The South African cricket team has bowled Sri Lanka out for a paltry 189 in the 40th over of the fourth One-Day International at St George’s Park in Port Elizabeth.
The Proteas lead the five match series 3-0. With the series already in the bag following their 71-run victory in Durban on Sunday, the Proteas were free to continue to experiment with their starting 11 ahead of the World Cup in May.
The most glaring issue for South Africa in recent months has been their inconsistency in the batting department. So Faf Du Plessis’ decision to bowl first after winning the toss would have come as a surprise to many.
For Proteas fans though, South Africa’s bowlers did not disappoint sharing the spoils.
Dale Steyn and Lungi Ngidi struck early for the Proteas removing both openers inside the first four overs reducing the visitors to 19 for two. Anrich Nortje also capitalised thanks to some poor shot selection from Sri Lanka’s batsmen.
The seamer took two wickets in consecutive deliveries leaving the Sri Lankans in even more trouble on 51 for four in the 11th over. Sri Lanka added just 18 runs to their total before Nortje struck again claiming his third scalp.
Andile Phehlukwayo also got in on the action with another wicket in the next over and the Sri Lankans slumped to 71 for six.
Just when it seemed the tourists were recovering somewhat, spinner Tabraiz Shamsi added his name to the wickets column further reducing the visitors to 97 for seven at the half-way mark.
Even JP Duminy, who hasn’t played for the Proteas since October last year managed a wicket.
Fortunately, for the tourists, however, Isuru Udana provided some rear-guard action to get them well past the 150 mark. He clubbed three successive sixes off the bowling of Nortje to bring up his maiden ODI half-century.
Udana was eventually dismissed by Phehlukwayo for a well-played 78 off just 57 deliveries as Sri Lanka were bundled out for well below par 189 inside 40 overs.
