Proteas annihilate Sri Lanka in final T20I with 10-wicket thrashing

Kusal Perera stood out amongst the Lankan batsmen, top scoring with 39

• Another farcical batting display gives SA 3-0 series sweep

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq

South Africa, it seems, will very unlikely have a relatively easier T20I series in the subcontinent as they had against Sri Lanka.

Losing 3-0 can happen to any team, but the manner in which Sri Lanka lost the three matches raises grave concern whether they will even get through the qualifying stages of the T20 World Cup against teams such as Ireland, Netherlands and Namibia. The Netherlands has got a stronger squad than Ireland and Namibia, who are also in great form, so it’s not going to be a walk in the park for the former T20 World Cup champions.

Yesterday at the R. Premadasa Stadium, South Africa completed the final rites to a totally one-sided T20 series, restricting Sri Lanka to a total of 120/8 and then knocking the runs off in 14.4 overs with 121 for no loss to win by an overwhelming margin of ten wickets and pocket the three-match series 3-0. The partnership between Quinton de Kock and Reeza Hendricks, both of whom made unbeaten fifties, was South Africa’s highest against Sri Lanka for any wicket.

De Kock finished on 59* off 46 balls (seven fours) to take his second successive Player of the Match award and also the Player of the Series award with back-to-back fifties, while Hendricks was unbeaten on 56* off 42 balls (five fours, one six).

Rather than reflecting on Sri Lanka’s poor batting and blaming the batsmen, it is time one should give credit to the South African bowling attack, which looks one of the best amongst all teams competing in the upcoming T20 World Cup with the likes of Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje and Tabraiz Shamsi, three of the best T20I bowlers, along with Keshav Maharaj, Bjorn Fortuin and Aiden Markram, who can bowl well on slow pitches.

What the South Africans have shown in the series is that on slow turning surfaces their bowlers have bowled brilliantly and the batsmen have adapted to the conditions exceptionally to outplay Sri Lanka at their own game.

You take Dinesh Chandimal out of the equation in the first T20I and Kusal Perera out of the second and third T20Is to show just how bad the Sri Lankan batting is. It simply boils down to lack of skill and picking the wrong players. Perera once again top scored with 39 off 33 balls and as long as he was in the middle there was hope for Sri Lanka to get to a challenging total, but like in the previous game he fell LBW when well set to launch into a big innings.

As for the rest of the batting, it was a shambles with no proper direction and planning as to what the team wanted to achieve.The win was South Africa’s third consecutive series win going into the T20 World Cup, having beaten the West Indies 3-2 and Ireland 3-0 – all away from home.

Reeza Hendricks plays to leg during his unbeaten knock of 56

Quinton de Kock drives on his way to a half-century