6.00 pm That's all we have for you. Do join us for the second ODI when South Africa will plan to wrap up a historic maiden series triumph in his country and Sri Lanka will be priming their claws for a comeback. Its bound to be a cracker and we hope to have your company again on Wednesday. That will be a Day-night affair, mind you. So until then, this is Alagappan Muthu going quiet
Daniel Alexande: "Sri Lanka should appoint Amla as SL vice-captain, that's the only way to stop him scoring "
Hashim Amla is the Man of the Match for his 13th ton in ODI cricket. "Obviously it was a good wicket to bat on, I know we managed to bowl Sri Lanka for 240 but the game went right to the 40th over./ The pitch eased out a little bit, but also the bowlers bowled really well. AB got away in our partnership and allowed me to play my game. It was a little slow, but it stayed the same throughout the game and that's fair. No, I dont think so. Obviously when the Tests start I'll put the thinking cap on, now I'm just concentrating on help AB out in the ODIs"
"Hopefully on our way, Certainly not there yet. Sri Lanka are a very goot team at home," says AB de Villiers. "We fought really well and really proud of our first innings here. I wasn;t too happy with my dismissal. I'm not going to go easy with myself. I thought the guys recovered really well. McLaren and Miller showed what this team was bout in the end. Its always a concern when Sanga walks out and Dilshan also played really well. We have to come out with some answers like we did today. We are very motivated to win our first series here, things have started really well and we'll have to go really hard in the next few games,"
5.55 pm "We had a bad day at the office. South Africans played better cricket and we were rusty," says Angelo Mathews. "After the start we got, the middle order made some poor shots selection and that cost us the game. If we'd held onto our catches, it would have been different. It was a very good wicket and the margin of error was very small. We bowed 45 overs very well. We are definitely under pressure but its pretty simple, we have to pull our socs up and win,"
South Africa had to come from behind a few times in this game. First when they lost a couple of top-order wickets together and AB de Villiers and Hashim Amla strung together a very business-like partnership. And then while bowling, Sri Lanka had got off to a rapid start and Kumar Sangakkara was batting like a dream again. But Imran Tahir, after being smacked around, and Ryan McClaren with some canny change of pace secured a well-fought victory for the visitors
5.40 pm Considering the top order's performance, Sri Lanka would feel very aggrieved with his result. But South Africa have said all along - they've learned their lessons, they have a better side this time and they were looking at Tahir as an attacking option. All of those claims came to pass today as they secured only their third win in 17 ODIs against Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka
tAHIR: "5 wickets in 4 overs .. i was expecting that it ll go to 49, 50 .. but just 40.3 SL wts going on ???"
BAW Mendis c McLaren b Steyn 0 (11m 7b 0x4 0x6) SR: 0
Steyn takes aim at the last wicket needed for South Africa
END OF OVER:40 | 6 Runs 1 Wkt | SL: 229/9 (76 runs required from 60 balls, RR: 5.72, RRR: 7.60)
- Lasith Malinga6 (4b)
- Ajantha Mendis0 (4b)
- Imran Tahir7-0-50-3
- Dale Steyn7-0-38-1
Some of the crowd are trying to beat the Colombo traffic by leaving early
jitu: "Plz bring tisara next match....... " Malinga is the last man in
SMSM Senanayake b Imran Tahir 6 (9m 5b 1x4 0x6) SR: 120
Imran Tahir, the man who turned this match around with one little wicket, comes back
END OF OVER:39 | 1 Run 1 Wkt | SL: 223/8 (82 runs required from 11 overs, RR: 5.71, RRR: 7.45)
- Ajantha Mendis0 (4b)
- Sachithra Senanayake6 (3b)
- Dale Steyn7-0-38-1
- Ryan McLaren6-0-33-2
neil: "slow over rate won't matter if they bowl them all out, which is looking more and more likely." Exactly what we were discussing here in office
shihan: "@Jan: Sanga had to play a rash shot because what Thirimanne did earlier..DL par score got to Sanga with the fall of Thiri."
Ajanthan Mendis is at No. 10. Sri Lanka have lost three wickets in the batting powerplay
KMDN Kulasekara b Steyn 1 (6m 3b 0x4 0x6) SR: 33.33
Nathan: "13 overs to go with less than 30 minutes of play left. Why was the delay. Slow over rate?" Will happen with a four man pace attack
END OF OVER:38 | 6 Runs 2 Wkts | SL: 222/7 (83 runs required from 12 overs, RR: 5.84, RRR: 6.91)
- Nuwan Kulasekara1 (2b)
- Sachithra Senanayake5 (2b)
- Ryan McLaren6-0-33-2
- Dale Steyn6-0-37-0
Jan: "after seeing Sangakkara's reaction of the the Thirimanne dismissal, how would he react to his own silly shot?"
Sachithra Senanayake is out in the middle now and the par score has ballooned
KC Sangakkara c sub (F du Plessis) b McLaren 88 (144m 84b 9x4 0x6) SR: 104.76
Kulasekara rushes out to the middle. Touches the turf for some good luck. Du Plessis is chatting with McLaren and Steyn regarding the field and bowling plans
HDRL Thirimanne b McLaren 15 (34m 26b 0x4 0x6) SR: 57.69
D/L par score after this over will be 223
END OF OVER:37 | 10 Runs | SL: 216/5 (89 runs required from 13 overs, RR: 5.83, RRR: 6.84)
- Kumar Sangakkara88 (83b)
- Lahiru Thirimanne15 (25b)
- Dale Steyn6-0-37-0
- Ryan McLaren5-0-27-0
It is a day match so there are certain regulations to be followed before the lights can be put on