Perera guides SL to five-wicket win
by Thahir Asmal 20 January 2012, 22:35
Thisara Perera struck a maiden career half-century to help Sri Lanka beat South Africa by five wickets in the fourth Sunfoil one-day international at the De Beers Diamond Oval in Kimberley on Friday.
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Left-hander Perera, considered more of a bowling all-rounder, showed his hand with the bat in some style by plundering an unbeaten 69 off just 44 balls as the tourists chased down the 300 victory target with eight balls to spare.
The Sri Lankans were also aided by some sloppy fielding by the Proteas, who dropped several catches, spurned a host of run-out opportunities and also had Perera out from a Wayne Parnell no-ball early in his innings.
Tillakaratne Dilshan also played his hand with a tour-best 87 off 87, while Dinesh Chandimal continued his impressive induction to international cricket with 59 off 81.
It all meant that Sri Lanka had a first win on the one-day leg of the tour, although they had already slipped to a series loss when the home side went 3-0 ahead in Bloemfontein during the week.
Earlier, the hosts had made 299 for seven, an innings built around AB de Villiers’ swashbuckling 96 off 76 and 68 off 69 from Graeme Smith.
It was a slightly disappointed total considering they were 242 for three with more than 10 overs to go, although the visitors then did well to pull themselves back in the game with some good bowling towards the death.
They then began the chase poorly by losing opener Upul Tharanga (six) in the fourth over to Lonwabo Tsotsobe, who ended as the pick of the bowlers with three for 51.
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But Kumar Sangakkara (32) and Dilshan rebuilt impressively with a stand of 83 in 13.1 overs, before the former was excellently caught by Alviro Petersen on the deep midwicket fence – the fielder timing his jump to perfection, before collecting and keeping his balance nicely.
The expensive Robin Peterson took the wicket, but he was then plundered for six two balls later by Chandimal, a shot that showed how much he had come along in the series.
The youngster then put on 68 with his captain Dilshan, who survived a run out and review when he was given out leg before wicket, although he failed to turn his 25th career 50 into three figures and fell when he was caught sharply by JP Duminy at short cover.
FALLING APART IN THE FIELD
Lahiru Thirimanne (13) went quickly to give the South Africans hope, but they then began to fall apart in the field.
Perera, who was promoted up the order, was given out lbw, but decided to review the judgement and replays caught Parnell overstepping.
Another quick-fire 50 partnership followed with Chandimal, the next man to go with more than 50 still required, but Perera kept the scorecard ticking over.
He ended up plundering five sixes and three fours, and along with Angelo Matthews (21 off 25), guided the visitors over the line.
The day had began with South Africa winning the toss and batting first, with Smith and Petersen savaging 84 in 13.1 overs as their innings took a similar path to that of the Sri Lankan one.
The former captain went to his 45th one-day 50 from 45 balls and put on 87 in just over 10 overs with his successor De Villiers before departing.
De Villiers was in one of his aggressive moods and plundered 50 in just 31 balls, but fell four short of a century when he became one of two wickets for Perera in the space of eight balls.
Duminy (36) was the other as Perera collected two for 34, with Parnell (21 off 17) and Peterson (23 off 31) helping propel their team to 299, a total that was eventually overhauled by the tourists.
Teams
South Africa - Graeme Smith, Alviro Petersen, Colin Ingram, AB de Villiers (capt, wk), JP Duminy, Faf du Plessis, Robin Peterson, Vernon Philander, Wayne Parnell, Morne Morkel, Lonwabo Tsotsobe.
Sri Lanka - Tillakaratne Dilshan (capt), Upul Tharanga, Kumar Sangakkara (wk), Dinesh Chandimal, Lahiru Thirimanne, Angelo Mathews, Sachithra Senanayake, Thisara Perera, Nuwan Kulasekara, Lasith Malinga, Rangana Herath.