‘Reject’ Paterson bowls South Africa into strong position
Gqeberha, South Africa, AFP: Dane Paterson continued his late-career revival when he bowled South Africa into a strong position on the third day of the second Test against Sri Lanka at St. George’s Park on Saturday. Paterson took a Test-best five for 71 as Sri Lanka were bowled out for 328, which gave South Africa a 30-run first innings lead.
The hosts increased their advantage by scoring 191 for three by the close, an overall lead of 221. Paterson took three wickets in an over as Sri Lanka could add only 86 runs for the loss of seven wickets to their overnight total of 242 for three.
Dane Paterson (left) celebrates with teammates - AFP
Paterson, 35, played in 12 white-ball internationals followed by two Tests against England in 2019-20. That seemed to have been the extent of his international career. He had a successful stint for Nottinghamshire in England and received a call from new coach Shukri Conrad when he failed to attract a bid to play for any of the six franchises in the 2024 SA20 league.
With franchise-contracted players ineligible for a series in New Zealand in February, Paterson joined a team of franchise rejects and played two Tests. Paterson performed well as the team was being outplayed.
Injuries to Gerald Coetzee and Wiaan Mulder during South Africa’s win in the first Test in Durban provided an opening for Paterson in Gqeberha, where his accuracy and control proved the ideal foil to the pace of Kagiso Rabada and Marco Jansen.
Jansen made the first breakthroughs on Saturday, dismissing Angelo Mathews with the old ball and Kamindu Mendis in the first over with the second new ball.
Paterson had Sri Lankan captain Dhananjaya de Silva caught at second slip, then bowled Kusal Mendis, who did not offer a shot to a ball which cut back sharply. Lahiru Kumara was his third victim in the over, spectacularly caught by a diving Jansen at gully.
Opening batsman Aiden Markram made an aggressive 55 in South Africa’s second innings but the scoring rate slowed against the left-arm spin of Prabath Jayasuriya, while the Sri Lankan seam bowlers found reverse swing and made stroke play difficult. The match was still in the balance at 109 for three but Tristan Stubbs and Temba Bavuma added an unbeaten 82 before the close.
| SCORECARD | |
| South Africa 1st innings Aiden Markram b Kumara 20 Tony de Zorzi lbw b A. Fernando 00 Ryan Rickelton c NIssanka b Kumara 101 Tristan Stubbs c Kusal M b Kumara 04 Temba Bavuma c Kusal M b A. Fernando 78 David Bedingham b Jayasuirya 06 Kyle Verreynne not out 105 Marco Jansen b V. Fernando 04 Keshav Maharaj c Karunaratne b V. Fernando 00 Kagiso Rabada b A. Fernando 23 Dane Paterson c Kamindu M b Kumara 09 Extras (b1, lb1, nb2, w4) 08 Total (all out; 103.4 overs) 358 Fall of wickets: 1-0 (de Zorzi, 1.1ov), 2-32 (Markram, 11.2ov), 3-44 (Stubbs, 15.4ov), 4-177 (Bavuma, 52.6ov), 5-186 (Bedingham, 59.2ov), 6-263 (Rickelton, 85.3ov), 7-269 (Jansen, 86.3ov), 8-269 (Maharaj, 88.1ov), 9-325 (Rabada, 100.5ov), 10-358 (Paterson, 103.4ov) Bowling: Vishwa Fernando 22-6-65-2, Asitha Fernando 24-2-102-3, Lahiru Kumara 17.4-3-79-4, Prabath Jayasuriya 31-4-84-1, Dhananjaya de Silva 9-1-26-0 Sri Lanka 1st innings Pathum Nissanka b Maharaj 89 Dimuth Karunaratne c Verreynne b Rabada 20 Dinesh Chandimal c Verreynne b Paterson 44 Angelo Mathews c Verreynne b Jansen 44 Kamindu Mendis c Markram b Jansen 48 Dhananjaya de Silva c Markram b Jansen 14 Kusal Mendis b Paterson 16 Prabath Jayasuriya st Verreynne b Maharaj 24 Lahiru Kumara c Jansen b Paterson 00 Vishwa Fernando c Verreynne b Paterson 02 Asitha Fernando not out 00 Extras (b13, lb8, nb5, w1) 27 Total (all out; 99.2 overs) 328 Fall of wickets: 1-41 (Karunaratne, 15.4ov), 2-150 (Chandimal, 44.2ov), 3-199 (Nissanka, 55.2ov), 4-261 (Mathews, 76.2ov), 5-268 (Kamindu M, 80.3ov), 6-297 (de Silva, 88.1ov), 7-298 (Kusal M, 88.3ov), 8-298 (Kumara, 88.5ov), 9-327 (V. Fernando, 98.4ov), 10-328 (Jayasuriya, 99.2ov) Bowling: Kagiso Rabada 24-756-1, Marco Jansen 25-4-100-2, Dane Paterson 22-4-71-5, Keshav Maharaj 24.2-5-65-2, Aiden Markram 4-0-15-0 South Africa 2nd innings Tony de Zorzi b Jayasuriya 19 Aiden Markram c Kusal M b V. Fernando 55 Ryan Rickelton lbw b Jayasuriya 24 Tristan Stubbs not out 36 Temba Bavuma not out 48 Extras (lb7, w2) 09 Total (3 wickets; 55 overs) 191 To bat: David Bedingham, Kyle Verreynne, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Dane Paterson Fall of wickets: 1-55 (de Zorzi, 13.4ov), 2-96 (Markram, 24.3ov), 3-109 (Rickelton, 29.1ov) Bowling: Vishwa Fernando 14-4-34-1, Asitha Fernando 9-1-29-0, Lahiru Kumara 10-0-40-0, Prabath Jayasuriya 20-1-75-2, Dhananjaya de Silva 2-0-6-0 |