Lakmal's unlikely headline act changes the script

Suranga Lakmal is no one's idea of a fearsome fast bowler. At first look, he seems to consist only of limbs. Instead of a mean 80s quick's handlebar moustache, he has a 90s R'n'B artists' soul patch and goatee. His approach to the crease isn't the efficient, menacing advance of an athlete - it's more like he's chasing a robber who has taken bananas from his corner shop.

The bowling stride isn't especially powerful. He wobbles the ball more than seams it. And when Sri Lanka have a long day in the field, Lakmal unfairly becomes the poster boy for everything that is wrong with the seam attack. If he comes back the next day and takes wickets, he ceases to be talked about completely.

Come with me, for instance, on a trip through Lakmal's Test figures. On his resume are returns like 3 for 90 at Lord's, or 3 for 71 in Wellington, or 1 for 54 against Australia at the SSC. Does anybody remember these outings? Does anybody look through a Sri Lanka scorecard specifically to see how well Lakmal did? When he bowls those long, tough, miserly spells at home just so a spinner can attack at the other end, even he seems not to really think about himself.

Yet in he came, after lunch at Port Elizabeth, from the Duck Pond end, bony elbows flapping, knobbly knees covered by already-soiled trousers, getting through that uninspired action, and suddenly, incredibly, finding real, observable - even sinister - swing. The third ball of his tenth over was bolt straight for most of its journey, like any one of five million other Lakmal deliveries, until about three-quarters of the way down, it careened towards the slips and took Stephen Cook's wicket with it. To get Dean Elgar, Lakmal went wider and shimmied the ball away again to glean another edge.

Here was a strictly medium-quality bowler delivering a high quality spell away from home. Some of his overs even remained in the memory after the next one had begun. In his six overs immediately after lunch, Lakmal claimed 2 for 11 and made the cricket world - however briefly - take notice. The cricket world of course immediately began making jokes about his haircut on Twitter, but at least, for the first time in a long time, the jokes were about him.

The post-tea spell was maybe even more impressive, because the ball was older, and following a tentative start, Hashim Amla had dug himself in. Lakmal's dots, however, eventually began to wear the batsman down, then Lakmal eventually drew the edge. At least in modes of dismissal, he remained true to his humdrum reputation - all four of his wickets were catches to Dinesh Chandimal. They were all the result of balls that moved away. Perhaps someday he will knock bits of helmets into stumps, and keep top orders awake at night in fear of his bowling, but for now, that they are thinking about him at all is a victory. In previous series, opposition batsmen might have watched some soothing Lakmal spells to help themselves fall asleep.

"Suranga is our our senior fast bowler, and he has been around for some time, so he's capable of giving us that control," Kaushal Silva said of Lakmal's bowling after play. "He struck to his plans and bowled a good line and length. He deserves those wickets."

Deserve them he did, but the only snag in Lakmal having produced his best performance here, is that not many spectators were in the ground to see it - St George's Park less than half-full on Boxing Day. Presumably in response, the ICC officials went as far as to ask the stadium's brass band to pipe down, because of course, no spectator likes fun, or music, and would instead prefer the on-field umpires clearly hear nicks. The ICC has of course recently stated it would like cricket to surpass football and become the world's most popular sport, and if these sorts of measures are persisted with, it is difficult to see football withstanding cricket's onslaught much longer.

It is a shame if the rest of the match is poorly attended, because already, it has thrown up a surprise. Few would have expected the visitors to be better-placed at the end of the first day, after they had lost the toss. Rangana Herath has already imposed himself on the match, and if Sri Lanka can stay in touch with South Africa in the first innings, there is a chance he can tear the game open on day three and four.

For now, though, it is Lakmal who has the headlines, and even he might reflect, that feels a little strange.