Sri Lanka sneak home on back of gutsy Perera ton

Kusal Perera struck a stunning unbeaten 153 in an unbearably dramatic climax to take Sri Lanka to one of their greatest test victories at Kingsmead in Durban on Saturday.

Full Scorecard

Kingsmead is a happy hunting ground for Sri Lanka, with the visitors winning their only other test at the ground against Graeme Smith’s Proteas in 2011/12. There was also the heartbreak for Shaun Pollock’s team at the same venue when they were knocked out of their own World Cup in 2003. In all, South Africa have lost seven of the last nine test matches played at the ground.

When the lefthander Perera guided Kagiso Rabada for four to third man just before tea, he secured a one-wicket victory for his country that hardly anybody would have expected after his team’s ninth wicket had fallen 78 runs previously. His 10th wicket partnership with Vishwa Fernando was the highest to win a test match in the history of the game.

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From a South African point of view the result was a massive disappointment, mentally and tactically, with Faf du Plessis setting as many as eight fielders on the boundary ropes while Perera was facing, even after the second new ball had been taken.

This took all the pressure off Perera, giving him carte blanche to manoevre the ball confidently around the park as the Sri Lankans suddenly began to believe that victory could be theirs.

It was Perera’s second hundred, and his biggest, and certainly the innings of a lifetime. At the end of the game, when he raised his arms triumphantly to his teammates in their dressing-room, he had batted for five hours and 10 minutes, faced 200 balls and struck 12 fours and five sixes – with four of the maximums off Dale Steyn, Kagiso Rabada and Duanne Olivier when the pressure was at its most intense.

'WE ARE WINNING AS A TEAM'

"It was a superman effort," said Du Plessis. "He (Perera) deserves all the accolades."

"I'm a little tired now, I don't know what to say," said Perera when he received the man of the match award. "I did my part but we are winning as a team."

South Africa were hindered by the non-appearance of Vernon Philander on the final day after he pulled up lame in the morning with a hamstring niggle.

Perera’s partner, Fernando, who contributed a sturdy six runs to the record-breaking partnership, also made a major contribution to the victory with four wickets in each of the South African innings.

Despite the understandable Sri Lankan elation, the Proteas will wonder how victory escaped them on a final day when they almost always seemed poised for victory.

Resuming the day on 83 for three, chasing 304 for victory, Perera and Oshada Fernando took their fourth-wicket partnership to 58 after 40 minutes before Steyn found the edge of Fernando’s bat with a delivery that moved away off the seam with the resultant edge being taken by Faf du Plessis at second slip. Steyn’s exuberant reaction indicated a degree of relief as well as delight as both batsmen had looked comfortable on a pitch that remained good for batting.

MAHARAJ ON A HAT-TRICK

Two balls later the great fast bowler struck again as Niroshan Dickwella pushed a full-length delivery back to the bowler who nonchalantly took the return catch low down in his right hand.

That was not the end of the battle, however, as Perera was joined by Sri Lanka’s last specialist batsman, Dhananjaya de Silva. The two added a further 96 for the sixth wicket – again in some comfort – before Keshav Maharaj grabbed two wickets in consecutive balls to seemingly set the host nation on the road to victory.

First he trapped De Silva leg before (after South Africa successfully referred Aleem Dar’s negative decision), then next ball, he had Suranga Lakmal caught at slip by Du Plessis. Maharaj’s celebrations suggested his sense of joy over making a substantial contribution to the match for the first time.

And when the left-arm spinner then trapped Kasun Rajitha for a single, Sri Langa seemingly had no price on 226 for nine.

But Perera, who struck some monstrous sixes into the East Stand and brilliantly negotiated what appeared to be a lost cause, clearly had other ideas.

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Report Day 1
Report Day 2
Report Day 3

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SOUTH AFRICA: Aiden Markram, Dean Elgar, Hashim Amla, Temba Bavuma, Faf du Plessis (capt), Quinton de Kock (wk), Vernon Philander, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Dale Steyn, Duanne Olivier

SRI LANKA: Dimuth Karunaratne (capt), Kusal Perera, Kusal Mendis, Dhananjaya de Silva, Lahiru Thirimanne, Oshada Fernando, Niroshan Dickwella (wk), Suranga Lakmal, Vishwa Fernando, Kasun Rajitha, Lasith Embuldeniya