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Lack of follow-on grants SA attack valuable rest
- Updated: January 3, 2017
Giving South Africa’s three-pronged pack pack some time to put their feet up after a quick turnaround between the Boxing Day and New Year’s Tests was the main reason behind Faf du Plessis not enforcing the follow-on against Sri Lanka in Cape Town. Although the Port Elizabeth Test ended early on the fifth morning and Sri Lanka’s first innings at Newlands was only 43 overs long, with just two days between matches and winds blowing at over 45kph through the day, Vernon Philander said the attack would benefit from rest before being asked to finish the job.
“We’ve taken a decision as to what’s the best chance for us to win this game,” Philander said. “We feel that setting the game up with the bat and giving the bowlers a break – these are back-to-back Tests and we had quite a busy workload in Port Elizabeth – is the best way going forward and the best way for us to win this game.”
Their break may not last that long, though, because Philander predicted they would start thinking of closing shop as early as the end of the first session on day three. South Africa’s lead is already 317, with …
