Published: Feb 04, 2017, 09:52 PM (IST)
Edited: Feb 05, 2017, 12:46 AM (IST)
Sri Lanka had to win the third match of the five-game One-Day International (ODI) series at any cost to keep the series alive after losing the first two games by a heavy margin. However, another batting collapse saw the tourists fold up for a paltry 163 on their 69th Independence Day. Barring their opener Niroshan Dickwella, who scored a stroke-filled 74, no other batsman showed application or willingness to stay in the middle. South African bowlers performed well collectively, which added to their worries. The collapse has meant that the Proteas will need only 164 to win the match and seal the series. Looking at the conditions and their team form, it should not be a problem for them. Full Cricket Scorecard: South Africa vs Sri Lanka 3rd ODI at Johannesburg
Earlier, on a bright sunny day in Johannesburg, the South African captain AB de Villiers won the toss and elected to field first. The Proteas took the field in their pink kit for the ‘Pink ODI’, a Cricket South Africa (CSA) initiative to spread awareness for breast cancer. Just like the previous game, the two Sri Lankan openers Dickwella and skipper Upul Tharanga got the team off to a great start. They were aided by the butter-fingered South African fielders, who dropped a few catches to make things easier for them.
Tharanga and Dickwella also made the most of the chances they got, putting up 60 runs on the board for the first wicket. In the 12th over, which was eventful one thanks to a dropped catch of Dickwella, South Africa finally got the breakthrough when Kagiso Rabada sent Tharanga back. The first wicket opened the floodgates as one after the other the Lankan batsmen kept returning back to the hutch.
The Protea bowlers kept the Sri Lankan batsmen under check. They made good use of the variations — slower balls, bouncers, slower bouncers etc to trouble the batsmen. After the earlier dropped chances, the South African fielders also redeemed themselves as the likes of Hashim Amla, Faf du Plessis and wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock took some stunning catches. The latter also completed his 100 dismissals behind the wickets in ODIs during the process.
Barring Tharanga and Dickwella, only Dhananjaya de Silva and Sachith Pathirana could manage to get to the double digits. For South Africa, Dwaine Pretorius ended with figures of 3 for 19 from his 7 overs. Andile Phehlukwayo, Imran Tahir and Rabada ended up with 2 wickets each.
The match also witnessed an hour-long stoppage after a swarm of bees invaded the field. CSA tried quite a few things like extinguishing the bees and getting a bee-keeper to the ground, but the delay could not be avoided. There was, however, no loss of overs.
South Africa had made two changes to their squad for this game. Hard-hitting batsman David Miller was ruled out from the remainder of the series due to a finger injury. He was replaced by Farhaand Behardien. In other change, Pretorius replaced Wayne Parnell. Sri Lanka also made two changes, handing debuts to pacers Lahiru Madushanka and Lahiru Kumara in place of Nuwan Kulasekara and Chaturnaga de Silva. The match is also du Plessis’ 100th ODI and he marked the occasion with a stunning catch
Brief scores:
Sri Lanka 163 all out in 39.2 overs (Niroshan Dickwella 74, Upul Tharanga 31; Dwaine Pretorious 3 for 19, Imran Tahir 2 for 21, Andile Phehlukwayo 2 for 26, Kagiso Rabada 2 for 39)
