South Africa vs Sri Lanka 2017: 5 crucial moments from the 1st T20
David Miller and newly appointed stand-in skipper, Farhaan Behardien hit some lusty blows to take South Africa to 126/5 in a shortened 10 over game at Centurion. Sri Lanka got off to a brilliant start but lost their way in between to lose by 19 runs.
Dhananjaya de Silva and Nirosha Dickwella got Lanka off to a flier with an enterprising 59-run stand in 5 overs. Tahir dismissed them both in the sixth over to put the brake on the chase. Lungi Ngidi, on his debut, then produced a 4-run double-wicket over to win the game for the Proteas and in the process a Man of the Match award.
Brief Scores: South Africa 126/5 in 10 overs (Miller 40, Behardien 31) beat Sri Lanka 107/6 in 10 overs (Dickwella 43, Ngidi 2/12)
Result: South Africa won by 19 runs (Match reduced to 10 overs per side due to rain)
Man of the Match: Lungi Ngidi
Here’s a glance at some crucial moments in the first match of the three-match series.
#5 David Miller shows his firepower at no. 4
Farhaan Behardien had said before the match that he did not intend to waste Miller way down the order and that a promotion to no. 4 was imminent. Most of David Miller's scintillating knocks have come from up the order and this may have prompted the move.
Miller had also expressed his desire to stand up as one among the senior players in a new-look T20 team. He walked in at 30/2 and settled in, as is his style, before tonking Prasanna over long-on.
He went on to hit Matthews for a six and two fours in the same over before smacking Kulasekara into the grass banks. He was eventually dismissed by the seamer but not before he had hit 40 off 18 balls and took South Africa to a huge score.