Protea fire is the buzzword
South Africa seal one-day series against hapless Sri Lankans after a hive of activity at the Wanderers
SUCH is the mental vice grip South Africa has on Sri Lanka, a comprehensive victory was never going to be in doubt. It was a case of how AB de Villiers’ side were going to go about it. Having asked Sri Lanka to bat first, not even nature’s disturbance through a swarm of bees that held up play for more than a hour was going to stand in their way.
It was too easy and a victory of last night’s manner does nothing for a team that’s still trying to tick boxes ahead of the New Zealand tour and the Champions Trophy.
What shouldn’t go unnoticed is South Africa’s growing ruthlessness at home, having won 12 consecutive ODIs in the Republic dating back to the seven-wicket win against England at SuperSport Park last year.
Should they beat Sri Lanka in Cape Town on Tuesday, they’ll go past the record they currently share with the West Indies, who won 12 straight at home between 1986 and 1989.
Maybe that’ll be motivation enough to go for a second consecutive home whitewash, something they’ve never done before.
It was a disappointing outing for Pink Day enthusiasts who have been treated to epics in the previous four encounters.
The most exciting part about South Africa’s stroll of a chase was the hi-octane reception saved for De Villiers. It was like the crowd channelled it’s inner Mumbai when Sachin Tendulkar was in his pomp and they were duly rewarded with a sumptuous 50 from the debonair stroke maker.
Sri Lanka have never quite replaced Sanath Jayasuriya, even though TM Dilshan proved to be quite the handy and innovative opener.
In the diminutive Niroshan Dickwella, they may have found themselves the adaptable and all-weather opener. Jayasuriya looked on admiringly while the rest of the batting continued on its miserable slide.
His sublime pacing of his innings showed up the inexplicable impetuosity of his senior opener, Upul Tharanga, who partnered Jayasuriya towards the end of his career.
When South Africa’s bowlers dried up the runs after a reasonably good opening stand of 60 in 12 overs, Dickwella found ways to manipulate the field and milk the bowlers while his teammates found some creative ways to get out.
After some woeful early fielding, where easy catches were shelled, with JP Duminy grassing an easy Dickwella chance off Rabada, catching practice was provided by Kusal Mendis, Dinesh Chandimal and Dhananjaya de Silva.
While Hashim Amla and Chris Morris were the beneficiaries of their unwarranted nervousness outside offstump, Sri Lanka’s batting spine could have done with a tenth of the stubbornness displayed by the swarm.
There was nothing in the benign surface that should have scared the visitors, an example of which was how Tharanga and Dickwella tucked into Morris and Rabada in their opening stand.
Such was the ferocity of the assault, Rabada was taken off after just two overs and Morris was carted for 22 in his first four.
How this momentum wasn’t sustained illustrated the lack of confidence the Sri Lankan batting unit has in its abilities.
They haven’t crossed 200 in all formats since the second innings of the New Year’s test and all hope of crossing that magical barrier died when Dickwella’s dismissal in the 33rd over saw them slip to 149/6.
In all, the last nine Sri Lankan wickets contributed only 103 runs as they displayed the flakiness of a touring team with one foot on the plane.