Lunch Sri Lanka 220 for 4 (Samaraweera 64*, Mathews 58*) and 239 trail South Africa 580 for 4 decl. by 121 runs
Sri Lanka's batsmen enjoyed their first wicketless session of the series, but with five more to go in the Test, it was unlikely to affect the final outcome. Thilan Samaraweera and Angelo Mathews survived without much strife on the fourth morning, giving credence to curator Evan Flint's tongue-in-cheek prediction about the state of the pitch. Sri Lanka's tame surrender in the first innings, however, meant the odds of them saving the Test remained long.
As on the third evening, South Africa were persistent with their lines of attack, but the rewards were not so readily available. The closest they came to dislodging the overnight partners was when Samaraweera was stranded mid-pitch after a misunderstanding with Mathews. Alviro Petersen picked up rapidly in the covers and had a good sight of the stumps as he threw, but missed. A little later, Mathews came close to being run out himself, but this time Hashim Amla's throw went wide. Barring those two scares, it was mostly smooth sailing for Sri Lanka.
As is his wont, Dale Steyn began the day by probing away at pace on full lengths, but the rest of the attack was guilty of bowling a touch short, and too straight. Samaraweera got going with a neat flick through square leg off the day's second ball, and a couple of controlled edges through the off side. Thereafter, he settled down to wait and pick off the leg-stump offerings that came his way. Imran Tahir showed good control and hurried the batsmen with bounce and spin out of the rough on a few occasions, but wasn't able to make the breach. Samaraweera got to his fifty by steering him to third man as the first hour drew to a close.
Mathews' reluctance to leave balls outside off stump will always leave him vulnerable to nicks, but today he was mostly efficient in covering the line. His first boundary came off a thick edge that flew past the cordon, but he gradually buckled down to seal his end. Progress came through dabs and tucks, until Tahir slipped up a full toss on the pads that Mathews whipped expertly to the boundary.
With the pitch slowing down and seam movement absent, Graeme Smith moved the cordon from behind the wicket to front. Armed with the old ball, Jacques Kallis sent down an energetic spell of fast bumpers, with slip, short leg, short cover, silly mid-on, and later leg slip, in place. Samaraweera stayed firm, pressing down a snorter headed to his ribs away from the reach of all the prowlers. Smith summoned the new ball for the last over of the session, and Vernon Philander duly elicited Mathews outside edge with his customary swing. It was a timely warning that Sri Lanka couldn't afford to get too carried away with their morning's work.
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