“We started off a bit shaky,” conceded Proteas all-rounder, Wiaan Mulder, who delivered a standout bowling performance taking three wickets, including the well-set Dinesh Chandimal for 85, on Day 1 of the Boxing Day Test between South Africa and Sri Lanka.

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After an inconsistent new ball performance by the Proteas bowlers, the plan is now to “bowl as many dot balls to try to get us back in the game,” said Mulder. 

Mulder’s assessment of the pitch was that there was help on offer for the fast bowlers. Had the bowlers delivered a “fuller, fourth stump line, we would have got more wickets.” However, Mulder remains optimistic. “It will click for us,” he said. 

Emphatic in his praise for Proteas debutant, Lutho Sipamla, Mulder said he is a “very good bowler.” Sipamla was unlucky to have had a couple of edges go through the slips for four. Mulder is confident it is only a “matter of time” before he contributes with more wickets. 

As part of the most inexperienced Proteas bowling attack since 1993, Mulder admitted to being nervous, claiming his “nerves were through the roof.”

It helped to have senior players like Faf du Plessis and Quinton de Kock, who were not “making situations bigger or smaller than they should be.” Instead, the team was “striving to be better versions of ourselves.” 

“With the ball nipping a bit,” Mulder stated, the Proteas will look to dismiss the Sri Lankans as soon as possible tomorrow.

Meanwhile, Sri Lankan batsman, Dinesh Chandimal, was happy with the team’s score of 340/6 at the end of Day 1, having arrived at the crease at 52/3 and contributed 85 runs to his team’s cause. Praising the South African bowling effort, Chandimal said, “The South African bowlers did well.” Rebuilding the innings was a “really good challenge,” Chandimal stated. 

Dhananjaya de Silva, who scored 79 off 106 balls, including 11 boundaries and 1 six, retired hurt. Chandimal clarified that he had a strain. If his scans show no signs of a serious injury, he is likely to return to play. However, if his scans reveal a strain, he could be out for two or three weeks. 

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