Unbeaten fifties from Quinton de Kock and Reeza Hendricks helped South Africa thrash Sri Lanka by ten wickets in the third T20I international to sweep the series on Tuesday.
Chasing 121 for a win, the Proteas reached the finish line in 14.4 overs, with De Kock smashing 59 and Hendricks scoring 56 at the R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo.
Earlier, the tourists restricted the home side to 120/8 in their 20 overs after being put in to bowl first. Bjorn Fortuin (2-21) and Kagiso Rabada (2-23) took two wickets each for South Africa.
“Full credit to the boys, they played really well after losing the ODIs. Good preparation building up to the World Cup. I think from a bowling front, we can look to strive for a better performance in the powerplay,” South African captain Keshav Maharaj said in the post-match presentation.
“In the batting, it is about putting partnerships and having one batsman batting through always helps. Obviously, the bubble life has its challenges. But we look to each other for support and builds a team ethos.
“We have to find a way to get through it together and that shows in our performances. We can get better in the field and we need to brush up on,” Maharaj added.
For Sri Lanka, it was a disappointing series as the Dasun Shanaka-led side failed to win even a single game in the three-match leg.
“The boys know what they need to do to step up and we’ll do that. Wickets are key in T20s, though we had starts we just threw wickets in the middle overs and that is a concern going ahead [into the T20 World Cup],” said the losing skipper Shanaka.
Brief Scores: Sri Lanka 120/8 in 20 overs (Kusal Perera 39; Bjorn Fortuin 2-21) lost to South Africa 121/0 in 14.4 overs (Quinton de Kock 59*, Reeza Hendricks 56*) by 10 wickets.
Here’s how Twitter reacted:
🇿🇦 win and seal the T20I series 3-0. #SLvSA pic.twitter.com/COK6YZQ6RC
— Sri Lanka Cricket 🇱🇰 (@OfficialSLC) September 14, 2021
Well done manne👏👏👏
— AB de Villiers (@ABdeVilliers17) September 14, 2021
https://twitter.com/UdiUdz/status/1437815018259689472
Congrats to @OfficialCSA Players, Coaches, Support Staff and Team Management for Winning T20I Series 3-0 against Sri Lanka. #SLvSA
— JaayShaan (VaidhyaJayaShankar) (@JaayShaan) September 14, 2021
South Africa today becomes the first team in T20I cricket to whitewash Sri Lanka men in Sri Lanka (min: 3 matches).#SLvSA
— Kausthub Gudipati (@kaustats) September 14, 2021
South Africa defeats Sri Lanka in the 2nd T20i and seals the series with 2-0 lead. Quinton De Kock scored a brilliant unbeaten fifty for them, Aiden Markram showed great all round performance with 3 wickets and unbeaten 21.
— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) September 12, 2021
Easy win for the boys! Quinny and Reeza finished unbeaten on 59 and 56! South Africa win the series 3-0 #SLvSA 🇿🇦🔥
— Gills (@gpricey23) September 14, 2021
The Proteas wrap up the match , with a resounding victory , great bowling and good batting display , no wickets lost and a 100 run partnership #SLvSA
— Clifford Sihlezana (@CliffUnderPar) September 14, 2021
https://twitter.com/SirMore_/status/1437814886566924295
South Africa's kingpin, Quinton de Kock had another spectacular T20I series and was the Player of the Series! #SLvSA pic.twitter.com/kyFIGtg3VD
— ThePoppingCrease (@PoppingCreaseSA) September 15, 2021
