Proteas ensure draw bore

The first Test between Sri Lanka and South Africa ended in a tame draw, as the visitors safely survived the potent Sri Lankan bowling attack led by Muttiah Muralitharan and Chaminda Vaas on the fifth and final day, on a tricky pitch at Galle.

Protean captain Graeme Smith led the way for his team, offering solid resistance through out his match-saving knock of 74. Restored to the top of the order, despite suffering from a viral infection, Smith defied Murali effectively on a track where the latter should have been at his best.

All-rounder Jacques Kallis was the other savior for the day, as he showed his mental toughness after Smith's eventual wicket to score a half century, and be there in the middle when the bails were taken off.

Resuming on 7/0, 318 runs away from an unlikely victory, South Africa didn't even try to get close to the target, with Smith and his opening partner Boeta Dippenaar, looking to block everything, and score off nothing.

Dippenaar's struggle came to an end when Murali had him caught bad-pad for 11, though the youngster did bring up his 1,000 Test runs during the innings, with the team score at 34 for 1. His was the only wicket to fall in the opening session as Martin van Jaarsveld supported Smith for the next couple of hours.

Jaarsveld fell for 29, leg before wicket to part-timer Tilakratne Dilshan, on whose bowling Marvan Atapattu showed quite a bit trust throughout the match, leaving the visitors at 98 for 2. Sri Lanka got a glimmer of hope for a win, when Smith's bizarre dismissal was brought about by Upul Chandana, wherein he kicked the ball onto his own stumps.

But Kallis and first innings' lone centurion for the Proteas, Jacques Rudolph, batted out the final session, without further hiccups, as play was called off with the visitors at 203 for 3. The next Test, the last of the two-match series starts Wednesday in Colombo.

Sri Lanka (1st innings) 486 all out
DPMD Jayawardene 237, SM Pollock 48/4
South Africa (1st innings) 376 all out
JA Rudolph 102, M Muralitharan 130/4
Sri Lanka (2nd innings) 214 for 9 dec
ST Jayasuriya 74, N Boje 88/5
South Africa (2nd innings) 203 for 3
GC Smith 74, JH Kallis 52*

Man of the Match
DPMD Jayawardene

Posted by Sudeep