Sri Lanka and South Africa start things off in their ODI series with the 1st ODI at Colombo where Sri Lanka are clear favourites. It is interesting to note that only two of the fifteen players in the South African squad have played an ODI match in Sri Lanka which includes Robin Peterson and JP Duminy. The lack of experience in Sri Lankan conditions will work against them and they will need JP Duminy to have a good series after a disappointing Champions Trophy. Upul Tharanga’s has proved that if you score enough runs from an injury opportunity you will stay in the side and he is going to want to consolidate the Tri-series with another great series.
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Match Information :
July 20, Colombo
Starting Time: 1430 Local Time (0900 GMT Time)
Key Players:
Upul Tharanga was a replacement for Dilshan for the Tri-series against India and the West Indies but made the most of his opportunity which pushed Kusal Perera out of the way. By no means did Tharanga have an amazing tournament but he did have one of the best partnerships you will see in ODI cricket with Mahela Jayawardene where he scored 174 runs off 159 balls against India. Tharanga didn’t make a half century in any of the other 4 games which is something he will need to work on to stay in this team.
JP Duminy is the only batsmen to have played an ODI in Sri Lanka but his record is abysmal with only 29 runs from 5 innings. However, there were very good signs in the warm-up fixture for South Africa against the Sri Lankan Board Presidents XI where Duminy scored 92 off 100 runs and also played a part with the ball grabbing 2 wickets. Duminy is starting to get a lot of cricket under his belt after a lengthy injury lay off but you should start to see Duminy at his best soon.
Team News:
Sri Lanka made a number of changes to their squad which includes Dilshan returning from injury and he will partner Upul Tharanga who had a memorable Tri-series. Sri Lanka could play two spinners with Herath a guarantee and the selectors will have to decide whether they need Mendis.
Sri Lanka (probable): 1 Upul Tharanga, 2 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 3 Kumar Sangakkara (wk), 4 Mahela Jayawardene, 5 Dinesh Chandimal, 6 Lahiru Thirimanne, 7 Angelo Perera/Thisara Perera, 8 Rangana Herath, 9 Shaminda Eranga, 10 Lasith Malinga, 11 Suranga Lakmal/ Ajantha Mendis.
South Africa are sweating on the fitness of Morne Morkel and Lonwabo Tsotsobe who according to AB de Villiers are a 50% chance to play. It is likely that South Africa will field two spinnrs in Peterson and Phangiso which could potentially leave them with a very inexperienced pace attack.
South Africa (probable): 1 Hashim Amla, 2 Alviro Petersen, 3 JP Duminy, 4 AB de Villiers, 5 Faf du Plessis, 6 David Miller, 7 Ryan Mclaren, 8 Robin Peterson, 9 Aaron Phangiso, 10 Chris Morris, 11 Rory Kleinveldt/ Morne Morkel.
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