Colombo: Sri Lanka, on Monday, completed a 2-0 Test sweep of South Africa to record their first series win over the Proteas since 2006 after Rangana Herath wreaked havoc with six wickets.
It was Herath' 12th five-wicket haul in the fourth innings of a Test.
The visitors were all out for 290 in the second session of Day IV, 200 runs short of their highly improbable winning target of 490 on a bone-dry wicket. South Africa suffered a series sweep for the first time in Tests since they lost here by an identical margin in a two-match series almost 12 years ago.
Sri Lanka had wrapped up the first Test in Galle within three days, reducing South Africa to 73 in the second innings - their lowest Test total since readmission to international cricket. "Right through the series, we didn't have that ability to stitch partnerships. I think we only had three partnerships of 50 and above in the whole series," Faf du Plessis, South Africa's crestfallen skipper, said.
"But once again, you have to give credit to the opposition. They were able to put us under pressure for long periods of time and therefore, we made a lot of mistakes," he said.
"In hindsight I think we definitely would have played a second spinner. Our thinking was on this surface that the ball would reverse (swing), but there was zero reverse swing this innings."
In the second Test, Sri Lanka scored 338 in their first innings and South Africa could only respond with 124 as versatile off-spinner Akila Dananjaya made hay, taking five wickets. The hosts then scored 275 for five before declaring halfway through the afternoon session on Day III, setting the visitors a highly improbable victory target.
They were already five wickets down for 139 at stumps on Sunday, with Dananjaya dismissing Du Plessis for seven and Herath getting Hashim Amla for six. The wickets fell despite a comedy of errors from Sri Lanka, who dropped two catches, wasted both their reviews - on successive balls - and could have had Dean Elgar out twice beforehand had Perera not overstepped.
Agencies
