Sri Lanka aim to avoid runaway Proteas Series win

How quickly the visiting side recovers mentally from that eight-wicket drubbing will go a long way towards ensuring it draws level in the second game of five at Kingsmead in Durban on Wednesday.

The 2-1 victory in the T20I series went a little way towards making up for the 0-3 loss in the preceding Test series, but Upul Tharanga’s men again fell well short at St George’s Park.

Missing Angelo Mathews, the regular skipper, through an ankle injury sustained in the second T20I, Sri Lanka’s batting once again came unstuck by South Africa through the leg-spin of Imran Tahir and the left-arm swing at pace of Wayne Parnell.

Only Kusal Mendis offered any resistance worth the name with a steady 62, but the rest crumbled around him. For Sri Lanka to remain competitive against a cracking good outfit that has been fortified by the return from injury of AB de Villiers, the experienced hands in the middle order, Dinesh Chandimal and Tharanga himself, must make substantial contributions.

Sri Lanka’s long tour has been characterised by repeated batting meltdowns even as its bowlers have held their own. With the end of the tour imminent, the batsmen must necessarily rouse themselves and give a good account.

Commendable as the T20I series win was, Sri Lanka achieved that against an under-strength South Africa that had rested several first-choice players and fielded a new captain in Farhaan Behardien.

With the big guns all back for the ODIs in preparation for the ICC Champions Trophy 2017 in England and Wales in the summer, Sri Lanka’s task has become all the more difficult.

The promise that Mendis, Dhananjaya de Silva and Niroshan Dickwella have shown at various stages has to mushroom into something more substantial for the bowlers to have something of a target to defend, though, against a South African attack headlined by Kagiso Rabada and Tahir, that is perhaps easier said than done.

The presence of Nuwan Kulasekara lends massive experience to Sri Lanka’s bowling, which was taken apart in the last game by the South African top four.

De Villiers, back as the captain of the ODI side, enjoyed himself during a stroke-filled unbeaten 30 to build on half-centuries from Hashim Amla and Faf du Plessis, while Quinton de Kock’s fearlessness at the top of the 50-over tree is a massive roadblock that Kulasekara and Co. must find a way around.

Sri Lanka can take heart from the fact that in its only previous clash against South Africa at this venue, it eked out a tie in a rain-hit match in the 2003 ICC Cricket World Cup.

That result sent South Africa packing from the competition even as Sri Lanka went on to make the semi-final, but much water has flowed under the bridge since.

There is no Sanath Jayasuriya, Aravinda de Silva or Muttiah Muralitharan; South Africa has also undergone radical changes in personnel, but it has kept unearthing exciting talent to the extent that the transition has been smooth over the years, unlike in the case of Sri Lanka, which is still grappling with the retirements of Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara and Tillakaratne Dilshan.

South Africa is the favourite for this one. Sri Lanka has only shown sporadic flashes of brilliance all tour long; unless it can maintain intensity and consistency for the duration of the game, it will be difficult for it to keep a marauding South Africa at bay.

Teams (from), South Africa: AB de Villiers (capt), Quinton de Kock (wk), Hashim Amla, Faf du Plessis, JP Duminy, David Miller, Chris Morris, Wayne Parnell, Andile Phehlukwayo, Kagiso Rabada, Imran Tahir, Farhaan Behardien, Dwaine Pretorius, Tabraiz Shamsi.

Sri Lanka: Upul Tharanga (capt), Niroshan Dickwella, Sandun Weerakkody, Kusal Mendis, Dinesh Chandimal (wk), Dhananjaya de Silva, Asela Gunaratne, Nuwal Kulasekara, Jeffrey Vandersay, Suranga Lakmal, Lakshan Sandakan, Chaturanga de Silva, Thikshila de Silva, Lahiru Madushanka, Sachith Pathirana, Isuru Udana, Seekkuge Prasanna.