South Africa 7-223 (David Miller 85*, AB de Villiers 47, Ajantha Mendis 3-35) beat Sri Lanka 167 (Thisara Perera 65, Dinesh Chandimal 29, Lonwabo Tsotsobe 4-22) by 56 runs.
A charismatic batting from the adventurous, David Miller, and a hostile bowling spell from Lonwabo Tsotsobe put South Africa on top as they defeated Sri Lanka.
The Proteas smashed 223 runs for the loss of seven wickets in the allocated 50 overs and the Islanders surrendered at 167 with 6.4 overs to spare.
David Miller (South Africa) was declared ‘Player of the match’ for his dashing unbeaten 85 runs off just 72 balls.
The third One Day International of the five match series was played on Friday, July 26, 2013, at Pallekele International Cricket Stadium.
AB de Villiers won the toss for the visitors and preferred to bat first but they lost the first wicket at 14. Quinton de Kock and Jean-Paul Duminy took the score to 33 in 10 overs with 2 fours, each of them. The second wicket fell at 50 when de Kock was gone for 20 and Duminy followed him three runs later for 23. AB de Villiers and Faf du Plessis found it hard to push the score rate as the first got one four in the 20th over. Faf du Plessis tasted his boundary four overs later and they crept to 95 after 26.5 overs when he was run out for 16 runs. The visitors were in a mess at 5-100 as David Miller got together with de Villiers.
The run rate was kept under check by the Lankan Lion bowlers and AB de Villiers became the sixth victim at 148 in 39.3 overs at his personal score of 47 off 72 balls with 3 fours. Robin Petersen lost his wicket for three runs and was replaced by Ryan McLaren. David Miller took over from thereon, he scored most of the runs and reached his fifth ODI fifty in the 48th over. McLaren secured his end while Miller dispatched 3 towering sixes and 2 fours in the last two overs. The latter remained unbeaten for 85 off 72 comprising 5 huge sixes and 4 fours as South Africa scored 7-223 in 50 overs.
Ajantha Mendis was the chief wicket taker with three, Thisara Perera held two whereas Lasith Malinga got one wicket.
Sri Lanka had a miserable start as the Proteas speedster, Lonwabo Tsotsobe, ripped through their top order batting and the home side was reeling at 3-16 in 7.1 overs. Mahela Jayawardene and Dinseh Chandimal tried to stop the aggressive bowling while applying them at the crease. Chandimal hit a couple of fours in the 12th over as Jayawardene was unable to score any boundary before he was clean bowled by Robin Peterson for 24 runs. Chandimal was caught behind by Quinton de Kock off Ryan McLaren for 29 and his skipper Angelo Mathews scored 14 runs.
The home side was in a dismal position at 7-93 in 30.5 overs when Thisara Perera opted to swing his willow. He crushed Peterson in the 33rd over for 5 mighty sixes along with 1 four and rushed to his second ODI half century with another 2 fours in the 37th one. Perera was finally dismissed for 65 off 49 mere balls with 5 giant sixes and even fours as the innings of the entire team of the Islanders was squeezed for 167 in 43.2 overs.
Lonwabo Tsotsobe was the star of the day with four wickets, Farhaan Behardien chipped in with three whereas Ryan McLaren, Robin Peterson and Jean-Paul Duminy shared one wicket each.
South Africa came back in the series by winning the encounter with a margin of 56 runs and Sri Lanka still leads the series 2-1.
Leave a Reply