South Africa ‘A’ got hammered by 160 runs in their first four-day clash against hosts Sri Lanka in Pallekele on Wednesday.
With the hosts scoring 325 runs in their first innings to which SA replied with 131 all out, Sri Lanka was first to crumble on Wednesday.
South African spinner Senuran Muthusamy, who took 7/122 in the first innings, was again in superb form on Day Three, this time taking 5/53 as Sri Lanka were bowled out for just 151 runs.
INNINGS CHANGE | DAY 3 🏏
— Proteas Men (@ProteasMenCSA) June 14, 2023
🇱![CDATA[]]>🇰 Sri Lanka 'A' 3⃣2⃣5⃣ & 1⃣5⃣1⃣
🇿![CDATA[]]>🇦 SA 'A' 1⃣3⃣1⃣ all out
Senuran Muthusamy - 5⃣/5⃣3⃣
SA 'A' requires 3⃣4⃣1⃣ runs for victory
📸 SLC#SLAvSAA #BePartOfIt pic.twitter.com/QEFT8EXMkJ
Set a winning target of 346, SA were always going to battle to get over the line.
And after losing captain Tony de Zorzi (11) in the third over, their task got even more difficult.
Once again the top order failed to produce runs, with not a single player in the SA lineup getting over 30 runs.
Keagan Petersen (29) and Muthusamy (29) got close to that mark as South Africa were bowled out for 185 runs - 161 short of the winning target.
The second four-dayer will be played next week.