DAMBULLA, Sunday: With the 2019 World Cup not too far away Sri Lanka’s one-day woes continued when they went down to South Africa by five wickets in the first ODI played at the Rangiri Dambulla Stadium yesterday to give the tourists their first win on the tour and a 1-0 lead in the five-match series.
For South Africa who had been outplayed in the two-Test series the win would have been like sweet music to their ears. Having gone through a horrendous 2017 where they lost 23 out of 29 ODIs, Sri Lanka were looking to at least turn the corner in 2018 having won 3 out of 5 games - at least that is what skipper Angelo Mathews expected. But the way the Lankan batting crumbled for 193 inside 35 overs to the pace and left-arm spin of Kagiso Rabada and Tabraiz Shamsi, left room for too many questions to be answered before they can become a competent ODI unit that can win consistently.
The extra pace and bounce of Rabada and the tidy spin of Shamsi proved too much for the Lankans after they won the toss and chose to bat first on a pitch that didn’t offer much for the bowlers.
 Kagiso Rabada who ran through the Lankan top order to finish with figures of 4 for 41.Picture by Susantha Wijegunasekera |
That Sri Lanka folded up for such a moderate total failing to last the 50 overs was due to a combination of poor shot selection and lack of footwork.
The rot started with Niroshan Dickwella’s dismissal off a full toss which he chipped to midwicket in the third ball of the innings. From there onwards there was a series of dismissals for which the Lankan batsmen were answerable for.
Rabada pushed Sri Lanka onto the backfoot with the wickets of Dickwella and Kusal Mendis off his first two overs. By the time he finished his first spell of six overs Sri Lanka’s batting was in tatters at 36 for five.
Experienced Upul Tharanga only doubled the agony for his team when he tried to take on mid-off fielder JP Duminy with his score on 10 and tried to scamper a single only to be beaten by the fielder’s direct throw.
Skipper Mathews played a superb straight drive for four of Rabada but totally undid that effort in the next over when he offered catching practice to Amla at first slip edging a delivery from Ngidi without any feet movement.
Shehan Jayasuriya followed his captain in similar fashion offering De Kock a catch behind the wicket to be dismissed for a duck.
The slide was stopped by the two Pereras - Kusal and Thisara who came together in a face-saving partnership that produced 92 runs off 54 balls. It was the best batting of the Lankan innings and it clearly showed that there was nothing wrong with the pitch, but plenty wrong with the batsmen who were dismissed.
Thisara as is his nature bludgeoned his way to an entertaining 49 off 30 balls (8 fours) and Kusal also gaining in confidence at the other end looked like taking the team towards a 200 plus total.
With the partnership growing into dangerous proportions South African captain Faf du Plessis switched to spin and off his first over Shamsi obliged him with the prize wicket of Thisara.
Akila Dananjaya helped Kusal add a further 38 for the seventh wicket but further resistance was denied by South Africa who managed to grab the last three wickets for 27 runs including that of Kusal’s for a splendid innings of 81 off 72 balls studded with 11 fours and a six. Kusal who had played so well upto that point attempted a reverse sweep for the first time in his innings and eventually offered a catch to point. One could not blame him for attempting such a stroke for two reasons – one, South Africa had packed the leg side with seven fielders and two, he was running short of partners.
Rabada and Shamsi who was named man of the match shared the spoils with four wickets apiece.
With not so much pressure on the run rate South Africa began their reply steadily with Hashim Amla and Quinton de Kock posting 31 in five overs. But Dananjaya raised some hopes in the Lankan camp by sending back both Amla and Aiden Markram off successive balls. Du Plessis not only survived the hat-trick ball but hung around long enough to stitch together a stand of 86 off 96 balls with De Kock that put South Africa on the road to victory.
Although both batsmen were dismissed for the identical score of 47, South Africa were never under any discomfort against spin. JP Duminy made certain that there won’t be any major cause for alarm by stroking his way to his 26th ODI fifty to remain unbeaten on 53 scored off 32 balls (6 fours, 2 sixes) when victory was achieved with 114 balls to spare.
The second ODI will take place at the same venue on Wednesday (August 1).
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