There were steady improvements from Sri Lanka through the series, after the embarrassment of 43 all out, and they finally get a victory. Perera is the man of the moment - his six-hitting shouldn't obscure the big wickets he got earlier in the day - but there were superb hands from Tillakaratne Dilshan, finally finding form, and the youngster Dinesh Chandimal, who continues to impress at the international level. South Africa's fielding wasn't what it should have been towards the end - there was the Morkel drop, but there were plenty of fumbles in the field, and innumerable run-out chances were spurned.
Baundule sums it up: "Perera turned the match in Sri Lanka's favor with those crucial two wickets. And finished the job extremely well with the bat. It's a pity that he could not get a match before the series was lost."
Post-match presentation:
AB de Villiers: "Very good game, we batted quite well up fornt, could have scored more in the last 10. They batted really well, chased down 300. I'll take responsibility for losing my wicket at a bad time, we could have got perhaps 330 if I stayed till the end. There are other areas for the team to work on. I wasn't too happy with our fielding, it wasn't the best outfield to field on either. Perera played extremely well, he made my job very difficult."
Tillakaratne Dilshan: "Fantastic effort. We tried to keep them to 250-260, but AB batted really well, at one stage I thought they could reach 350, but we came back well in the last 20 overs. We want to finish the series strongly, unfortunately previous game was rained out or we might have had a good decider. I was under pressure, and I am happy to come back to form."
The Man of the Match is Thisara Perera. "This is my first match in the series, I think I've done well. this is my normal batting, I like left-arm spinners. I want to bat well in the next game as well."
Abhishek Purohit is slaving over a match report, which will be updated in a few minutes. And check back in a bit for stories from Firdose Moonda, who has been watching this closely in Kimberley.
Thanks for all the mails today. See you lot on Sunday for the final ODI of the season. G''night!
Field comes in
END OF OVER:48 | 10 Runs | SL: 296/5 (4 runs required from 12 balls, RR: 6.16, RRR: 2.00)
- Angelo Mathews20 (23b)
- Thisara Perera62 (42b)
- Wayne Parnell9-0-52-0
- Jean-Paul Duminy4-0-29-0
Parnell to bowl the 48th over
END OF OVER:47 | 7 Runs | SL: 286/5 (14 runs required from 18 balls, RR: 6.08, RRR: 4.66)
- Thisara Perera57 (39b)
- Angelo Mathews15 (20b)
- Jean-Paul Duminy4-0-29-0
- Lonwabo Tsotsobe10-0-51-3
Technical trouble with Ten Cricket. Lost coverage here.
Surprise, surprise. JP Duminy is on.
END OF OVER:46 | 6 Runs | SL: 279/5 (21 runs required from 24 balls, RR: 6.06, RRR: 5.25)
- Angelo Mathews12 (18b)
- Thisara Perera53 (35b)
- Lonwabo Tsotsobe10-0-51-3
- Wayne Parnell8-0-42-0
END OF OVER:45 | 4 Runs | SL: 273/5 (27 runs required from 30 balls, RR: 6.06, RRR: 5.40)
- Thisara Perera52 (33b)
- Angelo Mathews7 (14b)
- Wayne Parnell8-0-42-0
- Lonwabo Tsotsobe9-0-45-3