A five-wicket haul by fast bowler Ryan McLaren helped South Africa A take a 1-0 lead in the two-match series with an innings win over Sri Lanka A on the third day in Durban. McLaren removed three top-order batsmen in his first five overs to squash any chances of a second-innings revival by the visiting batsmen.
South Africa A declared their first innings on their overnight score of 425, leading by 255 runs, and gave Sri Lanka A a stiff task to avoid an innings defeat. They fell short by eight runs.
McLaren, who opened the bowling instead of Wayne Parnell, struck twice off consecutive balls in the fourth over of the day to remove Dimuth Karunaratne and Chamara Silva. In his fifth over, Kaushal Silva nicked a full delivery to the wicketkeeper to leave Sri Lanka A in further trouble. An 83-run stand between Dilruwan Perera and Roshen Silva for the fourth wicket resisted the South African charge for 22 overs. The fall of Perera, however, signalled the end of Sri Lanka A's challenge. South Africa A picked up regular wickets thereafter to win the match early in the third session with a day to spare.
The victory was set up by big hundreds from Dean Elgar and Faf du Plessis, who set up the match-winning total with a 292-run stand on the second day. The second unofficial Test will be played in Durban from July 6
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