Sri Lanka and SA look to keep WTC final hopes alive

South Africa will take on Sri Lanka in the second Test of the two-match series at St. George’s Park in Gqeberha, starting today.

The hosts South Africa will enter the contest on the back of a sensational performance, registering a 233-run victory in the first Test in Durban, thanks to Marco Jansen’s magic with the ball.

While on the other hand, the travelling Sri Lankans will be very disappointed with the sub-par showing at Kingsmead and would eye a fight back and level the series against a peaking South African side.

The headline is that both teams are in with a shot at making the World Test Championship (WTC) final but neither have secured a place.

Unhelpfully for South Africa, the WTC points system doesn't reward hefty winning margins, so although they crushed Sri Lanka by 233 runs in Durban, it still only goes down as a simple win.

They arrived in Gqeberha full of confidence. Another win here, and their path to that final, clears up significantly. A win for Sri Lanka, meanwhile, would mean they have a chance of qualifying for the final without having to depend on other results. (They would also need to win the matches against Australia 2-0.)

Their first goal, however, is to be more competitive than they were in Durban. Their batters, specifically, cannot allow another collapse to occur. Various members of the batting group have spoken about the challenge of facing South Africa's tall quicks, on tracks that offer more bounce than they are used to at home.

These coastal venues are not as bouncy as they tend to be in the Highveld, for instance, but have clearly presented more of a challenge than Sri Lanka expected.

They'll also hope that given the wind and sunshine forecast for Gqeberha for the next few days, the surface will dry out and bring spinners more meaningfully into the game.

South Africa Squad: Temba Bavuma (Captain), David Bedingham (wk), Gerald Coetzee, Tony de Zorzi, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, Wiaan Mulder, Senuran Muthusamy, Dane Paterson, Kagiso Rabada, Tristan Stubbs, Ryan Rickelton (wk) and Kyle Verreynne (wk).

Sri Lanka Squad: Dhananjaya de Silva (Captain), Pathum Nissanka, Dimuth Karunaratne, Dinesh Chandimal, Angelo Mathews, Kusal Mendis (wk), Kamindu Mendis, Oshada Fernando, Sadeera Samarawickrama (wk), Prabath Jayasuriya, Nishan Peiris, Lasith Embuldeniya, Milan Rathnayake, Asitha Fernando, Vishwa Fernando, Lahiru Kumara and Kasun Rajitha. 
(Agencies)