It was all in a day’s work for Proteas fast bowler Anrich Nortje, who improved his career best to six wickets for 56 on the first day of the second Test against Sri Lanka at the Wanderers in Johannesburg on Sunday.
Nortje’s previous figures were five for 110 against England at the same Johannesburg venue.
The 27-year-old Nortje was destroyer-in-chief as the Proteas restricted the Sri Lankans to 157 all out in their first innings.
‘‘Obviously, we would like to do something different. I’m very happy with the results. It was great to kick the year like we did. I think we did a good job,’’ Nortje said.
Nortje struck a good bowling partnership with allrounder Wiaam Mulder, who took three wickets for 25 runs from seven overs.
‘‘I think he bowled really well. Credit to Wiaam, he bowled really well,’’ Nortje said.
‘‘We tried to keep things as simple as possible. We were not trying to do a miracle and go out and bowl. I think at Centurion we were a little bit too wide at times. Coming in to this game we wanted to keep it tight.’’
Nortje took one wicket for 88 in 22 overs in Sri Lanka’s first innings in the first Test played in Centurion. And then went on to bag two wickets for 47 in 10.1 overs in the second innings.
