South Africa can go top of the rankings if they win the remaining two games. While they still have five ODIs in New Zealand and three in England to play before the Champions Trophy begins in June, it would naturally be a welcome confidence boost if AB de Villiers’ side arrived at the tournament on top of the pile. De Villiers has highlighted the need to put teams away 5-0 as practice for big tournaments, when teams often need to win five straight games to lift the trophy.
To that end, South Africa have had “one eye on 5-0” throughout the series, according to JP Duminy, and have resisted any urge they may have had to rest players once the series was wrapped up. Much as was seen in the Test series, there is a clear sense of purpose about the Proteas as they chase a whitewash.
There were a couple of positive developments for Sri Lanka in Saturday’s bee-interrupted defeat. After plenty of promising starts, Niroshan Dickwella converted one into an attractive half-century. The next step is to turn one into three figures – or for two of Sri Lanka’s batsmen to produce on the same day. That is not something that has happened often on the tour.
The addition of Lahiru Kumara to the Sri Lankan attack also added some bite. Although he was wayward at times, it was refreshing to see the South African batsmen looking uncomfortable for a change. With their batsmen struggling, Sri Lanka’s best hope of winning a game may be to crack through South Africa’s top six early.
When: Tuesday, February 7. 13:30 local time, 17:00 IST.
Where: Newlands, Cape Town.
What to expect: The day before the game, the Newlands pitch looked a mixture of green grass and brown bald patches. However the grass was short and so the surface is unlikely to be as two-paced as that initial description suggests. There may well be a bit more pace in it compared to the standard Newlands wicket though. A cloudy start is expected to give way to a pleasant, if slightly windy, evening.
Team News
South Africa: With the series tied up, South Africa have ignored the opportunity to rest players ahead of the tour of New Zealand, for which they depart on Saturday. However they are likely to rotate their allrounders, so Wayne Parnell could come back into the side in place of Chris Morris. Wrist spinner Tabraiz Shamsi could also get his first game of the series at a venue that has traditionally helped the spinners.
Sri Lanka: The tourists have chopped and changed in the last two games in an effort to find the right balance for conditions. With Newlands expected to aid the spinners a bit more than the Wanderers, Chaturanga de Silva could come into the picture once again. Lahiru Madushanka and Dhananjaya de Silva, who has had a poor series with the bat, are possible omissions, depending on what combination the selectors fancy.
What they said:“The selectors need to identify the batsmen they are going to back. Once they do that, they need to stick with them at any cost. Batsmen like Kusal Mendis and Dhananjaya de Silva are young and you have to let them settle down and once they are exposed to these harsher realities they will be better off.” – Sri Lanka legend Aravinda de Silva, who is also head of their Cricket Committee.
“We don’t want to take anything for granted. We’ve definitely been on the other side of the coin. A year back, we were being criticised for the type of cricket we were playing. It’s good to be able to turn it around now and capitalise on some good form as a team.” – JP Duminy.
Did you know?– The last ODI at Newlands produced two of the four highest totals in the ground’s history. After South Africa had scored 327 for eight, Australia managed 296 all out on the back of a David Warner epic.- Niroshan Dickwella’s 74 at the Wanderers was Sri Lanka’s highest individual score in any format on this tour. They have now gone eight innings in all formats since they breached 200.- Sri Lanka have not played an ODI at Newlands since the 2003 World Cup, but their last ODI in the Western Cape did not go well. In the first ODI of their 2011/12 tour, South Africa scored 301 for eight before bowling Sri Lanka out for 43. That was in Paarl, which is about an hour’s drive from Newlands.- Quinton de Kock’s average in this series so far is 19.66. He has not averaged less than 60 in a home ODI series since the 2012/13 season.
South Africa: AB de Villiers (capt), Hashim Amla, Farhaan Behardien, Quinton de Kock, JP Duminy, Faf du Plessis, Imran Tahir, Chris Morris, Wayne Parnell, Andile Phehlukwayo, Dwaine Pretorius, Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi.
Sri Lanka: Upul Tharanga (capt), Dinesh Chandimal, Dhananjaya de Silva, Niroshan Dickwella, Lahiru Kumara, Lahiru Madushanka, Asela Gunaratne, Sandun Weerakkody, Nuwan Kulasekara, Suranga Lakmal, Kusal Mendis, Chaturanga de Silva, Sachith Pathirana, Lakshan Sandakan, Vikum Sanjaya, Jeffrey Vandersay.
