Sri Lanka 181 (Mendis 62, Tahir 3-26, Parnell 3-48) v Sri Lanka
Live scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Imran Tahir sliced through Sri Lanka’s middle order © Gallo Images/Getty Images
A masterclass of one-day legspin by Imran Tahir snuffed out Sri Lanka’s middle order as they limped to 181 in the opening match of the series in Port Elizabeth. Tahir finished with 3 for 26, including the scalp of top-scorer Kusal Mendis for 62, and did not concede a boundary in his 10 overs, to ensure South Africa never lost control of the innings after deciding to bowl first.
Wayne Parnell had made swift work of the openers before a stand of 72 for the third wicket between Mendis and Dinesh Chandimal steadied the innings although it was laborious progress against probing bowling for South Africa’s quartet of seamers. It meant that when Tahir made his inroads, with three wickets in 15 balls, Sri Lanka had little to show for the consolidation. Their only hope would appear to be that their pair of wrist spinners, Jeffrey Vandersay and Lakshan Sandakan, can have the same impact as Tahir.
AB de Villiers, who made his international return in the final T20, was back in charge of the one-day side in his first ODI since last June and he opted to give his formidable batting line-up a target to chase. South Africa’s squad for this series is probably not far from what they will take to the Champions Trophy, but some players are still in need of performances to cement their positions.
Chief among those is Parnell and he made the perfect start when he trapped Niroshan Dickwella lbw first ball. He soon followed that with the wicket of debutant Sandun Weerakkody, who had only arrived in the country yesterday after a delayed flight, when he had a waft outside off which smacked of jetlag.
Sri Lanka knew they had to avoid further early losses so caution was the watch-word for Chandimal although Mendis showed greater inclination to attack, twice taking two boundaries in an over off Parnell and Andile Phehlukwayo. Mendis was given lbw on 48 but the decision by Richard Kettleborough was overturned when replays showed an edge off his sweep and he reached his fifty from 74 balls.
But it wasn’t long before Tahir started to unpick the innings. Chandimal, who had taken 47 balls to find the boundary, was beautifully set up by a series of leg-breaks before Tahir tossed a googly wide which spun back between bat and pad. Two overs later he removed Mendis, lbw playing back to a delivery that spun enough to beat the outside edge, and this time the review brought no reprieve.
Upul Tharanga is captaining this side in Angelo Mathews’ absence and continued in the middle-order role he had in last year’s tri-series in Zimbabwe despite his 13 hundreds coming as an opener. He could not lift his side, however, when he drove limply to cover although Tahir deserves credit for switching his line to round the wicket.
Sri Lanka’s problems were compounded by a mix-up between Dhananjaya de Silva and Asela Gunaratne which saw the latter run out after a relay throw from the deep via Quinton de Kock to Parnell at the bowling end. Nuwan Kulasekara clubbed a couple of lusty shots, including the one six of the innings, before edging Kagiso Rabada and with nine overs remaining there was little choice but to try and see out the innings.
They failed by nine deliveries as Parnell and Chris Morris removed the final three wickets and from the start of the 43rd over they did not score more than one run off a delivery.
Andrew McGlashan is a deputy editor at ESPNcricinfo
© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
Source: ESPN Crickinfo