Daily Times

South Africa’s chances of reaching the World Test Championship final received a boost when they completed a 233-run over Sri Lanka on the fourth day of the first Test at Kingsmead on Saturday.

The result lifted South Africa to second place in the WTC table, which is calculated on average points earned.

With their remaining three matches to be played at home – the second Test against Sri Lanka followed by two against Pakistan – South Africa are well-placed to qualify for the final at Lord’s in London next June if they carry on winning.

“That’s always been one of our goals as a team,” said South African captain Temba Bavuma. “The conversation has always been there. We’ve not been loud about it but that conversation will probably become more alive now.”

Set a massive 516 runs to win, Sri Lanka were bowled out for 282.

Left-arm fast bowler Marco Jansen, the destroyer in Sri Lanka’s record-low first innings of 42, took four for 73 to finish with match figures of 11 for 86. He was named player of the match.

Bavuma said conditions had changed considerably during the match, in which South Africa battled to make 191 in the first innings before Sri Lanka were blown away in 13.5 overs, with Jansen taking seven for 13.

“We were in a tough position and we knew we had to dig deep,” said Bavuma. “We were quite confident that if they could put us under pressure with the ball we could do the same to them.

“We weren’t expecting things to go so quickly but we knew the conditions (for bowling) were in our favour and that we could exploit them.”

Referring to the Test championship, Bavuma said his team needed to continue to focus internally on what they needed to do, rather than be concerned about factors beyond their control.