CT 2017: Match 3, SL v SA – 5 Game Changing Moments

South Africa faced Sri Lanka in the first match of the Group B at Kennington Oval, London. Stand-in skipper Upul Tharanga won the toss and elected to field first. It was the Amla-Du Plessis show in the middle of South Africa as they stitched a mammoth partnership to bat the Asian side out of the game. However, due to some good bowling at the death and few ordinary shots from Proteas, Sri Lanka restricted SA to a total of 299.

JP Duminy and Chris Morris played a decent hand during the death to take the total towards the 300 mark. Upul Tharanga’s men would have been delighted to see the end result during the interval as they were staring at a target of about 350 at one point when Amla and Du Plessis were at the crease, and the likes of AB de Villiers, David Miller waiting to tee off.

After a good start powered by their openers Tharanga and Dickwella, Sri Lanka lost their way in the middle and eventually was bundled out for 203 within 42 overs. Imran Tahir bowled a dream spell as he effected four dismissals in the field, and thus, was adjudged as the man of the match. Let us look at the 5 game-changing moments in the game.

1. Hashim Amla and Faf du Plessis stand up to the occasion

When the doctor ordered, the two seniormost campaigners for South Africa rose to the occasion. Du Plessis walked in when South Africans were decently placed at 44-1 in the 13th over. Together with Hashim Amla, they stitched a partnership which took the game away from the Sri Lankans. They put on 145 runs in just 129 balls to lay a solid foundation for the explosive middle order of South Africa. Amla scored his 25th ODI ton in the process, while Du Plessis scored a quickfire 75 off 70 balls, to change the momentum of the innings.

2. Fall of wickets during the business end

South Africans were eyeing a score of above 350 by the end of the 33rd over. Du Plessis and Amla were batting brilliantly as they took the Protean score to 189 with as many as 9 wickets in hand. But it all changed after the wicket of Du Plessis. South Africa could only manage a total of 299 by losing 5 wickets during the last stage of the innings. AB de Villiers and David Miller failed to accelerate and gave away their wicket. Duminy and M0rris contributed by scoring a few in the death but were 30-40 runs shy of the expected total.

3. AB de Villiers electric fielding

AB de Villiers missed out with the bat but was exceptional in the field as he affected two dismissals on his own. He plucked a brilliant catch off the bowling of Tahir to dismiss the backbone of Sri Lankan batting, Kusal Mendis. De Villiers further dismissed Dinesh Chandimal by a superhuman effort.

Dinesh Chandimal tried to steal a single towards mid-on but De Villiers intersected the ball haphazardly. Chandimal’s error of judgement cost him his wicket as De Villiers tumbled down, grabbed hold of the ball and flicked it towards the stump for a direct hit, all in one motion.

4. Imran Tahir spell

One might have thought that Sri Lanka would easily chase down the total set by South Africans before Imran Tahir was introduced into the attack. In his eight overs, he only conceded 27 runs in his eight overs and picked up 3 important wickets to create havoc in the dressing room. He quickly removed the dangerous looking Upul Tharanga and followed it up with the wicket of Mr. dependable of Sri Lanka Kusal Mendis and effected the run-out Lakmal.

5. Batting collapse

Sri Lankans were cruising at 94-1 with the contribution of their openers, Tharanga and Dickwella. Except for Kusal Perera, none of the batsmen were able to put up a decent contribution and the Sri Lankans were bundled out within the 42nd over due to the collapse. A lot was expected out of the likes of Mendis, Kapudegara, Chandimal and Gunaratne, but they all failed to contribute collectively and offer support to Perera who played a lone hand in the end.