Fast bowler Lungi Ngidi gave South Africans a glimpse of the future with an eye catching performance of nerve and pace with the ball that resulted with a handsome return of 2/13 on his debut as Proteas beat Sri Lanka by 19 runs on Friday.
The Proteas have taken a 1-0 lead in this three match series.
The match was reduced to ten overs per side after persistent rain, which was braved by the near capacity crowd of 12 707, over the Highveld delayed proceedings for about two hours.
Proteas started the match with debutants in the form of Ngidi, who was named the man-of-the match, Theunis De Bruyn, Mangaliso Mosehle, Jon-Jon Smuts and Andile Phehlukwayo.
With this match turning out to be about the experienced players following the exploits of stand-in captain Farhaan Behardien and David Miller with the bat and spinners Imran Tahir and Aaron Phangiso with the ball, Ngidi announced himself in some style.
Tahir had already taken two and Phangiso the other one of the three Sri Lankan wickets when Ngidi joined the party with his first international T20 wicket to removed Seekuge Prasanna after 7.2 overs.
He was at it again a few balls later as he removed the experienced Kusal Mendis following a team dismissal where the ball on the fence was first caught by Heino Kuhn who tossed it to Tahir to complete the catch.
Wayne Parnell also got his name among the South African wicket takers list for dismissing Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews with De Bruyn taking the catch.
Though the bowlers will get credit for restricting Sri Lanka to 107, the work was done by Miller and Behardien, whose partnership of 51 helped South Africa to a defendable total of 126 during their innings.
During South Africa’s batting, they were shaken in the second when Nuwan Kulasekara got the breakthrough by trapping Kuhn leg before wicket after he scored ten runs as he was made to pay the price for missing the in swinger.
It was not long before they slumped to two wickets down when Smuts was caught by Asela Gunaratne for 13 runs at deep extra cover after he lobbed his effort into the air from the bowling of Suranga Lakmal.
The two early wickets saw David Miller arrive at the crease with the Proteas struggling on 30/2 after 2.4 overs and he accelerated with his trademark attacking play to score quick fire 40 from 18 balls which included three boundaries and as many maximums.
De Bruyn, who looked comfortable on the crease, was the third man to depart having scored 19 runs for South Africa as a result of a wonderful diving catch by Gunaratne at cover-point as he tried to attack leg-break spinner Seekuge Prasana in the fifth over.
De Bruyn’s departure saw stand-in captain Farhaan Behardien arrive at the crease with the score at 54/3 to join Miller and lots of work to do to push South Africa to a competitive score and the two experienced men put together a partnership of 51 runs.
Miller departed in the 9th over when he was caught by Lakmal at long on from the bowling of Kulasekara and he was soon followed by Mosehle but Behardien finished off the job as he ended his batting innings unbeaten on 31 with South Africa having set a target of 127 to win.
It proved to be a tough ask for Sri Lanka as Ngidi and Tahir dazzled with two wickets apiece and they were supported by Phangiso and Parnell, who contributed one, each as South Africa heads to Johannesburg on Sunday looking to wrap up the series with a game to spare.
TMG Digital
Ngidi shines as SA beat Sri Lanka by 19 runs in first T20
Fast bowler Lungi Ngidi gave South Africans a glimpse of the future with an eye catching performance of nerve and pace with the ball that resulted with a handsome return of 2/13 on his debut as Proteas beat Sri Lanka by 19 runs on Friday.
The Proteas have taken a 1-0 lead in this three match series.
The match was reduced to ten overs per side after persistent rain, which was braved by the near capacity crowd of 12 707, over the Highveld delayed proceedings for about two hours.
Proteas started the match with debutants in the form of Ngidi, who was named the man-of-the match, Theunis De Bruyn, Mangaliso Mosehle, Jon-Jon Smuts and Andile Phehlukwayo.
With this match turning out to be about the experienced players following the exploits of stand-in captain Farhaan Behardien and David Miller with the bat and spinners Imran Tahir and Aaron Phangiso with the ball, Ngidi announced himself in some style.
Tahir had already taken two and Phangiso the other one of the three Sri Lankan wickets when Ngidi joined the party with his first international T20 wicket to removed Seekuge Prasanna after 7.2 overs.
He was at it again a few balls later as he removed the experienced Kusal Mendis following a team dismissal where the ball on the fence was first caught by Heino Kuhn who tossed it to Tahir to complete the catch.
Wayne Parnell also got his name among the South African wicket takers list for dismissing Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews with De Bruyn taking the catch.
Though the bowlers will get credit for restricting Sri Lanka to 107, the work was done by Miller and Behardien, whose partnership of 51 helped South Africa to a defendable total of 126 during their innings.
During South Africa’s batting, they were shaken in the second when Nuwan Kulasekara got the breakthrough by trapping Kuhn leg before wicket after he scored ten runs as he was made to pay the price for missing the in swinger.
It was not long before they slumped to two wickets down when Smuts was caught by Asela Gunaratne for 13 runs at deep extra cover after he lobbed his effort into the air from the bowling of Suranga Lakmal.
The two early wickets saw David Miller arrive at the crease with the Proteas struggling on 30/2 after 2.4 overs and he accelerated with his trademark attacking play to score quick fire 40 from 18 balls which included three boundaries and as many maximums.
De Bruyn, who looked comfortable on the crease, was the third man to depart having scored 19 runs for South Africa as a result of a wonderful diving catch by Gunaratne at cover-point as he tried to attack leg-break spinner Seekuge Prasana in the fifth over.
De Bruyn’s departure saw stand-in captain Farhaan Behardien arrive at the crease with the score at 54/3 to join Miller and lots of work to do to push South Africa to a competitive score and the two experienced men put together a partnership of 51 runs.
Miller departed in the 9th over when he was caught by Lakmal at long on from the bowling of Kulasekara and he was soon followed by Mosehle but Behardien finished off the job as he ended his batting innings unbeaten on 31 with South Africa having set a target of 127 to win.
It proved to be a tough ask for Sri Lanka as Ngidi and Tahir dazzled with two wickets apiece and they were supported by Phangiso and Parnell, who contributed one, each as South Africa heads to Johannesburg on Sunday looking to wrap up the series with a game to spare.
TMG Digital
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