Toss Sri Lanka chose to bat v South Africa
Angelo Mathews, playing in his 100th ODI as captain, asked South Africa to chase in the opening ODI at Dambulla. The visitors last played at the venue 14 years ago, on a tour in August 2004, which was JP Duminy’s maiden international outing.
Duminy has a massive role to play, not just in this match, but in the post-AB de Villiers era, and leading into the World Cup. He will not occupy de Villiers’ No.3 spot, though, with Test opener Aiden Markram getting the opportunity to fill big shoes in the South African XI.
South Africa’s experience lies in a middle order of captain Faf du Plessis, Duminy and David Miller before young allrounders Wiaan Mulder and Andile Phehlukwayo. There are two other seamers in Kagiso Rabada and Lungi Ngidi, with Junior Dala made to wait his turn, but as they did in the second Test, South Africa have opted for only one specialist spinner. Tabraiz Shamsi was included ahead of Keshav Maharaj, with Duminy set to bowl as well.
Sri Lanka opted for three spinners, with Mathews expecting the surface to “dry up as a little as the day goes on”. Akila Dananjaya, South Africa’s Achilles’ heel from the Tests, was joined by Shehan Jayasuirya and Lakshan Sandakan. Their combination also had room for two seamers with Lahiru Kumara making his first appearance against South Africa on this tour.
Sri Lanka: 1 Upul Tharanga, 2 Kusal Perera, 3 Kusal Mendis, 4 Angelo Mathews (capt.), 5 Niroshan Dickwella (wk), 6 Thisara Perera, 7 Shehan Jayasuriya, 8 Akila Dananjaya, 9 Suranga Lakmal, 10 Lakshan Sandakan, 11 Lahiru Kumara
South Africa: 1 Quinton de Kock (wk), 2 Hashim Amla, 3 Aiden Markram, 4 Faf du Plessis (capt.), 5 JP Duminy, 6 David Miller, 7 Wiaan Mulder, 8 Andile Phehlukwayo, 9 Kagiso Rabada, 10 Tabraiz Shamsi, 11 Lungi Ngidi
Source: ESPN Crickinfo