Repeat, this is not a repeat

If you are a Sri Lanka fan, perhaps you watched the second day's play at Newlands and thought: "Wait, I've seen this exact thing before. Has my brain become stuck in a loop? Could it be I am going insane?"

Well, great news, friend. Sri Lanka did, in fact, end the second day of another Test with virtually no hope of winning, drawing or avoiding humiliation. Be reassured this actually happened on this day - January 3, 2017. There is nothing particularly the matter with you.

It is possible, for instance, that through the third session of day one and during the second morning, you felt your mind was replaying last year's Headingley Test. But see, on that occasion, Sri Lanka had the opposition 83 for 5 before allowing the lower-middle order to lavishly flagellate them. This time it was South Africa, and they were 169 for 5 before eventually making 392.

Sure, this Sri Lanka bowling effort might have left you with the same sorts of feelings. You might think it is a bit like watching a good foundation being laid down on your house only to find the builders have nailed themselves to dry wall and encased their own heads in cement when you return the next day. But it was the strange tactics to Quinton de Kock and Keshav Maharaj that did it this time. On those other occasions - remember? - it was dropped catches and bad bowling to Jonny Bairstow, or BJ Watling, or Moeen Ali.

And as the bottom half of an opposition innings smeared Sri Lanka around the ground yet again, what of the bad reviewing? In the 88th over, on Monday evening, it was de Kock that they wasted an lbw referral on - the ball hitting the upper part of de Kock's thigh guard, and going down the leg side, as well as over the stumps. You are not just reimagining the comical ineptitude of Mathew's reviewing on day two at Chester-le-Street last year. It just may be that he has entered some sort of competition with himself.

This is all before we even get to the batting collapse, which, if you are unaware, is a genre that plenty of teams are steadily perfecting on foreign excursions. When the openers were dismissed by short deliveries at Newlands, you could be forgiven for thinking you were watching replays of the Hamilton Test, where all ten wickets fell that way. But if you looked closely, this collapse was actually a pastiche of past performances. There were nicks from England and New Zealand, and the process of getting tied down, then being dismissed by spin, which was a feature of 2015's home series against Pakistan and India as well.

Lahiru Kumara, in his third Test, was maybe the only batsman who added something fresh and original to this innings, by shouldering arms to a ball that took out the top of his leg stump. Still, having bowled with intensity to complete his six-wicket haul in the morning, then realising that Sri Lanka fast bowlers can never bank on recovery time, you can understand why this happened, can't you? It is understandable that all he wanted to do was leave.

Sri Lanka is three-and-a-half hours ahead of Cape Town. Perhaps you watched the morning session, left for dinner, played a sport, spent time with family, read a book, watched a movie, and thought to check back with the cricket, to cap off the day. South Africa were batting when you had last watched. Now, already, they are batting again.

This is not the highlights they are playing. It is not a rain break. This is just what it's like to watch Sri Lanka overseas. You are not going insane.