‘Reject’ Paterson bowls SA into strong position

GQEBERHA: Dane Paterson continued his late-career revival when he bowled South Africa into a strong position on the third day of the second Test against Sri Lanka at St George´s Park on Saturday.

Paterson took a Test-best five for 71 as Sri Lanka were bowled out for 328, which gave South Africa a 30-run first innings lead.

The hosts increased their advantage by scoring 191 for three by the close, an overall lead of 221.

Paterson took three wickets in an over as Sri Lanka could add only 86 runs for the loss of seven wickets to their overnight total of 242 for three.

Paterson, 35, played in 12 white-ball internationals followed by two Tests against England in 2019-20. That seemed to have been the extent of his international career.

He had a successful stint for Nottinghamshire in England and received a call from new South African Test coach Shukri Conrad when he failed to attract a bid to play for any of the six franchaises in the 2024 SA20 league.

With franchise-contracted players ineligible for a series in New Zealand in February, Paterson joined a team of franchise rejects and played two Tests.

Paterson performed well as the team was being outplayed. Injuries to Gerald Coetzee and Wiaan Mulder during South Africa´s win in the first Test in Durban provided an opening for Paterson in Gqeberha, where his accuracy and control proved the ideal foil to the pace of Kagiso Rabada and Marco Jansen.

Marco Jansen made the first breakthroughs on Saturday, dismissing Angelo Mathews with the old ball and Kamindu Mendis in the first over with the second new ball.

Paterson had Sri Lankan captain Dhananjaya de Silva caught at second slip, then bowled Kusal Mendis, who did not offer a shot to a ball which cut back sharply.

Lahiru Kumara was Paterson´s third victim in the over, spectacularly caught by a diving Jansen at gully.

Opening batsman Aiden Markram made an aggressive 55 in South Africa´s second innings but the scoring rate slowed against the left-arm spin of Prabath Jayasuriya, while the Sri Lankan seam bowlers found reverse swing and made stroke play difficult.

The match was still in the balance at 109 for three but Tristan Stubbs and Temba Bavuma added an unbeaten 82 before the close.