Rain dampens opening day of South Africa v Sri Lanka Test

Day one of the first Test between South Africa and Sri Lanka was heavily impacted by rain, with just 20.4 overs bowled on Wednesday in Durban.

Play began on time, with Sri Lanka winning the toss and putting the hosts in to bat.

The overcast conditions made getting bat on ball a challenge, and wickets soon began to fall.

First, Asitha Fernando nabbed Aiden Markram (9) with an edge to slips, before the next over Tony de Zorzi (4) fell to a brilliant low catch from Kamindu Mendis off the bowling of Vishwa Fernando.

Runs were hard to come by as the Sri Lankan pacers embraced the gloomy weather and dominated the opening hour.

Tristan Stubbs (16) was next to go, again nicking to the slips off the bowling of Lahiru Kumara.

Kumara bagged another in his next over, reducing South Africa to 54/4 when he produced a pearler to remove David Bedingham (4).

With South Africa under all sorts of pressure, help came not from their own batting lineup, but the sky above, as the heavens opened up soon after and sent the teams in for an early lunch.

Conditions failed to improve, leaving the score at 74/4 at stumps on day one.

Despite the early wickets, sportsbook odds have remained steady for South Africa to win the Test, with the home side sitting on -175.44 at Bovada.

However, top cricket bookmakers have shortened Sri Lanka’s odds for victory from +350 pre-Test to +200.

Odds for a draw have lengthened, even with close to 70 overs lost, moving from +370 to +1100.

South Africa, fifth on the World Test Championship table, need a win to keep their hopes of making the WTC final realistic.

Sri Lanka, who sit third in the WTC standings, also require one win from this series to stay in the hunt for next June’s final.

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