South Africa v Sri Lanka, 2nd ODI – 5 Talking Points

The first positives Sri Lanka had on the tour after winning the T20I series with a margin of 2-1 they had the upper hand for most part of the series in the shortest format, though South Africa fielded an inexperienced squad but the Sri Lankans had the conditions against them; but all that has vanished now with the return of South Africa’s major players.

The 2nd ODI at Kingsmead has a lot to talk about. Sri Lanka will take some heart from their small, momentary fights but most of it has been a sorry state. Today as well the Lankans were lucky with the toss and decided to bowl first, but does it really matter when you lose by 121 runs? They dismissed the South African openers quickly and then took the big wicket of AB de Villiers.

They must have just started to think that things are going their way when that happened, but things started to slip away as it has always been the case with Sri Lanka. Du Plessis-Miller reconstructed an innings that set the platform for South Africa. It was time to for the Sri Lankan batsmen to do something special, but their performance with the bat looked like a formality, to say the least. Here are 5 talking points from the 2nd ODI.

1. Fiery Faf

Faf du Plessis came to the crease in the fourth over after the early tottering of his team. Hashim Amla left, Quinton de Kock left and AB de Villiers wasn’t by his side either. Sri Lanka’s spinners were ready to dominate further but who knew du Plessis was here to stay. He took upon himself the responsibility to anchor the innings from then on and went on to register his century. For 38 long overs. He was out there hitting the ball to mark his 7th ODI hundred.

He rarely swayed from his strike rate of 87.50 and was looking at ease with David Miller on his side. While there were more singles and twos in his knock, 7 fours and 1 six did come in that process. Du Plessis reached his century by sending a Nuwan Kulasekara delivery to the boundary with a back-foot punch in the 40th over. A punch in the air, smile on the face and his bat raised, he had laid the foundation for South Africa by then. He stayed there till the 42nd over and with his 105 off 120 balls, ensured a score in excess of 300.

Also read- India v England, 3rd T20I – 5 Talking Points

2. Killer Miller!

While du Plessis was making things smoother on one end, he was well supported by David Miller from the other. They made a strong case for their team. Miller’s last 4 ODI scores at Kingsmead are 117*, 118*, 36, 70. We got a slight idea of the form he was in during the T20Is, but this was huge. 117* off 98 is quite a performance.

He later combined with Morris to set up a quick, beneficial partnership. Sri Lanka was under immense pressure in the slog overs and Miller took full use of that hitting Kulasekara for 2 sixes and a four. In no time, his helmet was off too, his love affair with Kingsmead continues as he registered his 4th ODI ton and South Africa cruised to over 300.

3. Lankan bowlers perish

Since Lasith Malinga’s departure, the Lankan bowling has been most weak during death. There really is not a single bowler that the Sri Lankan lineup who can be relied upon to even come close to saving some runs during slog overs. Even today, the last over was perhaps what must have hit them the hardest. The presence of a 300+ score is firstly a psychological boost for the opponents, and you naturally lose heart when you know you’ve been hit for those many runs. The batsmen failed to come to their rescue, but that’s a different story altogether.

De Silva was taken upon my Miller in between and that was one of the crucial parts of his innings, and Kulasekara was targeted badly in the last over, there really wasn’t any rescue when it comes to the bowling. Kulasekara was hit for 76 runs in 10 overs alone. Sandakan couldn’t help with his 1/51 either. The best bowling figures for Sri Lanka remained Lakmal’s 2/54. While the best for South Africa were Duminy’s 2/30. Here lies the difference. Bowlers win you matches. Sri Lanka have lacked that.

4. Sri Lankan batsmen fail to step up

There was momentary hope for the Sri Lanka as they chased. Navroz Dickwella hit some boundaries off the South African seamers, and Upul Tharanga survived blows on the helmet. But that was very short-lived as both were out to excellent catches off the bowling of Wayne Parnell. They failed to keep up with the asking run rate and the gap only increased. The South African bowlers continued to chip in wickets in regular intervals.

No partnership really settled. And no batsmen really settled, most importantly. Chandimal was their highest scorer with 36 runs off 46. Imagine the inability of a team that batted on the pitch that gave 2 centuries in the previous innings to go on and score 30-odd runs to be the highest in the next. While Gunaratne who has expectations associated with himself was run out for the second time in the series. And very honestly, the lower order batsmen otherwise can’t be expected to keep their nerves when the top order hasn’t done much to motivate them to do so.

5. Lankan skipper speaks:

After Sri Lanka’s second straight loss in the ODI series captain, Upul Tharanga felt they missed the opportunities they should have grabbed. “They were 100/4. After that Faf and Miller had very good partnership. That happens in the game so we have to accept it (dropped catch of Faf). Pitch was really good for batting. We had plenty of 20s and 30s, but no one carried on. I’m all right.

The match was shaped in the first innings when Faf and Miller led a superb recovery through their 117-run stand, both batsmen going on to score centuries. South Africa had a strong finish which powered them over 300. Given how Sri Lanka’s batting had gone on the tour, it would have taken some getting.” Tharanga said.