South Africa vs Sri Lanka, 1st Test at Durban,SA vs SL, Nov 27 2024 - Match Result

A dominating win for South Africa in Durban, their first against Sri Lanka at Kingsmead. They go 1-0 up and we will have the second Test from next Thursday, so do join us back for that. As for live cricket games, the South Africa Women take on England Women in a T20I later this evening, do join us for that coverage as well. On behalf of Madushka, Ranjith and Ekanth, this is Sudarshanan bidding you goodbye. Till the next time, do take care and stay hydrated. Ciao!

1:52pm Time for the presentation

Kagiso Rabada is given a plaque for completing 300 Test wickets. He did so in the series against Bangladesh last month.

Marco Jansen, the Player of the Match: "Never thought I would get ten wickets. It is a dream and that is what we work for. The second innings we felt the wicket was low and slow and a bit flatter. Getting wickets was going to be tough. A training period, nice and strong to be fit again. Now the body feels stronger and much fresher. I don't know, I'll find out [about the celebrations] after this."

Dhananjaya de Silva, Sri Lanka captain: "We lost the grip when we batted in the first innings. We bowled well but Temba took the game away from us. All about the first innings, even our bowling and batting. We had to bowl well and get the opposition out. 80 for 4 and we could have bowled well to keep them to 120 or 150. [42 all out] We didn't have time to read Jansen. We hadn't had anything to think about, just 12 overs for 42 runs. Had better plans in the second innings. In the past we know we have batted well in these conditions, we didn't bat well in the first innings and the match got away from us."

Temba Bavuma, South Africa captain: "Tough cricket out there, quite happy with the result. We were in a tough position, knew we had to dig deep. We spoke about getting in a comfortable position and were able to do so. Got a good partnership in the first innings and that helped. We saw how the wicket was playing and the conditions were favourable for seamers. We were confident that if they could put us in trouble, we could do so. We knew conditions were in our favour. Batting always felt tricky, you never felt in. Loose ball, you tried to put it away, good ball you played it well. Yesterday and today it became slow, we lost Mulder and that got tricky, Gerald wasn't fully fit, but he and Keshav did their thing. Not a big break between. Wiaan is out of the series, we have to find a replacement. Gerald Coetzee, the medical team will have do to their best. The conversation [about WTC] has been there, we are not too loud about it. It will come. OUr focus needs to be more internally, what we have been doing as a team and control that, let whatever happens happen. GQ - hopefully the weather behaves and looking forward to playing in the band."

Long John Silve: "ANY place except England for the WTC final!! With that out of the way, my Player of the match is Bavuma for his innings to keep SAF in the match in the first inningas and the century to pile it on SL in second. Had Jansen taken two five fors , he would have been mine by a whisker. Since he didn't, it is Bavuma." Might still be Jansen, we'll find out soon. Stay tuned for the presentations. Sudarshanan will cover it here.

Robbie : "The points table isn't updated yet (PCT) but if my calculations are correct, SA are now second on the table, aren't they?" Yes

Meenakshi : "In the nick of time! Sri Lanka bundled out within 79.4 overs, and just inside the margin of 80 overs. Phew." Lol. Btw it's confirmed, SA won't be docked points even if their over rate in the second innings was slow

Neel: "The WTC final could be kept on a rotating basis in different venues of the participating teams, just like the World Cup "

Chandra: "How about disqualifying the team that lost two in a row for the WCT finals? " There should be, in my opinion and perhaps of a few others', a promotion and relegation system. Alas, there is no clear pathway for the non-WTC teams to make it in as of now.

yazoo: "Cheers for the interactive commentary, Eknath, really makes following games more interesting when the commentators engage in conversation and discussions regarding the cricketing world - have a good one!" Thanks for the excellent comments. Was great fun to address the WTC and over-rate stuff.

1:36pm, Day 4, End of Match: Jansen leads the team out of the field. Handshakes going around on the stairs and the edge of the ground. A good display from Sri Lanka's batters in the second dig, especially this morning, but that 42 all out started their long journey behind the eight-ball. South Africa weren't as clinical today but there were positives - Rabada and Coetzee were probing at the start of the day, Maharaj held up an end and got drift plus spin, and Jansen - who wasn't at his best earlier on in the day - cleaned up the tailenders and finished with a four-for in the innings and ten-for for the match.

Nathan: "If Jansen finishes things up here, he will reach 50 wickets in just 13 tests. Where does that place him on the overall list?" Just out of the list

Venkat : "Getting out SL within 80 overs, is it an advantage to SA." Yeah, over-rate deductions won't be an issue. Can Jansen strike over the next six balls?

Slip and leg slip in with short leg and silly mid-off

Venkat : "Is the 2 nd new ball necessary for SA now. " Nah. Two overs to go for it to be available just fyi

Test can now be over in one ball

ashish: "@ekanth - dont you think deciding the final venue based on the table topper is going to be logistically difficult since we will need to wait till majority of the matches get over and we know for sure whi would be topping the table." Yeah, perhaps they should be offered options. Is that good enough middle ground?

Gustav: "On the WTC final schedule, my proposal is that the final should be held in a city in the country that won the last edition" Good shout. What about the table-topping team in the ongoing edition? Like the BBL if I'm not wrong

Arnav: "Denying potential doubles? Have they given up ?" No, think Kumara's partner wants him facing spin