SA thrash SL to sweep T20 series

COLOMBO: Openers Reeza Hendricks and Quinton de Kock powered South Africa past Sri Lanka by 10 wickets in the third Twenty20 international to sweep the series on Tuesday.

Chasing 121 for victory, South Africa romped home in 14.4 overs with De Kock on 59 and Hendricks making 56 in Colombo.

Earlier, South African bowlers Kagiso Rabada and Bjorn Fortuin combined to keep Sri Lanka down to 120 for eight.

Sri Lanka, who also faced defeats in the first two matches, suffered from lack of partnerships after electing to bat in Colombo.

Sri Lanka slipped to 86-7 before number nine Chamika Karunaratne hit an unbeaten 24 off 19 balls to give the team total some respect as he finished the innings with a six.

Rabada rattled the top order with his pace to send back Avishka Fernando for 12 and then bowled Bhanuka Rajapaksa for five.

Fortuin got two key wickets including Dhananjaya de Silva, stumped for one, and Wanindu Hasaranga, out of four, to return figures of 2-21 with his left-arm spin.

Opener Kusal Perera top-scored with 39 before falling to skipper and left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj who trapped the wicketkeeper-batsman lbw.

De Kock was adjudged man of the match and was also awarded man of the series.

The visitors made just one change to their XI, bringing in allrounder Wiaan Mulder in for fast bowler Anrich Nortje. This was likely more to do with wanting to give Mulder a match ahead of the T20 World Cup, rather than down to any perceived deficiencies in the XI that won comprehensively on Saturday.

Sri Lanka made three changes. They brought back opener Avishka Fernando, leaving out wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Chandimal; brought in Kamindu Mendis to replace Charith Asalanka in the middle order; and also strengthened their seam bowling, by bringing in allrounder Lahiru Madushanka for left-arm spinner Praveen Jayawickrama.

Score Board

Sri Lanka won toss

Sri Lanka

K. Perera lbw b Maharaj 39

A. Fernando c & b Rabada 12

D. de Silva st de Kock b Fortuin 1

B. Rajapaksa b Rabada 5

K. Mendis c Maharaj b Markram 10

D. Shanaka c van der Dussen b Mulder 18

W. Hasaranga c Maharaj b Fortuin 4

L. Madushanka run out 1

C. Karunaratne not out 24

D. Chameera not out 2

Extras (lb1, w3) 4

Total (8 wickets, 20 overs) 120

Fall: 1-18 (Fernando), 2-19 (de Silva), 3-28 (Rajapaksa), 4-62 (Mendis), 5-80 (Perera), 6-85 (Hasaranga), 7-86 (Madushanka), 8-101 (Shanaka)

Did not bat: M. Theekshana

Bowling: Fortuin 4-0-21-2 (3w), Rabada 3-0-23-2, Pretorius 2-0-19-0, Shamsi 4-0-27-0, Markram 2-0-4-1, Maharaj 4-1-14-1, Mulder 1-0-11-1

South Africa (target 121)

R. Hendricks not out 56

Q. de Kock not out 59

Extras (w6) 6

Total (0 wickets, 14.4 overs) 121

Did not bat: A. Markram, R. van der Dussen, H. Klaasen, D. Pretorius, W. Mulder, K. Maharaj, K. Rabada, B. Fortuin, T. Shamsi

Bowling: Theekshana 4-0-28-0 (1w), Hasaranga 4-0-35-0, Mendis 3-0-22-0, Chameera 1-0-9-0 (5w), Karunaratne 1.4-0-13-0, Shanaka 1-0-14-0

Result: South Africa won by 10 wickets

Man of the Match: Q de Kock (SA)

Umpires: Kumar Dharmasena (SRI), Ruchira Palliyaguruge (SRI)