Sri Lanka 119 for 7 (Mathews 54*, Ngidi 4-16) beat South Africa113 (Sandakan 4-23, Udara 3-13) by three wickets
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Angelo Mathews held Sri Lanka’s chase together with an unbeaten 54 © AFP
It has taken almost a month but Sri Lanka were finally made to feel welcome in South Africa on an unusually cracked, dry Wanderers surface and they made themselves completely at home. They earned their first win on the tour and leveled the three-match series by bowling South Africa out for their third-lowest score in a T20, lowest against Sri Lanka and lowest in Johannesburg but at a great cost.
Angelo Mathews twisted his ankle with seven balls to go in the chase and expects to be out for a “couple of weeks”. He could not run between the wickets at the end, but saw Sri Lanka to victory with two last-over sixes. Mathews joins an injury list that already includes Nuwan Pradeep, who will return home with a hand fracture, and Danushka Gunathilaka, who has not played a match because of a back concern.
But those concerns were for later. Mathews’ unbeaten half-century topped off a day when he was rewarded for just about every bowling change and, for the first time on the tour, looked a man properly in charge of those under his command.
More to follow…
Firdose Moonda is ESPNcricinfo’s South Africa correspondent
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Source: ESPN Crickinfo