Inspired bowling and unbeaten fifties from Quinton de Kock and Reeza Hendrix helped South Africa register a 10-wicket victory in the Twenty20 series against Sri Lanka 3-0 in Colombo on Tuesday.
Chasing 121 for victory, South Africa scored 59 in 14.4 overs with de Kock and Hendricks 56 in the third T20I in Colombo.
Visiting bowlers Bjorn Fortuin and Kagiso Rabada took two wickets each to restrict Sri Lanka to 120-8.
The Proteas extended their winning streak to seven in T20 matches. They had won their third straight series in the shortest format with a win in the second match.
Captain Keshav Maharaj, who made his T20 debut at the start of the series, said, “Full credit to the boys, they played really well after losing the ODI.”
“Good preparation till the (T20) World Cup.”
De Kock and Hendrix put on South Africa’s highest T20 partnership of 121 runs for any wicket in another display of dominance following their previous nine-wicket win against Sri Lanka.
Left-arm wicketkeeper-batsman de Kock, who scored a match-winning 58 in the second T20I, smashed his 40-ball fifty and attacked the opposition bowlers.
Hendrix registered his seventh T20I half-century and hit five fours and a six in his 42-ball knock.
South Africa’s bowlers registered a win after Rabada shook the top order with his pace. He sent back Avishka Fernando for 12 and bowled Bhanuka Rajapaksa for five.
Fortuyn got two crucial wickets, with Dhananjay de Silva, stumped for one, and Wanindu Hasaranga, dismissed for four, returned figures of 2-21 with his left-arm spin.
Opener Kusal Perera scored 39 runs before falling to skipper and left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj, who carried the wicketkeeper-batsman lbw.
Number nine Chamika Karunaratne smashed an unbeaten 24 off 19 balls to slide Sri Lanka to 86-7, bringing the team some respect as she ended the innings with a six.
Captain Dasun Shanaka said, “Our bowling was good but we need to rethink our batting unit.
“The boys know what they need to do to make a move and we will do that. Wickets are important in T20s, although we started out but we only bowled in the middle overs and that is a matter of concern going forward.”
It was a disappointing result for the hosts which won the three-match ODI series 2-1 last week.
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