Sri Lanka is all out for 157 in the first innings of the Second Test with South Africa held in Johannesburg on Sunday. 

Wiaan Mulder put Sri Lanka’s collapse in motion before lunch, and Anrich Nortje ripped out the lower order in the second session, collecting career-best figures of 6 for 56. Nortje bowled fast, frequently exceeding 145kph, and Sri Lanka’s batsmen did not seem to trust their defensive techniques against him, going down in a hail of aggressive strokes.

Only Wanindu Hasaranga and Dushmantha Chameera produced some semblance of resistance in the second session, putting on an eighth-wicket stand of 39, as they each collected scores in excess of 20. The wicket of Chameera, who top-edged a bouncer through to the wicketkeeper, gave Nortje his second career five-wicket haul. Nortje took the final wicket as well, to end Sri Lanka’s innings in the 41st over.
Until the end of the 20th over, Sri Lanka’s morning was going okay. Kusal Perera was playing boldly and effectively, thumping South Africa’s bowlers through the off side with particular relish. They’d already lost Dimuth Karunaratne, but Lahiru Thirimanne seemed to be settling at the crease. There seemed a good chance they could go to lunch at 85 for 1.

Instead, the top order collapsed en masse, Wiaan Mulder took three wickets in the space of 11 deliveries, and they hobbled into the dressing room at 84 for 5 at lunch instead.

Mulder bowled well to put this collapse in motion, but Sri Lanka also batted poorly with lunch approaching - three of the four batsmen who were dismissed in this period out playing attacking shots. Perera went after a slightly wider full delivery, and sent a catch to gully. Kusal Mendis was then squared up by a ball that straightened off the seam and took the shoulder of his bat. Thirimanne also offered a catch to the slips as he attempted to tuck a ball to the leg side.

Debutant Minod Bhanuka’s dismissal the very last ball before lunch seemed the most wasteful of all. He played at a wide-ish Anrich Nortje delivery that he could have left alone, and not controlling the bounce, sent another edge to the slips.

All up, Sri Lanka lost four wickets for 13 runs in four overs. All four batsmen were caught by either slips or gully.

Perera’s 60 off 67 - which at lunch comprised 71% of the team’s total, had been assured and largely well thought out. In between frequent shellackings through cover, or wallops over mid-off, Perera left the ball well and defended solidly, picking only the balls in his zone to go after. He’d been hit a few times on the body early in the innings, particularly by Nortje, but began to score runs behind square on the leg side when the bowlers went at his ribs again later in the session. He was especially severe on Lungi Ngidi, who gave him too much width. Perera’s innings contained 11 fours, all told.

Earlier, while Perera was still warming to his work, Karunaratne had been watchful for 31 balls, before getting a steep lifter from Nortje, which he edged to the keeper to be out for two. Before Mulder ran through Sri Lanka, Nortje was perhaps the best of South Africa’s frontline quicks, picking up 2 for 33 for the morning. Mulder’s three wickets cost him only one run.  

Source: ESPNCricinfo