Cape Town — Matthew Breetzke was the lone surviving soldier on Tuesday as the South Africa ‘A’ batting unit crumbled in the first ‘Test’ against their Sri Lankan counterparts in Dambulla.
Breetzke remained undefeated on 59 — almost half of his side’s paltry 131— with the tourists’ top-order failing yet again in response to the hosts' 325.
Sri Lankan off-spinner Lakshitha Rasanjana may have claimed the plaudits with his magnificent haul of 5/19 from 10 overs, but the real damage was inflicted by new-ball bowler Dilshan Madushanka.
The left-arm seamer has been a thorn in the flesh of the tourists throughout, having claimed nine wickets at an average of just 12.33 in the preceding three-match ODI series.
Madushanka (3/31) followed his white-ball exploits with another fresh burst that ripped out South Africa’s top-order. The slide began with the second ball of the innings when Madushanka clean bowled Jordan Hermann for a duck before following it up with the dismissals of Keegan Petersen (19) and Tristan Stubbs (0).
With captain Tony de Zorzi (9) also falling between Madushanka’s three scalps, South Africa ‘A’ slipped to 57/4 and were wilting in the Dambulla heat and humidity.
“It’s not easy. The new-ball has been really tough to play here. We’ve actually found it the opposite to what we thought it would be like,” Breetzke told Independent Media from Sri Lanka.
“The conditions are really slow and low, and the seamers don’t leave the stumps. They found us wanting a little bit today.”
Breetzke, who came in at No 3, battled away and tried to form mini partnerships of 35 and 27 with Petersen and Dewald Brevis (16) respectively, but by then Rasanjana had the middle-to-lower order in a spin.
The Warriors right-hander, though, showed great determination to battle it out all the way to end.
“I thought in the one-dayers I was batting really nicely, but obviously not getting the scores that I wanted. So, going into the four-dayers I went in really positive because I’ve been working really hard on certain gameplans, and literally just went out there executing what I had been training in the nets,” he said.
“It was all about the hunger inside me to stay out there. That was pretty much what got me the runs I got.”
Breetzke also clarified that the batting unit’s failure was not attributed to trying to play the attacking brand of cricket coach Shukri Conrad is trying to instil in the team.
“I think that taking the game on and moving it forward is sometimes misunderstood by the public,” Breetzke explained.
“Shuks wants us to play the conditions. And the conditions are not easy. So, you have to have a certain gameplan, like today, when hitting down the ground and over the top is almost impossible because it’s turning so much.
“That’s when square-bat shots, leaving well, and real solid defence is actually being positive. They are quite greedy bowlers and they search for wickets, so you need to trust your defence, that’s when they give you something to score off.”
IOL Sport