De Kock and Philander hold key to big first innings

The Standard Bank Proteas will be banking on the seventh-wicket partnership between Quinton de Kock (25 not out) and Vernon Philander (6 not out) to take back the advantage in the first Sunfoil Test match against Sri Lanka at St George’s Park in Port Elizabeth. The Proteas surrendered a solid start with a burst of wickets late on the opening day, a disappointing finish after the majority of the batsmen made promising starts. Proteas all-rounder, JP Duminy, who was the top-scorer of the day with a brisk 63, feels the partnership between the last two remaining specialist batsmen will be a big factor given the challenging conditions. Duminy has taken charge of his promotion to number four, and played with authority and confidence on his way to 63, which include 10 boundaries. He gave credit to fellow batsman, Hashim Amla, during their important third-wicket partnership of 73, which anchored the innings after the successive dismissals of Elgar (45) and Cook (59) after lunch.