On this day: Sri Lanka celebrate their first-ever Test victory in South Africa

In their last three tours to South Africa, Sri Lanka had lost six of their seven Tests – three of them by an innings. In the first Test of the 2011 series, Sri Lanka was blown away by an innings defeat yet again, however, they picked themselves up inspirationally in Durban to register their first-ever Test win in South Africa on this day in 2011.

Initially, reduced to 289 for 7, on the first day of the second Test, they did not raise much hope for themselves. After Tillakaratne Dilshan (47), Thilan Samaraweera stitched a 111-run stand for the sixth wicket with Dinesh Chandimal (58), before he completed his century (111) to take Sri Lanka’s score over 300. In response, Chanaka Welegedara’s early strikes gave Sri Lanka a massive advantage as they dismissed South Africa for just 168, and barring Hashim Amla (54), no other batsman could hold his ground for too long.

#OnThisDay 2011
•Sri Lanka’s first Test win in South Africa
•TM Dilshan his first Test win as captain
•Dinesh Chandimal Made his Test Debut
•@HerathRSL 5 wicket haul in 2nd inngs pic.twitter.com/AePwPt8LQs

— ⌫ ĸαѕυɴ ɴιrαɴjαɴ (@niranjan_69) December 30, 2017

With a hefty lead in the first innings, Sri Lanka solidified their position after Kumar Sangakkara (108) and Dinesh Chandimal’s (54) second half-century of the match. A target of 450 was an unlikely one and Sri Lankan bowlers ensured that South Africa were never in the hunt. After a confident start, the hosts lost four wickets in quick succession as Rangana Herath.

Rattled after a poor show from the middle-order, AB De Villiers (69) and Dale Steyn (43) ate up 34 overs before the former was trapped LBW with the scoreboard reading 232. Steyn soon followed after Herath dismissed him in a similar fashion to reduce South Africa to 241 for 9.

Smelling victory already, the contest was over when Marchant de Lange became the third wicket to fall on 241 when he was bowled by Herath, who finished with match figures of 9/128, playing a crucial role in the 208-run historic win. It was Sri Lanka’s first victory in nine Tests in South Africa. After levelling the series 1-1, Sri Lanka went on to lose the following Test in Cape Town, however, their victory at Durban in 2011 remains to be one of the most famous away wins in the country’s history.