimal who was suspended following a ball tampering scandal.
Brief scores: 338 & 275/5 decl beat South Africa 124 & 290 (Theunis de Bruyn 101, Temba Bavuma 63; Rangana Herath 6/98) by 199 runs.
