'Trust your defence' – Faf du Plessis urges his batsmen

The South African batsmen collapsed twice in the opening Test of the two-match series in Galle, bowled out for 126 and 73. Now, as they try to square the series in the second Test in Colombo, du Plessis wants them to “trust your defence”.

"I don't think we are a team that plays spin badly," du Plessis insisted on the eve of the game. "It is not something that we mentally struggle with.

“In the second innings, there was a carelessness about our batting, which doesn’t go well in Test cricket.

"The thing that let us down in the first Test was that we didn't trust our defence well enough. The important part of playing spin in Test cricket is trusting your defence.

“And obviously at times put the spinner under pressure by having clear game plans about what you’re trying to do. The guys worked really hard on their game plans and try to be positive against spin – which is an element of playing spinners well. But you have to also trust your defence as well – so that's two parts."

The South African captain again pointed to Dimuth Karunaratne, the Sri Lankan opener, who outscored their whole visiting team by 19 runs, as someone to emulate.

He didn’t take too many risks, simply playing with good defence, said du Plessis. “As a captain, I wanted him to take risks but he didn't take a lot of risks. He only started hitting the ball on the air when he was something like 80," he added.

“You don't get to the subcontinent and score 100 in 70 balls or so – you score 100 off 180 balls. You have to earn the right to do well. That is the only difference that we look to make – still being positive in your game plan, but making sure that if there’s good balls being bowled, you trust your defence a bit better."

The visitors, who have a proud record away from home, are keen to come back stronger. Unlike in 2014, when they won the series, they know that the best they can expect this time is a draw, but they'll still take that.

“It is never easy winning away from home," said du Plessis. "But when you come to the sub-continent, drawing a series is as good as winning 3-0 at home."