COLOMBO: Inspired bowling and unbeaten fifties from Quinton de Kock and Reeza Hendricks helped South Africa sweep the Twenty20 series 3-0 against Sri Lanka with a crushing 10-wicket win on Tuesday.

       Chasing 121 for victory, South Africa romped home in 14.4 overs with De Kock on 59 and Hendricks making 56 in the third T20 in Colombo.

       South African bowlers Bjorn Fortuin and Kagiso Rabada took two wickets each to restrict Sri Lanka to 120-8 after the hosts elected to bat first.

       De Kock and Hendricks then put on South Africa’s highest T20 partnership of 121 for any wicket against Sri Lanka in another show of dominance after their previous nine-wicket win.

       De Kock, a left-hand wicketkeeper-batsman who hit a match-winning 58 in the second T20, raised his fifty in 40 balls and took the attack to the opposition bowlers.

       Hendricks recorded his seventh T20 half-century and hit five fours and one six in his 42-ball knock.

       South Africa’s bowlers set up the win after Rabada rattled the top order with his pace. He sent back Avishka Fernando for 12 and bowled Bhanuka Rajapaksa for five.

       Fortuin got two key wickets including Dhananjaya de Silva, stumped for one, and Wanindu Hasaranga, out for four, to return figures of 2-21 with his left-arm spin.

       Opener Kusal Perera top-scored with 39 before falling to skipper and left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj who trapped the wicketkeeper-batsman lbw.

       Sri Lanka slipped to 86-7 before number nine Chamika Karunaratne hit an unbeaten 24 off 19 balls to give the team total some respect as he finished the innings with a six.

       It was a disappointing result for Dasun Shanaka’s Sri Lanka who had won the three-match one-day series 2-1 last week.

       Scoreboard

       SRI LANKA:

       M.D.K.J. Perera lbw b Maharaj 39

       W.I.A. Fernando c and b Rabada 12

       D.M. de Silva st de Kock b Fortuin 1

       P.B.B. Rajapaksa b Rabada 5

       K.D. Mendis c Maharaj b Markram 10

       M.D. Shanaka c vd Dussen b Mulder 18

       W. Hasaranga c Maharaj b Fortuin 4

       L.D. Madushanka run out 1

       C. Karunaratne not out 24

       P.V.D. Chameera not out 2

       EXTRAS (LB-1, W-3) 4

       TOTAL (for eight wkts, 20 overs) 120

       FALL OF WKTS: 1-18, 2-19, 3-28, 4-62, 5-80, 6-85, 7-86, 8-101.

       DID NOT BAT: M.M. Theekshana.

       BOWLING: Fortuin 4-0-21-2 (2w); Rabada 3-0-23-2; Pretorius 2-0-19-0; Shamsi 4-0-27-0; Markram 2-0-4-1; Maharaj 4-1-14-1; Mulder 1-0-11-1.

       SOUTH AFRICA:

       Q. de Kock not out 59

       R.R. Hendricks not out 56

       EXTRAS (W-6) 6

       TOTAL (for no wkt, 14.4 overs) 121

       DID NOT BAT: A.K. Markram, H.E. van der Dussen, H. Klaasen, D. Pretorius, P.W.A. Mulder, K.A. Maharaj, K. Rabada, B.C. Fortuin, T. Shamsi.

       BOWLING: Theekshana 4-0-28-0 (1w); Hasaranga 4-0-35-0; Mendis 3-0-22-0 Chameera 1-0-9-0 (1w); Karunaratne 1.4-0-13-0; Shanaka 1-0-14-0.

       RESULT: South Africa won by 10 wickets to win three-match series 3-0.

       UMPIRES: H.D.P.K. Dharmasena (Sri Lanka) and R.S.A. Palliyaguruge (Sri Lanka).

       TV UMPIRE: R.M.P.J. Rambukwella (Sri Lanka).

       MATCH REFEREE: R.S. Madugalle (Sri Lanka).

       PLAYER-OF-THE-MATCH: Quinton de Kock.

       PLAYER-OF-THE-SERIES: Quinton de Kock.

       Published in Dawn, September 15th, 2021