RSA vs SL, 1st ODI: Proteas Go One Up In Series With Thumping 8-Wicket Win
Jan 28, 2017 at 10:52 PM
After winning the T20 series, Sri Lanka failed to carry on the momentum in the first One-Day International of the five-match series as South Africa thrashed them by 8 wickets to take a 1-0 lead in the series.
South Africa skipper AB de Villiers invited the visitors to bat first on a ground that has made a reputation of witnessing low-scoring games and his decision was proved right straightaway as Wayne Parnell sent back Niroshan Dickwella and Sandun Weerakkody with only 14 on the board. A 72-run partnership between Kusal Mendis (62) and Dinesh Chandimal (22) for the third wicket steadied the ship but the visitors started losing wickets at regular intervals once the latter was castled by Imran Tahir. The leg-spinner struck twice inside the next 16 runs to reduce the visitors to 102 for 5. Dhananjaya de Silva with 28 runs was the only major contributor from the lower order as the visitors huffed and puffed to 181.
In reply, Quinton de Kock and Hashim Amla gave the hosts a flying start by adding 71 runs for the first wicket before the former was sent back by Lakshan Sandakan. But another fifty-plus stand between Amla and Faf du Plessis set the platform for an easy chase. Du Plessis and AB de Villiers then scored the remaining runs quite comfortably to take their team home with over 15 overs remaining.
The second match will be played on Wednesday (February 1) in Durban.
Brief scores:
Sri Lanka 181/10 in 48.3 (Kusal Mendis 62; Imran Tahir 3-26, Wayne Parnell 3-48) lost to South Africa 185/2 in 34.2 overs (Hashim Amla 57, Quinton de Kock 55) by eight wickets.
Here is how Twitter reacted to the match:
https://twitter.com/Its_Frienzi/status/825387051222781954
One sided match as it turned out..#SAvSL
— Chaitanya Sharma (@SharmajiKiBaate) January 28, 2017
I thank Pakistan for blessing South Africa with such a humble, professional, and funny Cricketer,love and respect for you Sir Tahir ❤❤#SAvSL
— Zanele Portia Nkosi 👑❤ (@Laposh86) January 28, 2017
Love this @OfficialCSA team composition,3 bowling all rounders,1 tear away pacer & a spinner, backed by 6 specialist batters #SAVSL #fb (1)
— Bodhisatya Das (@bodhiCHE) January 28, 2017
Even after spending more than a month in #SouthAfrica still #SriLanka batsmen act like deers caught in headlights 😣 #Shame #SAvSL
— Pavitra Gunasekara 🇱🇰 (@PaViYaz) January 28, 2017
Organized, dominant and calm Cricket by SA boys today, as expected. Hope, they'll have full series with no pain. #ProteaFire #SAvSL
— Nouroz Rahman (@NourozRahman) January 28, 2017
That was the 50th Victory for @ABdeVilliers17 as captain congrats mate,#SAvSL
— Soochin 🏏 (@cricdrugs) January 28, 2017
https://twitter.com/taimoorz1/status/825373806940274688
https://twitter.com/criclive_score/status/825367438220992513