South Africa registered their 1st ever ODI series win over Sri Lanka at their own den when the visitors won the 3rd and final ODI comprehensively by 82 runs at Hambanthota on Saturday.
The South Africans put up a superlative batting performance which saw opener Quinton de Kock get to his fourth hundred in six matches and skipper AB de Villiers‘s quick-fire 108 set the hosts a massive target of 340 runs to chase.
The visiting skipper AB De Villiers won the toss of coin and decided to bat first in this series decider. Seamer Nuwan Kulasekara was left out with left-arm spinner Rangana Herath being brought in for the hosts. South Africa made one change to their team with Wayne Parnell replacing Vernon Philander who had picked up a stomach illness.
With the heavy breeze blowing across the ground throughout the match, Sri Lanka opted to start bowling with a spinner on a dry surface. The South African openers got off to a flying start as they punished the Lankan bowling attack with ease. An opening stand of 118 runs by Hashim Amla and Quinton de Kock laid the groundwork for the Proteas to post their highest ever total in Sri Lanka of 339 for 5 wickets in their allotted 50 overs.
South Africa lost Amla and out-of-form Kallis when they took the batting power play prematurely in the 22nd over. The batting power play brought in only 17 runs for the hosts as Sri Lanka took 2 important wickets thanks to some exemplary bowling by Rangana Herath.
Captain AB De Villiers joined De Kock when the score was on 132/2 in 25.3 overs. The pair put on 116 runs in 91 balls to demolish the Lankan bowling attack. De Kock showed maturity beyond his years, stroking an exquisite century before being removed for 128 – the highest individual score ever for a South African against Sri Lanka in ODIs. Skipper AB de Villiers was at his swashbuckling best, blasting 108 off 71 balls and displaying his full repertoire of improvised and inventive shots, guiding South Africa to their formidable innings total. Lasith Malinga was far from his best as he went over 8 runs per over without taking a wicket while Rangana Herath was the only Sri Lankan bowler to go beyond 6 runs per over as the Proteas over-powered the hosts.
Sri Lankan cricketer Rangana Herath (L) celebrates with teammates after dismissing South African cricketer Jacques Kallis
Sri Lanka was chasing a record 340 runs as more than 300 runs have never been chased in this beautiful island. Sri Lanka, in the beginning of their chase, got to a flying start courtesy Kusal Janith Perera who in Sanath Jayasuriya style was only looking to smash the ball all around. The fifty was brought up in just the fifth over and the hosts were running away with it. South Africa was searching for answers at this stage and needed wickets to get back in the game.
Wayne Parnell deceived Perera with a slow delivery which Perera holed out to De Villiers at mid-off for a quick-fire 37 but the Proteas could not stem the leakage of runs. Old warhorses Kumar Sangakkara and Tillakaratne Dilshan went after the bowling and Sri Lanka were on track to chase the target down.
TM Dilshan was unfortunately run-out for 30 as miscommunication crept in between him and Sangakkara in the 12th over. Sangakkara’s blazing knock of 36 runs in 23 balls with a flurry of boundaries came to an end when Ryan McLaren used the short ball to great effect as the Lankan batting superstar fell as the same way he did in the 2nd ODI against Morne Morkel.
Mahela Jayawardene, for the third time in series became the victim of Imran Tahir as the number 4 batsman swept straight to the hands of Dale Steyn in the 14th over which completed a sequence of three wickets for just six runs as the momentum swung back in South Africa’s favour.
Skipper Angelo Mathews and Lahiru Thirimanne tried rebuilding the innings but they struggled to get quick runs and the run rate was mounting. Mathews in particular had a torrid initial phase and chewed up a lot of deliveries in the middle overs. Thirimanne fell to a brilliant ball by JP Duminy.
Mathews then shrug off his struggles and led a valiant fight back with a fighting fifty. With Ashan Priyanjan at the other end, the hosts still had an outside chance of pulling off a spectacular win. However a Morne Morkel show put the contest to bed. First, the lanky pacer pulled off a blinder of a catch at short fine-leg putting his long reach to good effect to send Mathews packing for a well-made 58 runs. Morkel then went on to clean up the tail with back-to-back wickets of Senanayake and Herath and South Africa subsequently went on to restore some parity to their wretched record in the island nation beating the hosts by 82 runs and claiming the ODI series 2-1.
Ryan McLaren was the pick of the South African bowlers, ending with figures of 3/37 in 9 overs which gave him 9 wickets in the series. Imran Tahir took an outstanding 1/29 in his 10 overs, and the six that Mathews struck off him was the first boundary he had conceded in the last two matches.
At the post-match presentation, Mathews expressed his disappointment; “We don’t deserve to win the way we played today. We were flat on the field, let go of a few catches and didn’t play well. It was a depressing performance. “
Quinton De Kock was named Man of the Match for his batting exploits, while Amla was named the player of the series for his two centuries and an aggregate of 258 runs in 3 games with an average of 86.
Brief Scores
South Africa : 339-5 (50/50 overs)
Sri Lanka : 257 (44.3/50 overs)
South Africa won by 82 runs
Man of the match: AB de Villiers
Player of the series: HM Amla
South Africa lead the 3-match series 2-1
Full Scorecard
