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South Africa continue ODI dominance over Sri Lanka

Before we begin, here are some shambolic stats for Sri Lanka after their loss to South Africa in the 2nd ODI yesterday:

• 8 – The number of matches since Sri Lanka’s last ODI victory at home at the Rangiri International Stadium in Dambulla since 2015. They lost 7 while one didn’t have a result.
• 9 – The number of consecutive ODI losses for Sri Lanka at home. Their last win came last year against Zimbabwe.
• 10 – South Africa have won their last 10 ODIs against Sri Lanka. This is a record streak of wins between Sri Lanka and South Africa, the previous best being 6.

That goes to show how badly Sri Lanka is faring in international cricket at the moment. We understand that they are in a transition phase, but this transition is going on for too long now, with poor shot selection, in-disciplined bowling and pathetic efforts in the field too.

Yesterday, they batted first and put up 244/8 in their 50 overs, with Niroshan Dickwella (69) and Angelo Mathews (79) being the only two to look settled at the crease. It was a respectable score given that the pitch was misbehaving, and the bounce was varying, but Sri Lanka couldn’t capitalize.

Akila Dananjaya picked up 3/60, continuing his wicket-taking in this series, but the first 10-15 overs saw the bowlers and fielders leaking a lot of runs, which kept the visitors ahead even though they lost frequent wickets. Quinton de Kock launched at the top with 87, with Faf du Plessis and Hashim Amla scored forties.

From there, it wasn’t much of a task for South Africa, who registered a 4-wicket win, went 2-0 up in the ODI series and went on to record the records mentioned above. Sri Lanka now have to win the next one if they want to stay alive in the series. Man of the Match: Quinton de Kock.

Keep reading GutshotMagazine.com for similar major sporting updates.

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