JOHANNESBURG, Feb 5: South Africa routed Sri Lanka by seven wickets to take the third one-day international at the Wanderers today in a match held up for an hour after bees swarmed onto the famous arena.
The hosts also took a winning 3-0 lead in the five-match series after bowling out Sri Lanka for 163 before South Africa captain AB de Villiers starred with an undefeated 60.
In what has become a traditional �pink day� at the Wanderers, with the South African players and most of the capacity crowd wearing pink in support of breast cancer awareness, De Villiers apologised for not providing the feast of run scoring that has marked four previous such occasions.
�The crowd was amazing although we didn�t score 300 and hit a lot of sixes. Our focus today was on winning the series and our bowlers did a fantastic job. It wasn�t an easy wicket to bat on and if Sri Lanka had got a hundred runs more they could have made it difficult for us,� said De Villiers.
Sri Lanka captain Upul Tharanga was left to bemoan another sub-standard batting performance, with five batsmen falling to short-pitched bowling. �We had a very good start but we didn�t capitalise. Niroshan Dickwella batted well but didn�t have support.�
Despite Dickwella�s 74, Sri Lanka were bowled out in 39.2 overs after being sent in to bat. It was the third time in as many matches they failed to bat for a full 50 overs.
SCORECARD
Sri Lanka: N Dickwella c De Kock b Pretorius 74, U Tharanga c Pretorius b Rabada 31, K Mendis c Amla b Phehlukwayo 4, D Chandimal c Morris b Phehlukwayo 4, D de Silva c Amla b Morris 16, A Gunaratne c Pretorius b Rabada 2, S Pathirana b Imran Tahir 18, L Madushanka c Du Plessis b Pretorius 0, S Lakmal c Behardien b Pretorius 0, L Kumara c Rabada b Imran Tahir 5, L Sandakan not out 0. Extras: (lb3, w6) 9. Total: (39.2 overs) 163. Fall of wickets: 1-60, 2-75, 3-89, 4-115, 5-125, 6-149, 7-149, 8-155, 9-158, 10-163. Bowling: Rabada 7-0-39-2, Morris 8-0-38-1, Pretorius 7-2-19-3, Duminy 3-0-17-0, Phehlukwayo 5-0-26-2, Imran Tahir 9.2-1-21-2.
South Africa: Q De Kock b Kumara 8, H Amla run out (Madushanka) 34, F Du Plessis c De Silva b Madushanka 24, A De Villiers not out 60, J Duminy not out 28. Extras: (lb1, nb1, w8) 10. Total: (3 wkts, 32 overs) 164. Fall of wickets: 1-23, 2-58, 3-92. Bowling: Lakmal 6-1-23-0), Kumara 8-0-49-1, Madushanka 4-0-15-1, Sandakan 6-0-33-0, Pathirana 7-0-35-0, De Silva 1-0-8-0. � AFP
