Pretorius, De Villiers sew up series for South Africa

South Africa 164 for 3 (De Villiers 60, Amla 34) beat Sri Lanka 163 (Dickwella 74, Pretorius 3-19, Tahir 2-21) by seven wickets
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

Sri Lanka crumbled around opener Niroshan Dickwella’s 74 © AFP

Another day on tour, another collapse – Sri Lanka sank from 60 for no loss to 163 all out at the Wanderers, mis-hitting short balls, hanging their bats out to give catches behind the wicket, and in general committing the same batting mistakes that will have become familiar to their fans during the past six weeks. Of their diminutive target, South Africa made short work. AB de Villiers produced a clinical 60 not out to bring his team home in 32 overs, seven wickets in hand.

The hosts were far from their best in their pink gear, dropping catches and attempting needless runs, but they did not need to be at their best. They have won the series now. The two remaining games are dead rubbers.

The hosts’ bowlers were disciplined – Imran Tahir miserly and menacing in equal measure, as usual – but there was little in the surface to warrant Sri Lanka’s loss of 10 wickets for 103 runs. A little extra bounce – hardly a surprise at the Wanderers – was responsible for the wickets of Upul Tharanga, Niroshan Dickwella, Asela Gunaratne and Suranga Lakmal. Kusal Mendis and Dhananjaya de Silva were caught behind. Sachith Pathirana left a stock legbreak which turned to hit his off stump. Such was the quality of their batting.

If it wasn’t for a 65-minute delay due to the arrival of a swarm of bees, Sri Lanka’s innings would have been even shorter. Plenty noted that the bees had spent more time in the middle than most batsmen. Only Dickwella resisted for any notable length of time, his 74 studded with spunky square-of-the-wicket shots – usually timed impeccably. Of his teammates only three others made more than five, and only Tharanga breached 20.

It was Dwayne Pretorius, playing in his fourth ODI after replacing Wayne Parnell in the XI, who took the game’s best figures of 3 for 19. He was tight with the new ball, and although not especially quick, was accurate with his variations. Tahir claimed 2 for 21 in 9.2 overs, and Kagiso Rabada got two scalps as well. South Africa’s fielding was not as effective as usual, but in his 100th ODI, Faf du Plessis nevertheless managed to complete his third spectacular one-handed grab of the series, when he sprang horizontally from second slip to intercept an edge from debutant Lahiru Madushanka.

Though the scorecard will suggest Sri Lanka squandered a good foundation – the openers having made 60 together – in truth, their start was inauspicious. The first boundary came off a Dickwella top edge, and Tharanga was dropped on 11 soon after – the one-handed grab at second slip too tough for du Plessis, for once.

Full report to follow

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Source: ESPN Crickinfo