Player of the Match
Player of the Match

Chew on this as we wait for South Africa to come out. Could Faf du Plessis and AB de Villiers be playing a T20 league at home next summer? South Africa unveil plans for new T20 league

Lytton: "Last 7 partnerships made 15 runs fewer than the first 3...goes to show how weak SL's middle order has been this series"

Di: "So most of the sponsorships for the pink day mainly hang off the idea that the proteas are going to be hitting tons of runs... doesn't look like the cancer foundation are going to get as much as they hoped for"

Among the better Sri Lankan performances today was Andrew Fidel Fernando's retelling of the bee episode: Wanderers scrambles to find Plan Bee
That will officially be the last bee pun on comms today.

Shan: "Today is our independence day. Wish and hope we get liberated from these average performances in the future! Just unbearable!! It seems all SL players are being bought up in Timbuktu! "

So after the bee saga and the concerns of docking overs, we've had a dramatic collapse. Sri Lanka were scratchy at the start but their openers weathered it and put on 60. From that point onwards, they've let themselves down. Poor shot selection was at the forefront of most of their wickets, and even a couple of dropped catches didn't affect the balance of the play. Dickwella looked good for his 74, but Tharanga was the only other one who got past 30. That should sum it up.

A good bowling performance by South Africa. With the exception of Duminy, everyone was among the wickets. Pretorius justified his selection with 3 for 19, his career-best. It still looks a good pitch and South Africa will be looking to seal the series rapidly here.

39.2
W
Imran Tahir to Kumara, OUT, good length outside off, he steps out, gets in a good position to strike it, but catches the bottom of the bat and it goes straight to Rabada at mid-off. That's the end of the innings. Sri Lanka continue to stay below 200 in this series.

CBRLS Kumara c Rabada b Imran Tahir 5 (11m 7b 1x4 0x6) SR: 71.42

around the wicket now

39.1
0
Imran Tahir to Kumara, no run, googly, good length, off stump, left alone

over the wicket now

END OF OVER:
39 | 5 Runs | SL: 163/9 | RR: 4.17

  • Lakshan Sandakan0 (5b)
  • Lahiru Kumara5 (5b)
  • Dwaine Pretorius7-2-19-3
  • Imran Tahir9-2-21-1
38.6
0
Pretorius to Sandakan, no run, full outside off, and looks like a slower yorker. Tails away from the batsman and through to the keeper
38.5
0
Pretorius to Sandakan, no run, good length, swinging away from off stump and beats his outside edge
38.4
1
Pretorius to Kumara, 1 run, bouncer going straight at his neck, he takes his eyes off and swats it to deep square leg
38.3
0
Pretorius to Kumara, no run, good length on middle, front foot defence
38.2
4
Pretorius to Kumara, FOUR, good length on middle stump, backs away and slogs it through midwicket
38.1
0
Pretorius to Kumara, no run, good length on off stump, this one is also coming back in and the batsman expects otherwise. Narrowly goes on top of off stump

END OF OVER:
38 | 2 Runs 1 Wkt | SL: 158/9 | RR: 4.15

  • Lakshan Sandakan0 (3b)
  • Lahiru Kumara0 (1b)
  • Imran Tahir9-2-21-1
  • Dwaine Pretorius6-2-14-3
37.6
0
Imran Tahir to Sandakan, no run, good length flipper just outside off, he shapes for the pull, gets squared up and jams it out to cover
37.5
0
Imran Tahir to Sandakan, no run, good length and spinning away from off stump, pushed back to the bowler off the back foot
37.4
0
Imran Tahir to Sandakan, no run, this time it is a googly. Full on off, defended off the front foot
37.3
W
Imran Tahir to Pathirana, OUT, well that'll embarrass him for a while. Good length on off stump and he expects this to be a wrong'un and turn away from him. It's a regulation leggie and catches off and middle as Pathirana forms an aesthetic passage for it

SS Pathirana b Imran Tahir 18 (39m 26b 1x4 0x6) SR: 69.23

37.2
2
Imran Tahir to Pathirana, 2 runs, droppedfull outside off, tries to slap this over mid-off, and Rabada takes a couple of steps back, hangs on and times the jump to perfection, but it just about eludes him after brushing his fingers, tough chance
37.1
0
Imran Tahir to Pathirana, no run, pushed flat and on a good length at the pads, defended to midwicket

Tahir from around the wicket

END OF OVER:
37 | 2 Runs 1 Wkt | SL: 156/8 | RR: 4.21

  • Lahiru Kumara0 (1b)
  • Sachith Pathirana16 (23b)
  • Dwaine Pretorius6-2-14-3
  • Imran Tahir8-2-19-0
36.6
0
Pretorius to Kumara, no run, good length outside off, angles away further after pitching and he lets it go
36.5
1
Pretorius to Pathirana, 1 run, back of a length on leg stump, glanced to fine leg off the hips

Joe: "Mr Comm was Fafs catch a thing of beauty?" The only thing stopping him from completing a cartwheel as he took that was his own awesome strength

36.4
W
Pretorius to Lakmal, OUT, short pitched ball on off stump, sits up nicely because of his pace, and it appears that Lakmal has absolutely nailed this hook shot, but it has more height than distance. Behardien gets under it nicely and takes a composed catch at deep square leg

RAS Lakmal c Behardien b Pretorius 0 (9m 6b 0x4 0x6) SR: 0.00

Hunting ground

646

Runs scored by De Villiers from 9 innings at the Wanderers before today's game. He has 3 hundreds and a SR of 133.19.

Personal Landmark

100

Number of ODIs played by Faf Du Plessis. He became the 21st cricketer from SA to reach this feat.He has scored 3514 runs at 42.33 before today's game.

On a roll

2012

Last instance of SA losing an ODI at the Wanderers . SL beat SA by 2 wickets. Since then they have won 4 in 4.