Sri Lanka vs South Africa: 2nd ODI - 5 talking points

South Africa trail Sri Lanka 0-2 after losing the 2nd ODI by 17 runs (D/L method)

South Africa put in an improved performance in the second ODI of the five-match series against Sri Lanka, but it was not enough to prevent them from going 2-0 down in the series.

Their past record in Sri Lanka does not augur well for the rest of the series as they are yet to win a 50-over match on Sri Lankan soil in almost twenty years.

The sub-continent giants won the toss and decided to follow the template they set up in the first victory by batting first. Morne Morkel made an early dent allowing South Africa to penetrate the middle order this time. Tillakaratne Dilshan’s knock of 43 runs off 64 balls was bettered by stand-in captain Dinesh Chandimal who scored 43 off 51 balls.

These proved to be significant contributions in the context of the game. South Africa’s effort with the ball was commendable as Morne Morkel led the bowling attack, finishing with figures of 3/34 in his 10 overs as every other bowler chipped in too. Unfortunately, the batting line-up could not capitalise upon that.

Hashim Amla, who missed the first game due to a neck-strain, was injured in the field and could not participate with the bat. That proved to be a heavy blow as the Proteas lost early wickets once again as Robin Peterson and JP Duminy departed quickly.

Alviro Petersen’s resilience was broken by Rangana Herath whose purple patch continues. David Miller and Ryan McLaren were left to pick up the pieces as South Africa were reeling at 69/5. They managed to get a partnership going only for the rain to wash out the rest of the match.

The victory margin of 17 runs, arrived upon by D/L method, was not an accurate reflection of the one-sided nature of the contest given South Africa’s lack of fight with the bat.

Here are five talking points that were generated from the match:

5. Amla’s injury

Hashim Amla

Hashim Amla is indispensable to this inexperienced South African batting line-up, and that was exposed in the 180-run loss that they suffered in the first match.

His return for the second game was a considerable boost to this side in terms of skill and experience. However, he suffered a knee-injury while fielding at the fine-leg boundary in the 43rd over of the game that meant he could not participate in the run-chase. It looked like a serious injury, and he will not take the field in the next game, but he will definitely be a part of the contest at some stage in this series.