Sri Lanka 4-307 (Tillakaratne Dilshan 99, Kumar Sangakkara 75*, Lahiru Thirimanne 68, Ryan McLaren 1-47) beat South Africa 179 (AB de Villiers 51, Ryan McLaren 29, Suranga Lakmal 3-24, Ajantha Mendis 3-36) by 128 runs.

A consecutive all round performance from Tillakaratne Dilshan , well assisted by Kumar Sangakkara, and a  deadly bowing  by the Islanders drowned Proteas again.

The Lankan Lions amassed 307 runs for the loss of just four wickets in the allocated 50 overs and the Proteas were bowled out for 179 with 37 balls still available.

Tillakaratne Dilshan (Sri Lanka) was declared ‘Player of the match’ for his excellent performance with the bat and ball in the game.

Kumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka) was announced ‘Player of the series’ for his outstanding batting. He was the top scorer by piling up 372 runs in the series at an awesome average of 93.00 with 1 hundred and 2 fifties.

The fifth and final One Day International of the series was played on Wednesday, July 31, 2013, at R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo.

Earlier, Angelo Mathews, the skipper of the Lankan Lions won the toss and opted to bat at a nice looking strip. The first wicket was lost at 13 as Tillakaratne Dilshan and Lahiru Thirimanne steadied the innings. They took their time to settle down and scored just 69 runs in 18 overs while the latter hit the first six of the innings in the next one. Dilshan attained his 30^th ODI fifty in the 25^th over and Thirimanne followed him by attaining his sixth half century in the next one. The second wicket association was enhanced to 176 in 33.4 overs when Lahiru Thirimanne was gone for 68 off 93 balls with 1 six and 6 fours , he was replaced by Kumar Sangakkara.

The second hundred of the innings appeared on board in the 38^th over with 3 fours from Sangakkara. Tillakaratne Dilshan was unluckily clean bowled by Ryan McLaren for 99 off 110 deliveries with 13 fours and his partner continued with his smooth batting. Kumar Sangakkara posted his 79^th ODI half century in the 47^th over and remained unbeaten for 75 off just 45 balls with 12 fours. Angelo Mathews contributed 23 runs as the home side hammered 307 with six wickets remaining in 50 overs.

Morne Morkel, Lonwabo Tsotsobe, Ryan McLaren and Aaron Phangiso were the only successful bowlers with one wicket each.

Quinton de Kock along with Hashim Amla started the chase reasonably well for South Africa by scoring 32 runs in just five overs. The partnership was broken in the next over when the stumps of Quinton de Kock were dislodged by Sachithra Senanayake for 27 off 21 with 5 fours. Jean-Paul Duminy joined in next with Amla and they added 14 runs in the 9^th over with 3 fours. Hashim Amla was declared leg before wicket off Senanayake for 18 as the total touched 60 in 9.5 overs. Duminy followed him one run later for 15 as the home bowlers ripped through the middle order batting of the visitors and were reeling at 6-85 after 19.5 overs.

The captain of the Proteas, AB de Villiers, and Ryan McLaren tried to hold the assault of the rival bowers. They found it hard to score runs at will and got the next boundary in the 25^th over whereas de Villiers registered the only six of the Proteas innings in the 26^th one. The batsmen accumulated 10 runs in the 30^th over and crawled to 137 after the 32^nd over. AB de Villiers was caught by Mathews off Ajantha Mendis after scoring his 34^th ODI fifty for 51 from even balls with 1 six and 5 fours. The entire South African side was sent back to the pavilion for 179 in 43.5 overs.

Suranga Lakmal and Ajantha Mendis were the top wicket takers with three wickets each, Sachithra Senanayake held two whereas Tillakaratne Dilshan and Thisara Perera shared one wicket each.

Sri Lanka triumphed in the encounter with a hefty margin of 128 runs and clinched the series 4-1.