Innings Sri Lanka 163 (Dickwella 74, Pretorius 3-19, Tahir 2-21) v South Africa
Live scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Sri Lanka crumbled around opener Niroshan Dickwella’s 74 © AFP
South Africa missed chances of both Sri Lanka openers and failed to take a wicket in the first ten overs, and yet, thanks to an abundance of errors from Sri Lanka’s batsmen, wound up needing only 164 to sew up the series.
There was discipline from South Africa’s bowlers – 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.
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 much 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.
The visitors were all out inside 40 overs – Dwayne Pretorious taking 3 for 19 with his accurate medium-pace after replacing Wayne Parnell in the XI, Tahir claiming 2 for 21 in 9.2 overs, and Kagiso Rabada getting two scalps as well. South Africa’s fielding was not as clinical 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.
Full report to follow
Andrew Fidel Fernando is ESPNcricinfo’s Sri Lanka correspondent. @andrewffernando
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Source: ESPN Crickinfo