South Africa's Dale Steyn (2nd L) celebrates with captain Hashim Amla (L) Alviro Petersen (R) and AB de Villiers after taking the wicket of Sri Lanka's Dilruwan Perera (not pictured) in Galle Sunday. — Reuters GALLE, Sri Lanka — South African fast bowlers Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel ripped through the Sri Lanka batting lineup to seal a 153-run win in the first Test Sunday as Hashim Amla started his captaincy in fine style. Steyn took four for 45 and Morkel finished with four for 29 to dismiss the host for 216 shortly before the tea break and seal a first win in Sri Lanka for 14 years. Sri Lanka had started the final day on 110 for one, optimistic of chasing down the 370 victory target after Amla had declared on 206-6, but collapsed under the pressure of the two quicks to lose nine wickets for 106 runs. “It (winning) was not easy, credit to the boys, they put their hands up today,” Amla said. “We had some challenging overs last night but the bowlers came back and did really well. Dean (Elgar) got a hundred, JP (Duminy) got one as well and they set the game up for us.” Steyn ended with match figures of nine for 99 to take the Man-of-the-Match award after the best bowling figures by a quick at Galle. “Every time I come down to the sub-continent, I want to do well,” he said. “Nobody cares if you take five-for on a green top. But on a wicket like this, it really makes a difference.” Steyn started South Africa's victory push by grabbing an early breakthrough Sunday when he had Kaushal Silva edge to wicketkeeper Quinton De Kock to end his innings on 38 and the second wicket stand of 104 with Kumar Sangakkara. Morkel then struck with the first ball after the drinks breaks when Mahela Jayawardene edged behind for 10 to leave Sri Lanka on 138-3. The host still held hope, though, with Sangakkara holding firm against the barrage before the former skipper fell to one of the worst balls of the day. The left-hander pulling a woeful long hop delivery from JP Duminy straight to Amla at mid-wicket to depart for 76 and leave the host in big trouble on 149-4. Sangakkara could not believe what he had done, staring at the pitch before walking off with his head down. Lahiru Thirimanne was the next to go, falling in similar circumstances to the first innings as he edged a ball from Steyn outside his stumps to AB de Villiers in the slips for 12. Dinesh Chandimal then completed the miserable session by departing for one as he gloved an attempted pull off Morkel to de Kock to leave the host six down at lunch. Steyn returned in the second session to take his fourth wicket when he had Dilruwan Perera caught by de Kock for his second duck of the match. It was the fourth wicket to go down for only 12 runs as the host fell to 161-7. Duminy then ended Rangana Herath's 18-ball cameo for 20 when he top edged a sweep and was caught by a darting De Villiers, who ran from slip to short fine leg to take the catch. Morkel wrapped up the victory by claiming the final two wickets in two balls, dismissing Suranga Lakmal at long leg for 12 and then Shaminda Eranga fending a short ball to short leg to leave Angelo Mathews unbeaten at the crease on 27. The second Test starts in Colombo on July 24. “South Africans outplayed us on all the five days,” said Sri Lankan skipper Angelo Mathews. “We don't mind losing games if we have played good cricket but in this game we were really disappointing,” he said. “The first innings total (292) cost us the game, if we had added a bit more runs we could have been in with a chance. The batters need to improve their game.” — Agencies
