South Africa completes Sri Lanka sweep
South Africa completes Sri Lanka sweep
February 12, 2017 | 12:00 AM
South Africa’s Hashim Amla celebrates his century against Sri Lanka during their fifth One-Day International match at SuperSport Park Stadium in Centurion Friday. — Reuters
February 12, 2017 | 12:00 AM
Last Updated: February 12, 2017 | 12:00 AM
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CENTURION — Opening batsmen Quinton de Kock and Hashim Amla both hit centuries as South Africa completed a 5-0 series sweep against Sri Lanka in the fifth and final one-day international at SuperSport Park on Friday.
South Africa’s 88-run win will take it to top place in the International Cricket Council one-day rankings.
“We follow the small processes and if you do that the rewards come your way,” said South Africa captain AB de Villiers. “I’m very proud of the way we performed. It’s an important year for us with the Champions Trophy and regaining the No. 1 position is a step in the right direction.”
Sri Lanka captain Upul Tharanga admitted: “It’s been a tough tour, right from the Test series (which South Africa won 3-0). It’s a very young team and the players will learn a lot from this. The South African team played really good cricket.”
De Kock batted with sublime skill as he made 109 off 87 balls while Man-of-the-Match Amla scored 154 off 134 deliveries as South Africa piled up 384-6 after being sent in to bat.
The match was quickly over as a contest as Sri Lanka slumped to 82-5.
But Asela Gunaratne hit 114 not out, his maiden One-Day International century, to enable Sri Lanka to recover some pride at the end of a one-sided series, finishing with 296 for eight.
Gunaratne and Sachith Pathirana (56) were batting when an approaching storm caused de Villiers to get his spinners to rush through some overs in order to make sure 20 overs were bowled so there could be a result in the event of play being washed out.
As it happened the storm passed and the South Africa bowlers were unable to regain the ascendancy they held earlier.
It was South Africa’s 11th successive one-day win and its second successive 5-0 triumph after it beat Australia by the same margin earlier in the season.
Faf du Plessis was named Man of the Series after scoring 410 runs at an average of 102.50 with a strike rate of 105. — AFP
South Africa’s 88-run win will take it to top place in the International Cricket Council one-day rankings.
“We follow the small processes and if you do that the rewards come your way,” said South Africa captain AB de Villiers. “I’m very proud of the way we performed. It’s an important year for us with the Champions Trophy and regaining the No. 1 position is a step in the right direction.”
Sri Lanka captain Upul Tharanga admitted: “It’s been a tough tour, right from the Test series (which South Africa won 3-0). It’s a very young team and the players will learn a lot from this. The South African team played really good cricket.”
De Kock batted with sublime skill as he made 109 off 87 balls while Man-of-the-Match Amla scored 154 off 134 deliveries as South Africa piled up 384-6 after being sent in to bat.
The match was quickly over as a contest as Sri Lanka slumped to 82-5.
But Asela Gunaratne hit 114 not out, his maiden One-Day International century, to enable Sri Lanka to recover some pride at the end of a one-sided series, finishing with 296 for eight.
Gunaratne and Sachith Pathirana (56) were batting when an approaching storm caused de Villiers to get his spinners to rush through some overs in order to make sure 20 overs were bowled so there could be a result in the event of play being washed out.
As it happened the storm passed and the South Africa bowlers were unable to regain the ascendancy they held earlier.
It was South Africa’s 11th successive one-day win and its second successive 5-0 triumph after it beat Australia by the same margin earlier in the season.
Faf du Plessis was named Man of the Series after scoring 410 runs at an average of 102.50 with a strike rate of 105. — AFP
