DURBAN, South Africa (Reuters) - South Africa moved closer to victory in the first test against Sri Lanka, needing four more wickets to win as the visitors went to lunch on 220-6, still 296 runs adrift, on the fourth day at Kingsmead on Saturday.
Sri Lanka provided stubborn resistance in the opening 90 minutes of the day with Dinesh Chandimal and Dhananjaya da Silva both scoring half centuries to hold off the home bowlers.
The pair took the overnight tally from 103-5 to 196 in a display of confident batting before captain Da Silva chipped a slower delivery from spinner Keshav Maharaj to Tristan Stubbs at mid-wicket.
Da Silva scored a brisk 59 off 81 balls to frustrate home hopes of wrapping up the result early but gave away his wicket surprisingly easy.
At the other end, Chandimal took his tally from 29 overnight to 69 not out at lunch, and will resume at the start of the second session alongside Kusal Mendes, who is on 12.
Sri Lanka’s batting approach was a lot more positive than the poor display in the first innings when they were bowled out for their lowest test score of 42.
It came in reply to South Africa’s first innings total of 191 and allowed the home side to then build a sizeable second innings lead with Stubbs and captain Temba Bavuma both scoring centuries on Friday.
South Africa declared on 366-5 at tea, setting Sri Lanka a winning target of 516 and took five wickets before stumps on Friday to set themselves up for victory in the first of the two-test series.
(Writing by Mark Gleeson in Cape Town; Editing by Ken Ferris)
