Twitter Reactions: Clinical South Africa seal the series
Dhananjaya de Silva tried to make a meal out of the chase with his 84-run knock but it was too late for the hosts.
South Africa have sealed the ongoing five-match ODI series against Sri Lanka with two more matches to go. The visitors were once again clinical in their approach and didn’t give any chance to their opponents to make a comeback in the contest. The hosts are left with more questions to ponder over with the World Cup only 11 months away now. They lost the game comfortably by 85 runs and the full house at Pallekele had to go disappointed once again.
Sri Lanka won the toss and opted to bowl first on a placid track which looked a graveyard for the bowlers as the visitors dropped Aiden Markam and handed over a debut to Reeza Hendricks. He immediately responded and batted superbly at number 3. He came in at the fall of Quinton de Kock‘s wicket who scored only a couple of wickets and bossed the game from the word go.
Hashim Amla also found his groove as he smashed a half-century. But Thisara Perera castled him with a brilliant delivery even as Faf du Plessis failed to deliver today. At 137/3 in the 23rd over, Sri Lanka hoped to pick a few more wickets and restrict the visitors to a below par score. But the duo of Hendricks and JP Duminy didn’t give them the chance. The former smashed a ton on his debut but failed to carry on.
Duminy took the charge of the innings then and scored a stroke-filled 92-run knock. Even David Miller had some fun in the death overs while Andile Phehlukwayo’s 11-ball-24 helped South Africa go past 350. In the end, they posted a mammoth total of 363 runs for the loss of 7 wickets in 50 overs.
De Silva stars in the chase but in vain
Sri Lanka needed one of the top order batsmen to play a big knock to gun down such a total. But their poor form continued for the third successive game and the visitors pounced on. The likes of Niroshan Dickwella, Upul Tharanga, Kusal Perera, Thisara Perera failed and they were reduced to 81/4 within 12 overs in the chase. Angelo Mathews and Kusal Mendis tried to rebuild the innings but the required rate was always soaring.
They succumbed to the pressure and soon they crumbled to 155/6 in the 27th over. Then began the fightback from Dhananjaya de Silva and Akila Dananjaya who added 95 runs in less than 13 overs. The former was exceptional in his approach as he took calculative risks and his partner played a sort of second fiddle to him.
They had kept the team alive somehow in the chase but it was only a matter of time when they would get out. Akil was dismissed for an impressive 37 and then his partner followed soon on 84 to end the competition in the game. Eventually, they were bundled out for 285 in the 46th over. Lungi Ngidi picked 4 wickets and the other bowlers also chipped in when it mattered the most.
South Africa have won the series now and would be looking to test their bench strength for the rest of the series. They would also be looking to whitewash the hosts and pile on the agony for them.
Here’s how Twitter reacted during the course of the game:
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