South Africa [185/2] beat Sri Lanka [181] in the 1st ODI by 8 wickets

[MenInG]

South Africa Team
Q de Kock†, HM Amla, F du Plessis, AB de Villiers*, JP Duminy, DA Miller, CH Morris, WD Parnell, AL Phehlukwayo, K Rabada, Imran Tahir

Sri Lanka Team
N Dickwella, DS Weerakkody, BKG Mendis, LD Chandimal†, WU Tharanga*, DM de Silva, DAS Gunaratne, KMDN Kulasekara, JDF Vandersay, RAS Lakmal, PADLR Sandakan

South Africa win the toss and elect to bowl first.

 

[MenInG]

The five-match Momentum One-Day International (ODI) series against Sri Lanka starting at St George’s Park in Port Elizabeth on Saturday will be an important building block for the Standard Bank Proteas ahead of the ICC Champions Trophy in England in June. The squad will be looking to continue with their consistency in performances following the 5-0 win against Australia, and will have 13 matches to trial and assess game plans ahead of the tournament.

Proteas captain, AB de Villiers, says the upcoming series will be an opportunity to build confidence and to allow some of the youngsters in the squad to gain confidence ahead of the showpiece. The captain makes an anticipated return after more than six months on the side-lines, and is raring to get back into action after the injury layoff.

“We are in a really good space” De Villiers said in Port Elizabeth on Friday. “After the West Indies series you can see with the way that we have been playing that it is a happy group of players. The team spirit is good and the culture is in place. I think the guys feel fresh, everyone feels like they belong and they have a role to play.

“I’m very keen to play tomorrow, I can’t wait,” he said. “I have been out of the game for a long time. I have been hitting the ball better than ever. I have to get the mind in the right place tomorrow and be prepared to work hard for my runs like I always have. Hopefully I will do well for the team.”

De Villiers says the loss of young fast bowler, Lungi Ngidi, is unfortunate, but has been impressed by the potential he has shown in the T20 International series. The selectors have yet to finalise the starting XI, with rain around the area opening up different options in traditionally dry and spin-friendly conditions.

“It’s great to see him come through,” he said of the 20-year-old. “He has a great future ahead of him and he will need to be managed really well. He has a long road to travel but the talent is certainly there, the mind is there, he has a great head on his shoulder. Personality-wise and mentally, I feel he is really strong, he has showed that over the last few games.”

“We have two spinners in the squad so it’s always a possibility and an option for us,” he said of the starting combinations. “With this rain around, a little bit of grass on the wicket, we may look at just one spinner. At the moment we have a squad of 14 players and any of them can play.”

 

[Protea Fan]

Will be a low scoring one most probably

 

[Pantani]

It's not enough that tried-and-tested failure Upul Tharanga is brought into the side, he has also been made captain. Shocking!

 

[ask_analyse_act]

kusal mendis 37(53) 8x4s ... looks like he beat Mr. shehzad on dot ball percentage..Total 5 runs off 45 balls if we remove the boundaries..

 

[shah_1]

Sri lanka's batting is worse than Pakistan

Shocking level of batting

 

[Saffer_XIII]

Could be competitive if Sri Lanka get 220-250. South Africa isn't immune to getting bogged down by spin.

 

[ask_analyse_act]

Sri lanka's batting is worse than Pakistan

Shocking level of batting

that is why pak beat them remember...this guy dhananjaya should bat at the top, very good batsman

 

[MenInG]

IMRAN TAHIR underlined his value as a mid-innings strike bowler as he set the Standard Bank Proteas up for a comfortable victory in the first Momentum ODI at St. George’s Park on Saturday. His efforts earned him the Momentum Man of the Match award.

Credit must also go to Wayne Parnell who took two early wickets after AB de Villiers had won the toss in extremely blustery conditions and opted to bowl first and showed good consistency in getting three wickets in an innings for the second ODI in a row.

Sri Lanka did their best to fight their way back into the match when Kusal Mendis (62 off 94 balls, 10 fours) and Dinesh Chandimal (22 off 55 balls, 1 four) put on 71 for the third wicket but then Imran struck three times in the space of four overs, dismissing both these batsmen as well as captain Upul Tharanga and from there it was downhill all the way for the visitors who were dismissed for 181 with Imran finishing with 3/26 and Parnell 3/48.

The Proteas then coasted to an eight-wicket victory with 15.4 overs (94 balls to spare). The essential difference between the two sides was that the Proteas had successive partnerships of 71, 60 and an unbroken 50 whereas Sri Lanka had only one partnership in excess of 30 runs.

Hashim Amla confirmed his return to good form (57 off 71 balls, 5 fours and a six) and the top four batsmen all got a good look at the mysteries of the left-arm wrist spinner, Lakshan Sandakan, who took a respectable 1/35 in 8 overs. As Sri Lanka are in the same pool as the Proteas for the ICC Champions Trophy this series gives the home batsmen a wonderful chance to work out strategies to combat him rather than having to play him blind when they get to England.

Both AB de Villiers and Chris Morris made successful returns to the ODI squad after injury, the former making an unbeaten 30 off 27 balls (3 fours and a six) and the latter taking two wickets.

The second ODI takes place at Sahara Stadium Kingsmead on Wednesday at 13h30.

 

[Thivagar]

1. SL can't play fast bowling because they don't face enough fast bowling in FC as the pitches are spin friendly.
2. SL fast bowlers don't have control on their swing and break down easily as they don't get swing or longer spells to bowl in FC.
3. SL batsmen can't play spin because they prepare very spin friendly tracks in FC and it doesn't force spinners to learn be smart. Because the spinners don't need to be smart, the batsmen don't gain experience of facing smart bowlers and when they do at international matches they choke.
4. Therefore SL sucks at everything. Can't bat nor bowl.

 

[Sarfarazian92]

1. SL can't play fast bowling because they don't face enough fast bowling in FC as the pitches are spin friendly.
2. SL fast bowlers don't have control on their swing and break down easily as they don't get swing or longer spells to bowl in FC.
3. SL batsmen can't play spin because they prepare very spin friendly tracks in FC and it doesn't force spinners to learn be smart. Because the spinners don't need to be smart, the batsmen don't gain experience of facing smart bowlers and when they do at international matches they choke.
4. Therefore SL sucks at everything. Can't bat nor bowl.

I remember in the 2014 Pak vs SL test series, the tracks prepared at least had something for fast bowlers on day 1. Dhamika Prasad used to make light work of our top order if there was a bit of grass on the pitch. They don't have pitches like that in FC now?

 

[Thivagar]

I remember in the 2014 Pak vs SL test series, the tracks prepared at least had something for fast bowlers on day 1. Dhamika Prasad used to make light work of our top order if there was a bit of grass on the pitch. They don't have pitches like that in FC now?

SLC don't prepare pitches in FC matches like they do during internationals. The home FC team prepares their own pitches. SLC prepares the tracks for playoffs that is played in neutral venues.

 

[Madplayer]

Are there any upcoming exciting players from SL in the mould of sanath or even a peak dilshan?

 

[Rayyman]

This same Sri Lankan side is ranked 2 places ahead of Pakistan in ODIs.

 

[Sarfarazian92]

A four-team ODI tournament including PAK, SL, BANG, and WI should be held to decide who's the worst of the lot and doesn't deserve to qualify for WC automatically lol.

If SL keep losing like this, they'll be #8/9 in no time.

 

[sajeebmcj]

actually desilva and mendis are cxciting players and they have bright future.