Sri Lanka 5-320 (Kumar Sangakkara 169, Upul Tharanga 43, Morne Morkel 2-34) beat South Africa 140 (Alviro Petersen 29, Robin Petersen 29, Rangana Herath 3-25, Thisara Perera 3-31) by 180 runs.

A scintillating batting by Kumar Sangakkara followed by the deadly bowling of the Sri Lankan bowlers bulldozed South Africa with a huge margin in the 1^st ODI.

The Lankan Lions hammered 320 runs for the loss of just five wickets in the allocated 50 overs and the Proteas were bowled out for 140 mere runs with 18.1 overs to spare.

Kumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka) was announced ‘Player of the match’ for his attacking knock of 169 off just 137 balls.

The first One Day International of the five match series was played on Saturday, July 20, 2013, at R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo.

Earlier, AB de Villiers, the skipper of South Africa, won the toss and invited the hosts to bat first. Tillakaratne Dilsahan departed early at 23 for 10 runs and Kumar Sangakkara along with Upul Tharanga took the score to 50 after 10 overs. The latter was the most aggressive of the two and hit 7 fours until the 20^th over as the score touched 93. Tharanga lost his wicket in the next over for 43 and was replaced by the seasoned Mahela Jayawardene who opted to attack by hitting regular boundaries.

Kumar Sangakkara dispatched his second six in the 28^th over and went past his fifty in the following one. The third wicket fell at 167 in 33.4 overs when Jayawardene was caught by Colin Ingram at deep midwicket off Morne Morkel for 42. Lahiru Thirimanne walked in next while Kumar Sangakkara punished Chris Morris for 19 runs in the 39^th over with 1 six and 3 fours. He rushed to his 16^th ODI century with a four and kept on showering the boundaries briskly. Lahiru Thirimanne was gone for 17 and Kumar Sangakkara became the next victim for 169 off 137 deliveries comprising 6 towering sixes and 18 fours. The Islanders rushed to 320 with five wickets in hand after 50 overs.

Morne Morkel was the top wicket taker with two whereas Chris Morrris, Ryan McLaren and Aaron Phangiso held one wicket each.

Colin Ingram was clean bowled with an inswinging  yorker off Lasith Malinga on the very first ball of the innings. Jean-Paul Duminy got together with Alviro Petersen and they hit 3 fours before the latter was caught behind by Sangakkara off Shaminda Eranga for 15. AB de Villiers walked in next and was dropped at five by Eranga off his own bowling whereas Petersen kept on creeping at his end. The batsmen sent the loose ball out of the ropes at will and enhanced the score to 73 in 11.3 overs when the stumps of de Villiers were broken by Rangana Herath for 23.

Petersen went back to the dressing room two runs later for 29 and Faf du Plessis surrendered for just four runs. The rival bowlers took charge of the situation and the wickets fell like ninepins. Robin Petersen was the other batsmen who defended well by scoring 29 runs as the entire innings of the Proteas was folded back for 140 in 31.5 overs.

Thisara Perera and Rangana Herath were the chief wicket takers with three each, Tillakaratne Dilshan got two whereas Lasith Malinga and Shaminda Eranga shared one wicket each.

Sri Lanka grabbed the first One Day International with a vast margin of 180 runs and leads the five game series 1-0.  The second match will be played at the same venue on July 23, 2013.