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Ranjan Anandappa reporting from South Africa

Johannesburg, November 10

(Wanderers) - It was another dismal episode of the Sri Lanka batsmen and the coping up with the fast and bouncing ball which ended up Sri Lanka losing the first cricket Test against South Africa in an humiliatingly wide margin of by an innings and 64 runs with almost two and a quarter days to spare here at the Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg.

Sri Lanka contributed to their misfortunes by their appalling style of batting against top class pace bowling on a pitch tailor made for fast bowling. The pitch showed signs of becoming faster and bouncier while the day progressed and made batting increasingly difficult for the Lankans who looked hapless and surrendered meekly to a South African pace attack who had been planning their strategy in advance. The fire and the bounce of the pitch was nerve wracking and the blistering pace and the constant hostility never gave the batsmen a moment of respite. Makaya Ntini (3 for 22) bowled with fire and venom while the irresistible Pollock (2 for 17) combined pace and accuracy delivering the ball from close to the stumps to create doubts in the minds of the batsmen.

Ntini and Pollock achieved total supremacy over the batsmen within the space of 16 overs.

They were 32 for 4 with Pollock and Ntini sharing two wickets apiece. Opener Russel Arnold obtained a pair when he was out in identical fashion in the second innings in Ntini's second ball of his first over.

Pollock got rid of Jayawardena and Jayasuriya while Ntini had Sangakkara brilliantly caught by wicket keeper Mark Boucher and Sri Lanka were in parlous straits losing four wickets for 25 runs with a deficit of 194 runs to make South Africa bat for the second time.

Only a composed innings of 43 off 92 balls by Marvan Atapattu with eight fours and valiant innings of 27 by Hashan Tillekeratne and defiant 32 by Chaminda Vass were the innings to savour.

Tillekeratna's and Atapattu's 52 run stand for the fifth wicket was the only worthwhile feature in the Lankan innings. Andrew Hall provided the late burst wiping the tail of taking 3 for one run in 3 overs.

SRI LANKA - 1ST INNINGS 192 

SOUTH AFRICA - 1ST INNINGS (Overnight 378-7)

G. Smith c Tillakaratne b H. Fernando		73
G. Kirsten c Muralitharan b H. Fernando		55
M. van Jaarsveld b H. Fernando			 3
J. Kallis c Sangakkara b Vaas			75
A. Prince c Perera b Vaas			 3
N. McKenzie lbw b Vaas				 0
M. Boucher c Sangakkara b Muralitharan		38
S. Pollock c Sangakkara b D. Fernando		38
A. Hall lbw Muralitharan			31
S. Elworthy lbw b Muralitharan			 6
M. Ntini not out				 2

Extras (b-16 lb-10 nb-31 w-5)			62
TOTAL (all out, 104.4 overs)		        386
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-133 2-148 3-175 4-179 
5-180 6-249 7-329, 8-378 9-378 10-386.
BOWLING: Vaas 22-2-79-3 (nb-7 w-1), 
Perera 10.2-2-40-0,
D. Fernando 20-2-95-1 (nb-21 w-2), 
Muralitharan 31.2-8-83-3, 
H. Fernando 21-2-63-3 (nb-3 w-2).

SRI LANKA - 2ND INNINGS

M. Atapattu c Smith b Elworthy			43
R. Arnold c  Kallis b Ntini			 0
K. Sangakkara c Boucher b Ntini			 7
M. Jayawardene c Kirsten b Pollock		 1
S. Jayasuriya b Pollock				 0
H. Tillakaratne c Elworthy b Hall		27
H. Fernando lbw b Elworthy			 0
C. Vaas c Kirsten b Ntini			32
D. Fernando not out				 4
M. Muralitharan b Hall				 0
R. Perera b Hall				 4

Extras (b-4 lb-7 w-1)				12
TOTAL (all out, 41 overs)		        130
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-2 2-16 3-21 
4-25 5-77 6-81 7-122 8-122, 9-122 10-130.
BOWLING: Pollock 8-3-17-2, 
Ntini 10-4-22-3, Kallis 11-3-40-0
(w-1) Elworthy 10-3-39-2, Hall 2-1-1-3.
Series: South Africa lead 1-0
Man of the match: Jacques Kallis.

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