| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
Tillakaratne Dilshan finally found the form that has eluded him for most of the tour to lead Sri Lanka to a convincing five-wicket victory over the Proteas' Castle Lager squad in the fourth Sunfoil ODI at the De Beers Diamond Oval on Friday evening. Dilshan's innings of 87 came off the same number of balls with nine fours and two sixes and matched the innings of his South African counterpart, AB de Villiers, who had earlier made 96 off 76 balls with 8 fours and 3 sixes.
The Sri Lankans, however, had an even bigger star in Thusara Perera who was making his first appearance of the series. He took the key wickets of De Villiers and JP Duminy to stop the Proteas' innings runs charge and turn a likely total in the region of 330 to a much more modest one of 299.
The Proteas were only able to score 57 runs in their last 11 overs and at one stage there was the possibility that they might not manage to bat out their full 50 overs.
After Dilshan had laid the foundation Perera then finished the match in spectacular style, scoring his maiden ODI half-century and going on to an unbeaten 69 off 44 balls with three fours and five sixes.
It was the first time in the series that Sri Lanka produced a consistent batting performance with Dinesh Chandimal also recording a half-century.
The Proteas had their chances to get Perera out early on but were not able to capitalise and in the end Sri Lanka had plenty in hand and won comfortably.
Lonwabo Tsotsobe provided a statistical highlight for the Proteas when he took three wickets to reach 50 wickets in 27 matches. This made him the joint eighth fastest of all time to this mark and the best by a South African. The previous best was Morne Morkel who took 31 matches.
Graeme Smith (68 off 69 balls, 7 fours and a six) also showed a welcome return to form while Alviro Petersen took a spectacular boundary catch to remove Kumar Sangakkara.
- 23/01/2012 16:27 - Tsotsobe becomes highest-ranked South Africa bowler
- 22/01/2012 23:15 - Sri Lanka edge out Proteas in Wanderers thriller
- 22/01/2012 12:52 - Sri Lanka sneak thrilling last over win to end South African sojourn on a high
