South Africa 6-145 (David Miller 36, Jean-Paul Duminy 30, Sachithra Senanayake 2-18) beat Sri Lanka 7-123 (Kumar Sangakkara 39, Thisara Perera 22*, Lonwabo Tsotsobe 2-17) by 22 runs.
South Africa continued their dominance vs. Sri Lanka in the shortest version of the game by grabbing successive T20 and won the series with one game to follow.
The Proteas smashed 145 runs for the loss of six wickets in the allotted 20 overs and the Islanders were restricted to 123 with three wickets in hand.
David Miller (South Africa) was declared ‘Player of the match’ for his express innings of 36 from 21 balls.
The third Twenty20 of the three match series was played on Sunday, August 4, 2013, at Mahinda Rajapaksa International Cricket Stadium, Sooriyawewa, Hambantota.
Earlier, AB de Villiers, the captain of South Africa, won the toss and elected to bat first. They lost the first wicket at 11 when Faf du Plessis and Quinton de Kock tried to put things in order. The later hit 3 fours in the coming overs and du Plessis got the first six of the innings in the seventh over. Quinton de Kock was gone in the next over for 19 as Faf du Plessis was clean bowled by Lasith Malinga for 12. Jean-Paul Duminy and AB de Villiers got together as the first added 14 runs in the 12th over with a couple of fours.
AB de Villiers ran himself out for 15 and was replaced by David Miller whereas Duminy departed next for 30 off 23 balls with 3 fours. Miller played a brisk knock of 36 from 21 with 1 six and 2 fours while the Proteas piled up 145 with four wickets in hand at the end of the 20th over.
Nuwan Kulasekara and Sachithra Senanayake were the main wicket takers with two wickets each as Lasith Malinga got one scalp.
Mahela Jayawardene was caught behind by de Kock off Lonwabo Tsotsobe for six runs and their skipper, Dinesh Chandimal, was gone in an identical fashion for just two. Kumar Sangakkara joined in with the opener Kusal Perera who was scoring most of the runs. The first dispatched three back to back fours in the sixth over and the score was taken to 48 in 8.2 overs as Perera was declared leg before wicket off Imran Tahir for 21. Lahiru Thirimanne walked in next and tried to push the scoring rate with his partner. The score was enhanced to 85 after 13.5 overs when the stumps of Thirimanne were broken by Wayne Parnell for 18.
Kumar Sangakkara became the sixth victim as the total touched 90 at his personal contribution of 39 off 35 deliveries with 4 fours. The rival bowlers took over from there and the batsmen found it hard to score the runs freely. Thisara Perera was the only other batsman who scored few runs by posting unbeaten 22 off 20 with 2 fours as the home side managed 7-123 in 20 overs.
Lonwabo Tsotsobe and Morne Morkel impressed with the ball by taking two wickets each whereas Wayne Parnell, David Wiese and Imran Tahir chipped in with one wicket each.
South Africa clinched the match with a reasonable margin of 22 runs and leads the three game series 2-0. The third and final Twenty20 will be staged at the same venue on August 6, 2013.
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