Kallis a calming influence alongside me – Petersen
Posted on
January 03, 2012 by
Ken
Alviro Petersen scored a fine century in his comeback test for South Africa against Sri Lanka at Newlands on Tuesday and later praised Jacques Kallis for being a calming influence as he batted alongside him.
Opening batsman Petersen, playing his first test since last January, scored 109, while Kallis ended the day on 159 not out to steer South Africa to a commanding 347 for three at stumps on the first day.
“I have to give Jacques full credit, he was back to as South Africa have known him. We had lots of conversations about the areas to score in, what the bowlers are trying to do and he was just a calming influence. A guy with over 12 000 runs is not just going to stand there with a mouth full of teeth,” Petersen told a news conference after the end of play.
Petersen and Kallis shared a record third-wicket stand of 205, South Africa’s best for any wicket against Sri Lanka, and Petersen said it had been a case of playing the conditions and the match situation correctly after South Africa had slipped to 56 for two.
“We’d lost a couple of wickets and the game was in the balance. But we played the conditions well, we put the bad ball away and once we were set, we just kept building the partnership,” Petersen said.
The 31-year-old said the South Africans had been surprised by how the Sri Lankan attack had bowled at them.
“We were surprised by the lines and lengths of their bowling; we were surprised by the number of short balls they bowled,” Petersen said.
Sri Lanka bowling coach Champaka Ramanayake conceded that his attack had been poor.
“We did not bowl well at all, especially in the first session when we could have kept them to under 80 runs. Our line wasn’t so bad, but the length was either too far up or a bit short.
“If we could have kept them under 300 at stumps, I would have been very happy, but the fifty runs extra was because of bad bowling,” Ramanayake said.
Sri Lanka had won the toss and controversially sent the South Africans in to bat, with Ramanayake admitting that they had misread the pitch.
“We thought that pitch would do something, but it did not do as much as expected. It became a good pitch after the first session, but we did not bowl well – that was the main reason,” Ramanayake said.
The South Africans would have batted first if they had won the toss, Petersen confirmed.
“We were surprised they sent us in, the pitch looked quite dry this morning and we wanted to bat first anyway. We made full use of the conditions and would like to get a big first-innings total. I think the pitch will deteriorate, it’s really dry and this afternoon some balls hit the cracks and they were already loose. It will turn and we want to put scoreboard pressure on the Sri Lankans,” Petersen said.