Sri Lanka have made the low total in Test cricket the lowest when they were dismissed on day one of their ongoing series opening game at Kingsmead for just 42 on Thursday by South Africa. Sri Lanka's 42 all out came in only 13.5 overs, thereby easily passing their previous smallest Test total of 71, which came against Pakistan in Kandy in 1994.
It also is the ninth smallest all-time Test total. Fast-bowling all-rounder Marco Jansen was the main wrecker-in-chief by picking a career-best haul of 7-13 in 6.5 overs.
He was well supported by fellow fast bowlers Gerald Coetzee (2-18) and Kagiso Rabada (1-10). Only two Sri Lanka players were able to get into double-digits, with Kamindu Mendis' 13 being the best score and as many as four players bagging ducks.
The 42 all out by Sri Lanka is also the lowest total by any team against South Africa, after New Zealand were bowled out for 45 by the Proteas in Cape Town in 2013. The visitors' innings lasted just 83 balls, eight short of the overall record of the 75 balls South Africa played when they were bowled out for just 30 by England in Birmingham in 1924.
Among the lowest Test totals since the 2000s began, Sri Lanka's 42 all out is now the third-lowest score, after India's 36 all out in 2020 and Ireland being dismissed for 38 in 2019. Getting bowled out for 42 and letting South Africa take a 149-run lead is a huge set back for Sri Lanka to enter next year's final of the World Test Championship.
In the morning, after South Africa's Day One was cut short by rain, they scored 111 runs in an extended morning session before getting bowled out for 191, with captain Temba Bavuma top-scoring with 70.
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