SL in SA: South Africa cruise to win 1st ODI by 8 wickets

South Africa cruised to a 8-wicket win against Sri Lanka to win the first ODI and go up 1-0 in the 5-match series at St. George's Park in Port Elizabeth today (28)

After a disastrous start Sri Lanka bounced back to post 181 runs but the hosts comfortably reached the winning target losing just 2 wickets with 94 deliveries to spare.

Openers Quinton de Kock and Hashim Amla gave South Africa a strong start putting up 71 runs as the Sri Lankan bowling attack, consisting of seven bowlers, were taken to the cleaners. 

Amla and Faf du Plessis put on 60 runs for the second wicket before de Plessis joined skipper AB de Villiers to add an unbroken stand of 54 runs for the third wicket.

Amla top scored for South Africa with a solid knock of 57 off 71 deliveries inclusive of five fours and a six.

De Plessis remained unbeaten on 55 off 68 balls inclusive of five boundaries and de Villiers was 30 not out off 27 balls inclusive of three fours and a six when South Africa reached the winning post.

De Kock hit 34 off 40 inclusive of four boundaries. 

Out of the seven bowlers Asela Gunaratne and Lakshan Sandakan managed to grab a wicket each.  

Put into bat, Sri Lanka were given a rude shock when both their openers were sent back at 14.

But No.3 batsman Kusal Mendis anchored with a timely knock of 62 runs off 94 deliveries inclusive of 10 fours to lift Sri Lanka up. 

He got together with Dinesh Chandimal to add 72 runs for the third wicket.

Chandimal faced 55 deliveries to muster 22 inclusive of a boundary but others failed to live up to the expectations.

Dhananjaya de Silva played a fighting knock by contributing with 28 runs off 53 balls inclusive of a four. 

Spinner Imran Tahir and speedster Wayne Parnell picked three wickets each in addition to Chris Morris picking up two scalps.  

Tahir was named the player of the match.

Sri Lanka 181 all out (48.3) (Kusal Mendis 62, Dinesh Chandimal 22, Dhananjaya de Silva 28, Nuwan Kulasekara 17, Imran Tahir 3/26, Wayne Parnel 3/48, Chris Morris 2/29) 

South Africa 185 for 2 wickets (34.2) (Quinton de Kock 34, Hashim Amla 57, Faf du Plessis 55n.o, AB de Villiers 30n.o.)