Cape Town — Sri Lanka simply had no answers to a relentless Protea bowling and fielding onslaught in the second one day international at Kingsmead in Durban yesterday.
Set 308 to win, Sri Lanka were bundled out for 186 in 37.5 overs and lost the encounter by 121 runs.
Things started off positively enough with Niroshan Dickwella (25) and Upul Tharanga (26) attacking at every opportunity.
It took a special piece of fielding to break the 45 run opening stand with Faf du Plessis pulling off a reverse cup catch while standing on the edge of the circle at extra cover to give Wayne Parnell the first wicket of the innings.
Parnell struck again in his next over with AB de Villiers pulling off another stunning effort to remove Sri Lankan captain, Tharanga.
From that point, wickets fell regularly with all the bowlers chipping in and JP Duminy running out Asela Gunaratne with a direct hit from backward point.
Imran Tahir was again impressive for the Proteas and certainly is the kingpin during the middle overs. He ended with 2/25 in his 8.5 overs.
Earlier, the Proteas innings was set up by centuries from captain, Francois Du Plessis and David Miller.
Du Plessis (105), who came to the wicket with the early loss of Hashim Amla (15) in the fourth over, constructed the perfect one day innings, keeping the scoreboard ticking over and putting the bad balls away for boundaries.
Around him, however, his fellow batsmen struggled with Quinton de Kock (17), AB de Villiers (3) and JP Duminy (11) all falling relatively cheaply with Sri Lanka opting to take the pace off the ball and turn to spin early on.
Du Plessis then found a partner in Miller and the pair put on 117 for the fifth wicket before Du Plessis holed out at long-on looking to force the pace.
His innings came off just 120 balls and included seven fours and a six.
Miller went to his century in the final over of the innings, seeing the Proteas over the 300 mark. He ended on 117 off just 98 balls. His innings included six towering sixes, with the last one sailing out of Kingsmead.
Meanwhile, scintillating half-centuries from Suresh Raina and Mahendra Singh Dhoni helped India post a challenging 202 for six against England in the third and final Twenty20 international in Bangalore yesterday.
Put into bat in the series decider, India rode on the 55-run third-wicket partnership between Raina (63) and Dhoni (56) to thwart the England bowling attack after an early wicket fall.
The hosts lost skipper Virat Kohli for two after a terrible mix up with Lokesh Rahul (22) saw the star batsman being run out. Kohli was furious with Rahul for not responding to his call for a single.
Raina counter-attacked with two boundaries and five sixes during his 45-ball knock as he put on crucial partnerships with Rahul and Dhoni.
Rahul was bowled by Ben Stokes but the left-handed Raina carried on the power hitting as he recorded his fourth T20 fifty with a six off leg-spinner Adil Rashid.
Dhoni, who smacked five fours and two sixes in his 36-ball blitz, joined forces with Raina as the duo carted the England bowlers to all parts of the ground.
Raina fell in the 14th over while Dhoni stayed on until the second delivery of the final over.
Veteran batsman Yuvraj Singh also turned on the heat with his 10-ball 27 as he hit seamer Chris Jordan for two fours and two sixes to give India 24 runs in the 18th over. — AFP-Sport24.