'Not playing the extra spinner a mistake' – Ottis Gibson

Another day, another trial by spin and South Africa find themselves behind the eight-ball again.

On a surface aiding turn and bounce, Akila Dananjaya and Dilruwan Perera wreaked havoc to bundle South Africa out for just 124 in 34.5 overs at the Sinhalese Sports Club in Colombo.

The Sri Lankan spinners came out all guns firing in their defence of 338 after Keshav Maharaj returned 9/129 in the first innings, best returns for a South African since their readmission in Test cricket.

Dananjaya, playing just his third Test picked up 5/52 while Perera returned 4/40 as the visitors once again failed in their pursuit against spin.

A dejected Ottis Gibson, the South African coach, had some stern words after South Africa's unimpressive show with the bat.

"We haven't covered ourselves in glory with the bat especially," said Gibson after the second day's play. "We finished a couple of days early in Galle and had the opportunity to come here and get some solid practice.

"We have talked a lot but unfortunately we have not been able to implement those things that we have been talking about."

"They have bowled really well. They put the balls in the right places and our techniques haven't been good enough to stand up to such type. It has been relentless from them and we haven't had enough answers."

Sri Lanka needed just the three spinners to wrap up South Africa's batting with the SSC surface gripping and turning. In such a scenario, South Africa's ploy of going into the second Test with a lone spinner in Maharaj drew scrutiny from all ends, especially after the left-armer produced one of the best spells ever bowled by a visiting spinner in Sri Lanka.

"I knew I was getting that question and looking at where we are now I would say yes," chuckled Gibson on being asked whether not playing the extra spinner was a mistake.

"Our thought process was that these guys are good players of spin, have grown up playing it and to add another spinner was not going make that much of a difference."

That decision backfired massively for the visitors with Kagiso Rabada being the only pacer to manage a wicket on the surface out of the 23 wickets that have gone down so far.

"When we saw the surface here, it looked a lot abrasive than the one in Galle, so we thought it would reverse a lot more," explained Gibson. "Now, you think that maybe if you had more help from the other end it might have been different.

"But, that's the beauty of the game, you know. You have to make the decision then and there and it did not turn out to be the best decision."