South Africa climbed to the second spot on the World Test Championship (WTC) points table following their one-sided 233-run victory over Sri Lanka in Durban on Saturday. Pacer Marco Jansen was the star performer for the Proteas finishing with stunning figures of 11/86 which earned him the Player of the Match award.
The victory saw South displace Australia from the second spot on the table and move closer to securing a spot in the final of the ICC Test tournament which will be played next year at Lord’s.
The Proteas currently stand with a point percentage of 59.26% having won 5 and lost 3 of their 9 matches. They only trail behind India, who remain on top of the table with a point percentage of 61.11%.
| Teams | Matches | Wins | Draws | Losses | PCT | Points |
| India | 15 | 9 | 1 | 5 | 61.11 | 110 |
| South Africa | 9 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 59.26 | 64 |
| Australia | 13 | 8 | 1 | 4 | 57.69 | 90 |
| New Zealand | 11 | 6 | 0 | 5 | 54.55 | 72 |
| Sri Lanka | 10 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 50.00 | 63 |
| England | 19 | 9 | 1 | 9 | 40.79 | 93 |
| Pakistan | 10 | 4 | 0 | 6 | 33.33 | 40 |
| West Indies | 10 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 26.67 | 32 |
| Bangladesh | 11 | 3 | 0 | 8 | 25.00 | 33 |
Coming to the match, Sri Lanka always looked as the side that will end up on the losing side after they got bundled out for just 42 runs in their first innings, In reply, South Africa posted a total of 366/5 before declaring which set up a mammoth target of 516 runs for the Lankan Lions.
Sri Lanka’s batting order never really got going in the second innings either and were bundled out for 282 runs which saw them lose the match by a massive 233-run margin and drop to the 5th spot on the WTC points table. The second and final Test of the series between the 2 sides will be played in Gqeberha from December 5.
