Hello and welcome to CricketCountry’s live cricket scores and updates of the second game of the three-match T20I series between South Africa and Sri Lanka. After being thrashed in the longer format, Sri Lanka were eager to grasp their first win of the tour and turn the tides in the shortest format. However, a new-look South African, side under the leadership of Farhaan Behardien, pipped them in the first T20I at Centurion. In a rain-curtailed, 10-overs-per-side contest, South Africa beat Sri Lanka by 19 runs to take crucial 1-0 lead in the three-match series. The two teams will now meet at Johannesburg in the second T20I on Sunday.
A completely new-look South African side, led by Behardien, surprised the Angelo Mathews-led Sri Lankan side. South Africa were without the services of the likes of Hashim Amla, AB de Villiers, Test skipper Faf du Plessis, wicketkeeper-batsman Quinton de Kock, pacers Kagiso Rabada, Dale Steyn and Vernon Philander. They instead fielded as many as five debutants in the first T20I. Beherdien, who was leading an inexperienced bunch comprising of JJ Smuts, Andile Phehlukwayo, Theunis de Bruyn, Lungisani Ngidi and gloovesman Mangaliso Mosehle, did an exceptional job as his side got over the line in his first essay.
South Africa hammered 126 runs for the loss of 5 wickets in the stipulated 10 overs. While the newcomers played a decent hand at the top, it was the experienced duo of David Miller (40 off 18) and Behardien (31* off 18), who took the side to an above-par total.
Full Cricket Scorecard, South Africa vs Sri Lanka, 2nd T20I at Johannesburg
Sri Lanka, who were without the services of Lasith Malinga, struggled to keep the South African batsmen under check. In reply, their batsmen did sparkle in the high-voltage chase, but failed to get to the total that looked beyond their reach right from the onset.
Openers Niroshan Dickwella and Dhananjaya de Silva played handy knocks at the top of the order and got the team a splendid start. However, once they were dismissed, the Sri Lankan batsmen failed to keep up the tempo in the chase and kept losing their wickets. There were boundaries raining all through the innings, but wickets also kept on falling at the same pace, and Sri Lanka ended at 107 for 6.
The second T20I will give Mathews and co. another chance to get their act together and end the tour on a high. They had a disastrous three-match Test series, and will be eyeing a turnaround in the most unpredictable format. Apart from Mathews, the performances of Dinesh Chandimal, Suranga Lakmal, Nuwan Kulasekara, Dhananjaya de Silva and Kusal Mendis will also be under scanner.
Squads:
Sri Lanka: Angelo Mathews (c), Dinesh Chandimal (wk), Danushka Gunathilaka, Seekkuge Prasanna, Niroshan Dickwella, Suranga Lakmal, Nuwan Pradeep, Isuru Udana, Kusal Mendis, Dhananjaya de Silva, Asela Gunaratne, Sachith Pathirana, Lakshan Sandakan, Thikshila de Silva, Nuwan Kulasekara
South Africa: Farhaan Behardien (c), Theunis de Bruyn, Reeza Hendricks, Imran Tahir, Heino Kuhn, David Miller, Mangaliso Mosehle (wk), Lungisani Ngidi, Wayne Parnell, Dane Paterson, Aaron Phangiso, Andile Phehlukwayo, JJ Smuts
Full Cricket Scorecard, South Africa vs Sri Lanka, 2nd T20I at Johannesburg