Player of the Match
Player of the Match
2124dThe Report by Abhishek Purohit

Sri Lanka ride on Sangakkara ton in thriller

For once, the choke was almost on the opposition in a game involving South Africa. Sri Lanka almost messed up what had been the perfect big ODI chase

Match Centre

Statistics

Best performances - Batsmen

AB de Villiers
AB de Villiers
125(98) 10x4 - 4x6
Control %89%
  • Productive Shot
  • off side drive on front foot
  • 36 runs
  • 3x4 - 0x6
2 4 36 15 32 6 15 15
GC Smith
125(143) 9x4 - 4x6
Control %87%
  • Productive Shot
  • sweep
  • 31 runs
  • 0x4 - 4x6
7 4 5 18 51 20 8 12

Best performances - Bowlers

RJ Peterson
O6.5
M0
R38
W2
Eco5.56
RHB
OFFLEG
  • FTFULL TOSS
  • YYORKER
  • FFULL LENGTH
  • GGOOD LENGTH
  • SGSHORT OF GOOD LENGTH
  • SSHORT LENGTH
LHB
LEGOFF
JP Duminy
JP Duminy
O6.5
M0
R44
W2
Eco6.43
RHB
OFFLEG
  • FTFULL TOSS
  • YYORKER
  • FFULL LENGTH
  • GGOOD LENGTH
  • SGSHORT OF GOOD LENGTH
  • SSHORT LENGTH
LHB
LEGOFF

Match Details

Toss

Sri Lanka , elected to field first

Player Of The Match

Player Of The Series

Series result

South Africa won the 5-match series 3-2

Match number

Season

Hours of play (local time)

10.00 start, First Session 10.00-13.30, Interval 13.30-14.15, Second Session 14.15-17.45

Match days

22 January 2012 (50-over match)

TV Umpires

Reserve Umpire

Match Referee

Scorer: S Balasubramanian | Commentator: Siddarth Ravindran

That's the first time a team since New Zealand in 2007 to have chased 300 or more in successive ODIs.

Sri Lanka may have lost the series, but they will be thrilled with the performance of several of their young batsmen. Chandimal has made big strides this series, and Thiriamanne showed off his cool temperament today, with a maiden half-century when the pressure was on.

South Africa, on the other hand, haven't learnt much about their next generation of batsmen. Again it was the big boys who scored most of the runs - Ingram didn't get too much of a chance, du Plessis shone in one game, Petersen didn't make the most of two games at the top. South Africa also need to sort out who their death bowlers are - they lost their head in Kimberley, and today it wasn't exactly top bowling which got the wickets.

This is the second highest successful chase at the Wanderers, after the famous 438 one.

Kishore says: "And thats why Senanayake has come ahead of Malinga."

Presentation ceremony
Dilshan: "Chasing 313 is a tight game always, I thought we could finish easily but they came back well in the end. We batted well in the last two matches, chasing 300-plus. We won the Test in Durban, unfortunately third ODI rained out or we might have won the series. Enjoyed the tour, but personally disappointed with my form, last two matches got back to form."

Man of the Match is Kumar Sangakkara. "It was important to get runs, 3-1 down in the series, important to finish off on a high. Graeme and AB batted beautifully and almost put it beyond us. But our openers started brilliantly, and Thirimanne, a young kid, also came in and performed. Credit goes to those three guys. I got out at the wrong time. ... Senanayake hitting the winning runs with a six was the icing on the cake."

Man of the Series is AB de Villiers. "things have been going my way, delighted with my form at the moment. I thought the boys did really well. Biff did extremely well, I told the press that he was going to come through, and I'm very happy for my man. There's a lot to work on for us, but an happy with the way the boys fought till the end. Every ground supported us really well this series."

AB gets the series trophy and pops the champagne with the rest of the team.

Phew! That's about a wrap for this series from us. See whether Abhishek Purohit has managed to capture all the twists and turns of the game in his report here.

Thanks for the many mails, see you soon!

49.5
6
Peterson to Senanayake, SIX, Sri Lanka have done it! like in Kimberley they finish it off with a six, over midwicket this time, famous first runs for Senanayake, South Africa did so well to bring it close, but the youngster kept his cool, defending his first ball then unleashing a flat hit for six, Peterson has his hands on his head, the crowd is silenced, not bad for a dead rubber
49.4
0
Peterson to Senanayake, no run, dot ball, a length ball on leg stump, defended back towards the bowler, five needed off two, how did it come to this?

Sachithra Senanayake is the new batsmen. Ahead of Malinga. Why?

49.3
W
Peterson to Thirimanne, OUT, oh Sri Lanka, this is ridiculous, a short of length ball from Peterson, slightly quicker, Thirimanne charges out and looks hit that through the off, an outside edge carries nicely to Albie Morkel at short third man, Sanga and Dilshan look very tense in the dressing room

HDRL Thirimanne c JA Morkel b Peterson 69 (100m 63b 7x4 0x6) SR: 109.52

49.2
1
Peterson to Herath, 1 run, well done, he opens the face and guides the ball towards backward point for a single

Rangana Herath walks out. He loves to swing the bat, can he keep his head here? Just take the single, and leave it to Thirimanne

49.1
W
Peterson to Kulasekara, OUT, the Joburg crowd yell in delight as Nuwan is bowled first ball, making room and looking to hit that over extra cover, he misses Peterson hits, that crashes into middle and leg, Peterson is ecstatic, six needed off five

KMDN Kulasekara b Peterson 0 (3m 1b 0x4 0x6) SR: 0.00

New man Nuwan on strike. Robin Peterson given the ball, that's a big decision from AB. Tsotsobe has overs to spare,. Long-on, long-off, deep midwicket and deep square leg.

Long-on comes in, sweeper cover goes out. Six to get

END OF OVER:
49 | 3 Runs 1 Wkt | SL: 307/6 (6 runs required from 6 balls, RR: 6.26, RRR: 6.00)

  • Lahiru Thirimanne69 (62b)
  • Jean-Paul Duminy6.5-0-44-2
  • Morne Morkel9.1-0-49-0
48.6
W
Duminy to Perera, OUT, forget yorkers, start practising your high full tosses, Duminy sends one of those, Perera looks to end the game in style with a smash over midwicket, he can't get it far enough, the best fielder in the game, du Plessis, pouches that easily, Dilshan and sangakkara signalling a no-ball in the dressing room, umpire signals nothing, that looked to be at an acceptable height

NLTC Perera c du Plessis b Duminy 2 (13m 8b 0x4 0x6) SR: 25.00

Sri Lanka 2nd innings Partnerships

WktRunsPlayers
1st72TM DilshanWU Tharanga
2nd47TM DilshanKC Sangakkara
3rd56KC SangakkaraLD Chandimal
4th100KC SangakkaraHDRL Thirimanne
5th19AD MathewsHDRL Thirimanne
6th13NLTC PereraHDRL Thirimanne
7th0KMDN KulasekaraHDRL Thirimanne
8th1HMRKB HerathHDRL Thirimanne
9th6HMRKB HerathSMSM Senanayake