Sri Lanka vs South Africa, 1st ODI - Live Cricket Score, Commentary

Series: South Africa tour of Sri Lanka, 2014 Venue: R.Premadasa Stadium, Colombo Date & Time: Jul 06, 09:45 AM LOCAL

RSA and SL will look to make the perfect start. © Cricbuzz

The Proteas begin their campaign with a 3-match ODI series, which will be followed by a couple of Test matches. The visitors have had a good start to the tour winning their practice game against Sri Lanka Board President's XI. However, they cannot afford to be complacent and will have to play extremely well as the hosts are fresh from a series win in England. There is no doubt that this is going to be a hard fought series. It will be interesting to see the team combination of both the sides.

South Africa won the toss and elected to bat first. The pitch is expected to be batsmen-friendly although the new ball bowlers will get some sort of help at the start.

Sri Lanka (Playing XI): Tillakaratne Dilshan, Kushal Janith Perera, Kumar Sangakkara(w), Mahela Jayawardene, Lahiru Thirimanne, Angelo Mathews(c), Ashan Priyanjan, Nuwan Kulasekara, Sachithra Senanayake, Ajantha Mendis, Lasith MalingaSouth Africa (Playing XI): Quinton de Kock(w), Hashim Amla, Jacques Kallis, AB de Villiers(c), Jean-Paul Duminy, David Miller, Ryan McLaren, Vernon Philander, Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel, Imran Tahir

Opting to bat first, South Africa made a solid start to their innings as their openers, Hashim Amla and Quinton de Kock, took their side to 45/0 in the 10th over. The openers were made to work hard for their runs with Sri Lanka bowling tight and not giving away many freebies, but the openers stuck to the task well and cashed in whenever an opportunity presented itself.

de Kock was the more expressive off the duo, stepping out to hit Sachitra Senenayake for a six over wide long-on being his best shot. Amla, on the other hand, struggled to get going consuming a number of deliveries as he tried to get his eye in.

Quinton de Kock in action. The left-hander made an impressive start with a number of crisp boundaries. ©Reuters

Quinton de Kock had got himself into a position of promise and looked set to capitalize big time and get himself another big score. Just when things started to look ominous for the hosts, their captain Angelo Mathews came to the rescue.

The medium pacer had the well-set Quinton de Kock out bowled with a rather innocuous looking delivery for 27 to give SL their first breakthrough.

Buoyed by the success, Ajantha Mendis struck in the very next over to send back Jacques Kallis for a 2-ball duck. The legendary all-rounder missed the flick off a carrom ball, and was trapped plumb in front.

10 9

Hashim Amla made a fine start to the series as he brought up a hard-working fifty to give RSA a solid platform. He, along with AB de Villiers, helped South Africa cross the 100-run mark and set themselves for a strong finish.

Sri Lanka had only themselves to blame for not having more in their wickets column. Captain Angelo Mathews put down his rival captain when ABD was still trying to get his eye in, while Thisara Perera put down Amla when the batsman was just 1 short of his fifty.

How costly will the misses prove to be? Only time will tell.

AB de Villiers was typically busy during his knock, taking on bowlers and fielders at will, as he continuously kept turning the strike around and picking boundaries to put RSA on top.

He went on to reach his fifty soon after as RSA closed in on the 200-run mark.

The stand between AB de Villiers and Hashim Amla reached 150 and the duo looked set to punish the Lankans some more. However, Mendis proved to be the breakthrough provider for the hosts as the spinner had AB de Villiers out caught for 75.

Hashim Amla continued unperturbed by his captain's wicket as he went on to notch up his 13th ODI century soon after. The right-hander had struggled to cope with the pitch at the early stages of the innings, but he came to terms in time and started to display his full repertoire to put RSA in a strong position.

Amla was out soon after, but his superlative knock had enabled RSA to set their sights on 300.

David Miller made full use of the platform set by Hashim Amla as he slammed 36 off 21 balls and shared a vital 33-ball 53 run stand with Ryan McLaren to help South Africa end their innings at 304/5.

Kusal Perera and Tillakaratne Dilshan helped Sri Lanka past the 50-run mark with some fine batting. But, just when Sri Lanka would have hoped for the duo to kick on, Perera was out to Vernon Philander.

The left-hander looked in good touch and would have been disappointed at having thrown his wicket away.

Tillakaratne Dilshan took over after the wicket of Kusal Perera and he delighted the crowd with some lusty blows. He too however threw his wicket away just when he would have liked to dig in and score big.

The right-hander was out trying to cit Morne Morkel, but only succeeded in edging the ball to the keeper.

Imran Tahir turned in a spell of absolute quality to swing the match in the visitors' favour. His first spell had proved rather costly, but the leg-spinner kept at the attack and was justly rewarded.

Mahela Jayawardene and Ashan Priyanjan were out in quick succession to Tahir as Sri Lanka slipped to 138/4 and found themselves in a spot of bother.

Angelo Mathews (L) and Hashim Amla shake hands after the latter got to his hundred. ©Reuters

Kumar Sangakkara showed why he has been in such good touch as he slammed another fifty to keep Sri Lanka in the hunt. However, Sri Lanka lost Angelo Mathews to Morne Morkel immediately after the drinks break to leave the side in a spot of bother.

Things could've gotten much worse for Sri Lanka as Lahiru Thirimanne offered an easy catch to Quinton de Kock, but the South African wicket-keeper fluffed the chance.

As Sri Lanka started to make a serious case of the chase, tragedy struck for the home team as Lahiru Thirimanne and Kumar Sangakkara were out in the space of 3 deliveries.

Both batsmen, strangely, were out to horrendous shots. Thirimanne was out bowled trying to mow a straight delivery to the leg side fence, while Sangakkara was out trying to hit on the up and holing out to cover.

Kulasekara's wicket to Steyn in the next over wiped out all but the most optimistic of Sri Lanka's hopes.