AP
SA batsman Hashim Amla plays a lofted drive during the first one-day international against Sri Lanka in Paarl yesterday. Picture: AP
Zaahier Adams
South Africa: 301/8
Sri Lanka: 43 all out
South Africa win by 258 runs
Lead five-match series 1-0
IF AB de Villiers ever wished for an easy introduction to his Proteas leadership reign, even he would not have dreamt of such a cake-walk here at Boland Park in the first one-day international against Sri Lanka.
“It’s not all going to be this easy, I have played the game long enough to know that. But it was a great team performance,” De Villiers said after the comprehensive victory.
The Proteas steamrolled the tourists, who looked a thousand light years from the team who competed in their second consecutive World Cup final in Mumbai last year. Instead, they resembled the haphazard lot who have since lost three consecutive ODI series since India’s triumph under current SA coach Gary Kirsten.
It is hard not to feel sorry for a team who have not been paid for their services since then, and consistently have to deal with political interference in selection, but even that cannot excuse their total lack of effort yesterday. De Villiers’s men simply outplayed the tourists in every single facet of the game, with the Proteas batting unit clicking into gear before Lonwabo Tsotsobe (3/19) and Morne Morkel caused all sorts of havoc with the new ball.
The Sri Lanka innings might have eventually lasted 20.1 overs, but the match was over as a contest in the eighth over already when they slumped to 13/6 with Tsotsobe and Morkel sharing three wickets apiece. Morkel returned for a second spell a few overs later to claim another wicket to finish with career-best figures of 4/10 in his six overs.
“I am very pleased,” he said at the after-match press conference. “I have started off slowly this season, but I knew there was a special performance around the corner.”
It is ironic that it was the islanders who were caught on the hop, as they are usually the team renowned for routing the opposition in this manner. The three lowest scores in ODI history have been inflicted by Sri Lanka, with the second – Canada 36 all out in the 2003 World Cup – achieved at this very ground. Tillakaratne Dilshan’s troops flirted embarrassingly close to these low points before being cleaned up for a national record low of 43.
And while the winelands venue might have been notorious in the past for some dodgy surfaces, there could be no such complaints last night. SA’s impressive 301/8 was testimony to this, with Hashim Amla especially looking untroubled throughout his superb 112 off 128 balls. He played comfortably, with seven of his eight fours struck between the third man and deep extra cover region.
His ninth career ODI century set the pace of the South African innings, allowing Jacques Kallis (72 off 80 balls), skipper De Villiers (52 off 40 balls) and Albie Morkel (25 off 16 balls) to play with the flair De Villiers promised in the pre-match presser.
Lasith Malinga was the one Sri Lankan to leave Paarl with his reputation still intact. His 5/53 was the sole silver lining in an embarrassing display from the tourists.
