SA v SL, 1st ODI Review: Terrific spells from Tahir and Parnell give South Africa 1-0 lead

After an unlikely series victory against South Africa in the T20I series, Sri Lanka went back to their losing ways as the hosts won the 1st ODI at the St. Georges Park in Port Elizabeth by 8 wickets to take a 1-0 lead in the 5 match bilateral series. Batting first, Sri Lanka were bundled out for 181 in the 49th over with only Kusal Mendis scoring a well-composed half-century.

All the South African pacers were bang on the money which was instrumental in restricting the islanders to a below-par total. Imran Tahir also bowled splendidly in the middle overs to halt their progress. South Africa rode on useful contributions from each top order batsmen to complete a comprehensive win by 8 wickets and with more than 15 overs to spare.

Proteas captain AB de Villiers won the toss and put the visitors in. The visitors received an early jolt in the form of Nirsohan Dickwella’s wicket in the first delivery of the 2nd over. It was a full pitched delivery by Wayne Parnell and Dickwella attempted to flick it through his legs. He missed it completely and was plumb in front.

Kusal Mendis came out in the middle and looked in great nick. He struck two delightful shots of Wayne Parnell and Kagiso Rabada before Parnell came back strongly and removed Sandun Weerakkody in the 4th over. It was short of a length delivery and Weerakkody slashed at it but could only manage to give an easy catch to the 1st slip fielder. With Sri Lanka reeling at 14/2, Dinesh Chandimal joined Kusal Mendis in the middle and the duo stitched together a crucial 72 runs stand for the 4th wicket.

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Mendis struck two delightful cover drives of Wayne Parnell in the 8th over followed by a couple more in the 10th over of Andile Phehlukwayo. They kept the scoreboard ticking with singles and doubles but were unable to execute the big shots which prevented their run rate from going up. Imran Tahir finally managed to breach one past Chandimal’s defence in the 24th over. It was a terrific wrong un by the leggie as Chandimal failed to read the googly.

Set batsman Kusal Mendis too fell in a quick succession of Tahir in the 28th over. It was a loopy leg break which thudded onto his pads. Though Mendis went for the review it was of no use as the 3rd umpired adjudged the decision in favour of the fielding team. From there on it was a downward slide as far as the visitors were concerned. They kept losing wickets at regular intervals which stemmed their run-flow.

Dhananjaya de Silva played a quite innings of 28 before being the penultimate batsman to be dismissed by Wayne Parnell in the 46th over. Chris Morris finished off the proceedings as the fast bowler castled Suranga Lakmal with a perfect Yorker. Leggie Imran Tahir was the wrecker-in-chief with impressive figures of 3/26 in his allotted 10 overs. Wayne Parnell also bowled brilliantly finishing with 3/48 in his 10 overs with Chris Morris also chipping in with a couple of wickets.

Chasing a below par target, South Africa began with a cautious approach. After settling in, Quinton de Kock struck the first boundary of the innings in the 4th over of Suranga Lakmal. He played a fierce square cut of Lakmal in the 6th over which reached the boundary ropes in no time. After battling out for the first 8 overs, Amla struck his first boundary of the innings of Nuwan Kulasekara.

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Slowly but steadily De Kock started coming on to his own and smashed the left-arm chinaman bowler Lakshan Sandakan for a couple of boundaries in the 12th over. Now it was the turn of Amla to shift his gears. He struck a six and a couple of fours of Vandersay in the 13th over to bring normalcy into his innings. But just when it looked the openers will take the game away from the visitors in no time, Sandakan put the brakes on their scoring by removing de Kock with well-flighted delivery.

Faf du Plessis joined Amla in the middle and the duo rotated the strike along to tick along the scoreboard. Amla and du Plessis struck a four each of Sandakan in the 18th over followed by a penalty 5 runs. Eventually, Amla fell to Asela Gunaratne in the 26th over. It was a pretty soft dismissal as Amla failed to read a straighter one and gave a simple return catch to the bowler.

Comeback man Ab de Villiers came into the middle and with a shade over 50 required, the duo ensured that the hosts reached the paltry target without any further hiccups. Du Plessis struck some delightful shots en route to his half-century. His innings of 55 of 68 balls contained 5 hits to the fence. On his comeback match, de Villiers looked pretty comfortable and remained unbeaten on 30 of 27 balls which included 3 fours and a six.

Du Plessis smashed Kusal Mendis for a boundary in the 35th over to complete the formalities. Considering the overwhelming performance from the hosts, it will be very difficult for the islanders to make a comeback in the 5 match series.

Brief Scores

Sri Lanka 181 in 48.3 overs (Kusal Mendis 62, Imran Tahir 3/26, Wayne Parnell 3/48)

South Africa 185/2 in 34.2 overs (Hashim Amla 57, Faf du Plessis 55)

South Africa won by 8 wickets (with 94 balls remaining)