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South Africa beat Sri Lanka by 233 runs on Saturday to win the first Test of the ongoing two-match series played at Kingsmead in Durban.
WTC (World Test Championship) Points Table, South Africa vs Sri Lanka 1st Test: South Africa beat Sri Lanka by 233 runs on Saturday (November 30) to win the first Test of the ongoing two-match series. In the match played at Kingsmead in Durban, South Africa declared its second innings at 366 for 5 to set up a target of 516 runs for the visitors to chase down in the fourth innings and win the match, but the Sri Lankan team could only manage to score 282 runs in 79.4 overs.
For South Africa, pacer Marco Jansen, who picked up seven wickets for 13 runs in 6.5 overs in the first inning, got rid of four Sri Lankan batters in the second, and two opposition batters each were sent back to the pavilion by Kagiso Rabada, Keshav Maharaj and Gerald Coetzee.
By securing a big win over Sri Lanka in the first Test, South Africa not only managed to take a 1-0 lead in the ongoing bilateral series, but it also moved to No. 2 position in the World Test Championship (WTC) 2023-25 points table. The Proteas have 59.26 PCT%.
South Africa, which started the first Test in No. 5 position with 54.17 PCT%, gained more than 5 PCT points and jumped three places.
India, which hammered Australia by 295 runs in the first Test of the ongoing five-match series, reclaimed the No. 1 position on Monday (November 25). The two-time losing finalists have 61.11 PCT%. India and South Africa are followed by WTC 2023 winners Australia (57.69 PCT%) and WTC 2021 winners New Zealand (54.55).
World Test Championship 2023-25 points table
POSITION | TEAM | PLAYED | WON | LOST | DRAW | PENALTY | POINTS | PCT% |
1. | India | 15 | 9 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 110 | 61.11 |
2. | South Africa | 9 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 64 | 59.26 |
3. | Australia | 13 | 8 | 4 | 1 | 10 | 90 | 57.69 |
4. | New Zealand | 11 | 6 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 72 | 54.55 |
5. | Sri Lanka | 10 | 5 | 5 | – | 0 | 60 | 50 |
6. | England | 19 | 9 | 9 | 1 | 19 | 93 | 40.79 |
7. | Pakistan | 10 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 8 | 40 | 33.33 |
8. | West Indies | 10 | 2 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 32 | 26.67 |
9. | Bangladesh | 11 | 3 | 8 | 0 | 3 | 33 | 25.00 |
After losing the first Test of the away series by a big margin, Sri Lanka has dropped to No. 5 position in the WTC 2023-25 points table. The Islanders have 50 PCT%.
Sri Lanka kicked off the Test match at No. 3 position and with 55.56 PCT%.
Sri Lankan players would like to come up with a big show in the second Test of the away series against South Africa to keep alive their chances of finishing in the top two of the WTC 2023-25 points table and secure a place in the WTC 2025 final at Lord’s next year.
The second Test between South Africa and Sri Lanka is scheduled to take place at St. George’s Park in Gqeberha from December 5 to 9.