SA vs SL – Angelo Mathews – Sri Lanka willing to chase anything around or below 300

“We’re not going to give up. They’re obviously in front of us, but if we can get a couple of early wickets tomorrow we can still push them back,” Mathews said. “And if we can, you know, get through the new ball, if we can push them into the second and third spell and get them a little bit tired, then we’ve got a chance.”

Instead, the evidence of the last three days is that he remains good at scoring runs, which has given Sri Lanka hope that they can put up a big chase.

“He’s playing pretty well. It’s kind of strange, staying low and taking off, but he’s playing pretty well. There’s always something for the closers and a couple of spinners, too,” Mathews said. “It’s a good, even pitch, and an even contest with bat and ball on this pitch, so it’s a great pitch to play on.”

What they may regret is that that figure could have been much higher. At 242 for 3 overnight, they were looking for a first innings lead but Mathews admitted Sri Lanka “failed to capitalise” due to a “couple of good balls”.

“The ball comes off six feet or something like that. Obviously it bounces off any wicket,” Mathews said. “On the Durban wickets he also had a lot of bounce. We couldn’t really handle him in the first innings of the Durban Test. And here too he continues to bother our batsmen. We played quite well with him this time, but he still worries us. We need devise more plans to try to combat their rebound. That’s what’s worrying: some of them also move quite far away due to their height.

Jansen aside, Sri Lanka will have to face Kagiso Rabada, who was South Africa’s best bowler on the second day but managed only one wicket, and Dane Paterson, very confident after his first five hits and operating on a pitch suitable for his style of play.

“He [Paterson] Reminds me of Vernon Philander. He’s really hard to score on, and he just hits the spot consistently. So, yes, there is a lot of hard work to do, but yes, we are willing to do it.”

Kusal Mendis, who is also in this team, scored an unbeaten 84 off 110 balls to seal the series victory. That can’t be done this time, but Sri Lanka could draw 1-1 and stay in the race for the WTC final.