By: Nalin Jayetileke
Sri Lanka 203 for 9 (Asalanka 47, de Silva 31, Maharaj 3-38, Shamsi 2-31) , South Africa 125 all out in 30 overs (Klaasen 22, Theekshana 4-37, Chameera 2-16) beat South Africa by 78 runs at R Premadasa yesterday (7th Sep 2021)
On a spin friendly wicket, we saw Sri Lanka spin themselves to a 78 run victory agent South Africa yesterday at the R Premadasa stadium, with the Sri Lankan new entity to the side, the 21 year old Maheesh Teekshana grabbing 4 south African Wickets for 37 runs. Teekshana’s 4 wickets is a record for a Sri Lankan spinner playing his first ODI for his country.
Maheesh Teekshana had the South Africans in trouble with his sharp off spinners and his faster / the flipper, with which he always had the south African batsman guessing and there by shot selection was seen as an issue for the visitors which eventually got them all out for a score of 125.
Wanindu Hasaranga, the more expensed spinner off the two was also effective with his leg spinners claiming 2 wickets foe 32 runs. Meanwhile the other spinner for Sri Lanka Praveen Jayawickrama also was impressive having got the wicket of Aiden caught at slips in the second over of the match, which gave the indication and the drive for the Sri Lankans to keep pushing for wickets and that it was a possible target to defend. .
With the spinners doing their part on that spin friendly wicket it was encouraging to see, once again the determination and movement of the Sri Lankan fast bowler Dushmantha Chameera who also went on to capture 2 quick wickets off the South African middle order during his spell. His contributed too had a big impact in having the South Africans trailing at 55 for the loss of 6 wickets in the 15th over. Chameera also contributed with a determined knock of 29 runs, coming to bat at no 9.
For Sri Lanka it was Asalanka and Danajaya De DSilva , who once again stood their ground and made sure that Sri Lanka reached a total of 200 plus which was a defendable total , given the behavior of the wicket which was seen as spin friendly and with Sri Lanka having a spin oriented armory had their sights on taking the bails off the South Africans bellow that mark.
Dananjaya De Silva and Kamindu Mendis showed some excellent aggressive one day fielding when they took some brilliant catches being at slips and at short midwicket. For Sri Lanka. It was an all-round good performance and showed their class in the fielding department as well , something we have seen going from strength to strength each match they played , a positive sing for Sri Lanka as however much one may do well with the bat and ball, if the fielding is sloppy , the other side will always have the edge, something we did not see during the South African series. A positive for Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka won the 3 match series 2 -1.
thesundayreader.lk news team takes this opportunity to congratulate the Sri Lankans for their match winning performance at the Premadas yesterday! (7th Sep)
