Sri Lanka vs South Africa 1st ODI: Five talking points

South Africa’s uninspiring track record in the island nation got worse as Sri Lanka mauled their opponents at the Premadasa Stadium in Colombo by a margin of 180 runs.

While the world may be busy following the affairs at Lord’s, this is a critical series for South Africa for many reasons. They are beginning a new phase of their journey to the 2015 World Cup as Russell Domingo takes charge of the side after Gary Kirsten chose not to extend his contract post Champions Trophy due to personal reasons.

This squad under the leadership of AB De Villiers lacks the stalwarts but it has a core group of players who will be vying for key roles in the side in the immediate future. Moreover, they will be keen on improving their horrific track record in Sri Lanka where they have not won a game since 1993.

Sri Lanka had a few issues of their own to address prior to the game as Angelo Mathews was suspended whereas Nuwan Kulasekara was not available due to an injury he sustained in the West Indies.

Dinesh Chandimal’s first outing as captain was made easier by the fact that the senior stalwarts of the side made mockery of the South African bowling line-up.

Sangakkara, especially, played another scintillating knock becoming the second-highest run-scorer this year. Rangan Herath capped the day for the Lankan lions.

Here is a list of five talking points that were generated from the game:

Robin Petersen

5. Impotent spin attack 

South Africa’s pace battery lacks the bite that they usually boast of without the presence of Dale Steyn as a result of which greater responsibility will fall upon the spinners given the fact that the surfaces will be slow and dry.

Rangana Herath’s performance suggested that there was enough in the wicket for the spinners to exploit but South Africa’s pack of three left-arm spinners looked ineffective on the day. They failed to stop the flow of runs in the middle overs, never threatened to break a partnership and failed to create pressure on the batsman.

Sri Lanka did not get off to a flying start but breakthroughs were required in the middle overs which never came allowing the batsman to go for the kill in the death overs.