SA's Maharaj wants "old fashioned Test cricket" on final day as Lanka threaten to chase down 348 in 2nd Test

South African spinner Keshav Maharaj said that the team hopes to go back to "old fashioned Test cricket" to get themselves the remaining half of the Sri Lankan batting line-up in the second Test while defending 348 runs to secure a series win which would be instrumental to their ICC World Test Championship (WTC) 2023-25 final qualification.

On day four during the second innings, Maharaj was the last bowler to strike for the Proteas, before Kusal Mendis and skipper Dhananjaya de Silva battled it out for 18.5 overs, ending the day four at 205/5, leaving them with just 143 more runs to chase. Now for South Africa, the task remains to get those five wickets as quickly as possible to win the series. A series win at this point would do wonders for Proteas' chances of appearing in the ICC World Test Championship final at Lord's next year as they are placed at number two in the points tally.

With the ball getting old and the pitch being friendly enough for batters, Maharaj said as quoted by ESPNCricinfo after day four, that tighter bowling would be a key for South Africa to go for the win. "It requires a lot of patience (taking wickets), especially as the ball gets older and softer. The wicket becomes a little bit more placid but we did go searching a little bit, if I am honest, Hopefully tomorrow we'll go back to old-fashioned Test cricket like we did in that period where we got those seven wickets in the morning (of day three)."

The spinner also noted that sometimes, wickets come in clusters so it is about staying patient for one. "Traditionally, the wickets do happen in clusters. There can be a period where the game goes nowhere and then all of a sudden, it takes one wicket to basically be the catalyst. It is about staying patient and hopefully reaping the rewards of some hard graft tomorrow morning," he said.

The Proteas, who are 1-0 up in the two-match series, opted to bat first after winning the toss and made 358 in their first innings thanks to centuries from Ryan Rickelton (101 in 250 balls, with 11 fours) and wicketkeeper-batter Kyle Verreynne (105* in 133 balls, with 12 fours and three sixes). Skipper Temba Bavuma also maintained his rich run of form with 78 in 109 balls, with eight fours and a six.

Lahiru Kumara (4/79) and Asitha Fernando (3/102) were the top bowlers for Sri Lanka. In their first innings, Sri Lanka got a useful half-century from Pathum Nissanka (89 in 157 balls, with 11 fours and a six) at the top. Useful 40s from Dinesh Chandimal (44 in 97 balls, with five fours), Angelo Mathews (44 in 90 balls, with six fours) and Kamindu Mendis (48 in 92 balls, with four boundaries) proved to be crucial in taking the team to 328, though they trailed by 30 runs.

Dane Paterson (5/71) took a magnificent five-wicket haul for Proteas while Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj got two scalps and Aiden Markram got one. In their second innings, Proteas got fine half-centuries from seniors Bavuma (66 in 116 balls, with three fours and two sixes) and Aiden Markram (55 in 75 balls, with five fours) and some other notable contributions from Tristan Stubbs (47 in 112 balls, with two fours), David Bedingham (35 in 55 balls, with six fours) and Ryan Rickelton (24 in 45 balls, with three fours) which took SA to 317 runs, giving them a 347 run lead. SL ended the day four at 205/5, with both Kusal and Dhananjaya unbeaten at 39* while chasing a target of 348 runs. (ANI)