Limping Mathews seals first SL win on tour
January 22, 2017 09:26 pm
Injured captain Angelo Mathews hit two sixes in the last over to hand Sri Lanka a series-levelling three-wicket win in the second Twenty20 international against South Africa on Sunday.
But the win came at a cost. Mathews said at the after-match presentation that he could miss the rest of the tour after twisting his right ankle when he dived to avoid being run out in the penultimate over.
On what Shaun Pollock called the most subcontinental-like surface seen all tour Farhaan Behardien chose to bat first in anticipation of the Wanderers pitch slowing down and taking turn as the game goes on. To that end, South Africa stuck with a line-up that included two specialist spinners in Imran Tahir and Aaron Phangiso, with Behardien also intending to use Jon-Jon Smuts left-arm spin.
Smuts was not needed on Friday night in Centurion, where the match was reduced to a 10-over a side shootout prompting South Africa to stick with the same XI for a full match at the Wanderers. Reeza Hendricks and Dane Paterson were the two unused members of the 13-man squad.
Sri Lanka, searching for their first win on the tour, made two changes to their team. Left-arm wrist-spinner bowler Lakshan Sandakan made his debut and left-arm quick Isuru Udana came in for the injured Nuwan Pradeep and Suranga Lakmal, who was given a day off.
South Africa 1 Jon-Jon Smuts, 2 Heino Kuhn, 3 Theunis de Bruyn, 4 David Miller, 5 Farhaan Behardien (capt), 6 Mangaliso Mosehle (wk), 7 Wayne Parnell, 8 Andile Phehlukwayo, 9 Aaron Phangiso, 10 Lungi Ngidi, 11 Imran Tahir
Sri Lanka 1 Niroshan Dickwella 2 Dhananjaya de Silva, 3 Kusal Mendis, 4 Angelo Mathews (capt), 5 Dinesh Chandimal (wk), 6 Asela Gunaratne, 7 Seekkuge Prasanna, 8 Thikshila de Silva, 9 Nuwan Kulasekera 10 Lakshan Sandakan, 11 Isuru Udana.
-ESPN
