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South Africa coach Domingo refuses to rule out victory over Sri Lanka

By Allsports.com.gh
Sports News South Africa coach Domingo refuses to rule out victory over Sri Lanka
JUL 26, 2014 LISTEN

The tourists, who hold a 1-0 lead in the two-match series, were bowled out for 282 on Saturday, in response to Sri Lanka's first-innings total of 421.

Captain Hashim Amla was the only South Africa player to emerge from their drawn-out first innings with any real credit as he recorded his 22nd Test-match century, scoring 139 not out.

Sri Lanka closed the day on 11-0 in their second innings in Colombo, a lead of 150 runs.

The hosts will look to make that advantage in even more commanding on day four, while South Africa's sights look to be set more on avoiding defeat, as they chase a return to the number one Test ranking in the world.

However, Domingo feels his team are still in with a shout of victory.

"If we can get them under a bit of pressure then they might take a while longer to get the runs and wickets fall," Domingo said.

"We may end up chasing 240 in four sessions, which would mean we're still very much in the game."

Domingo was also quick to defend South Africa's defensive approach, which saw JP Duminy score a 58-ball three before being dismissed, while Amla spent a total of eight hours and six minutes at the crease on the way to his hundred.

"Hindsight is a great science. If he [Duminy] had gone for a shot and holes out to mid-on everyone says he is playing irresponsibly," Domingo added.

"We started brightly but then we lost two wickets in two balls. We have to assess what's important. JP tried to get us to lunch and then we reassessed. There were very tough conditions for left-handers today.

"We wanted to get what we could with the bat, particularly with [Rangana] Herath bowling over the wicket for quite a long time. Runs and time are both so crucial.

"It would have been great to get another 100 runs, but it would also have been great to have gotten 50 runs less and batted for another two hours.

"There was a good rear-guard action in Dale [Steyn] and Imran's [Tahir] partnerships with Hashim, but Sri Lanka still have a substantial lead."

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