Faf du Plessis's batting heroics, followed by some gritty bowling from Imran Tahir and Wayne Parnell under pressure, helped South Africa defeat Sri Lanka by 40 runs in a closely fought encounter of the five-match ODI series here at New Lands, Cape Town on Tuesday.
Chasing a mammoth 368 for a win, the Lankan Tigers were in the game until the 40th over before losing a flurry of wickets and were eventually bowled out for 327. Upul Tharanga made a quick-fire 119 to keep his side in the hunt.
Sri Lanka's reply started strongly as Tharanga and Niroshan Dickwella plundered 100 runs off the first 10 overs and gave their side a glimpse of an improbable victory. However, Tharanga's dismissal in the 30th over left Sri Lanka with a tough task of having to sustain that momentum.
Sandun Weerakkody, playing his second ODI, scored his maiden half-century to ensured that his side remains within range of the Proteas total.
After 45 overs, Sri Lanka were 317 for 7 and the fans at the New Lands thought they were in for a miracle.
But, leg spinner Tahir then took two wickets in his final over---Nuwan Kulasekara (1) and Weerakkody (58)---to leave Sri Lanka needing 51 off the last four overs with just one wicket in hand.
Besides Tahir, Parnell also took four wickets and was the pick of the bowlers for the Proteas.
Earlier, batting first, the hosts were helped to the target by Du Plessis, who was adjudged the Man of the Match, for scoring his career best 185, besides half centuries from Quinton de Kock and AB de Villiers which were the other highlights of the first innings.
South Africa lead the series 4-0 and will look to whitewash the Sri Lanka in the next ODI which is on February 10th at the SuperSport Park.
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