Watch: South Africa Vs Sri Lanka 3rd T20I Match Highlights
It was an exciting T20I series and credit to Sri Lanka for coming back as strongly as they did. Sri Lankan team spoiled South Africa batsman AB de Villiers’ comeback by stealing the T20 series from South Africa to claim the first cutlery in the country in their records.
South Africa Team was without their current spearhead, 20-year-old Lungi Ngidi, for most of their time on the field after he damaged his hip, and he could not bowl his last two overs, but had a slow fielding effort rather than lack of support to blame for their weakness to defend the total. They dropped five catches in total and noticed several more flying chances go unclaimed to acknowledge Sri Lanka some space in what was a tough task.
Dinesh Chandimal – captain, Sri Lanka: “Everyone was down after the Test series but we did well in all three games. Dickwella and Sandakan played well throughout the series. We won the second game, and we could repeat the performance in the third one too. Credit to the players, and to Angelo too; he’s a big part of this team. The two army boys finished it very well. Looking forward to one-dayers.”
Farhaan Behardien – captain, South Africa: “I thought 170 was a good score. We had a good cameo in the end too. We wanted to do much better than we did with the bat at Wanderers. The dropped catches gave the batsmen the momentum. Proved costly in the end. Imran Tahir is a magnificent performer for South Africa. Tonight, he pulled out a special performance that sadly wasn’t enough. To lose to a full house at Newlands is quite tough. We are off to PE tomorrow to prepare for the ODI series.”
The South African fielders failed to catch the ball and continuously dropped three catches.
6.4: DROPPED! Short again, de Silva pulls it over fine leg. Paterson gets under it but puts it down. Taken a single.
6.5: FOUR! Dropped another one! This time it’s the keeper! Short and angling down leg, Dickwella looks to pull it but gets it off the gloves.
6.6: NO RUN, Hat-trick of drops! Back of a length delivery, Dickwella looks to flat bat it straight down the ground but mistimes it. Parnell jumps to his highest, gets finger to it but he too can’t hold onto it. Luck combined with poor fielding is the story of the innings so far