With the One Day Internationals and Tests behind them, South Africa will wrap their tour of Sri Lanka up with a one-off T20 International in Colombo.
The hosts won the last two ODIs and will look to translate that momentum into the shortest format of the game. South Africa, meanwhile, have to put two heavy ODI defeats behind them and refocus if they want to finish this tour on a high.
Sri Lanka vs South Africa | Tuesday 14 August | Premadasa Stadium | 15:30
To Win Match
Sri Lanka 5/4
Tie 35/4
South Africa 66/100
Sri Lanka
The hosts will be full of confidence heading into this one-off T20. You could tell how poor the mood in the South African dressing room is at the moment with the players looking almost embarrassed at the trophy presentation at the end of the fifth ODI.
Sri Lanka will certainly look to capitalise on this, and they undoubtedly have the firepower with both bat and ball to really stick the boot into the beleaguered South Africans. Akila Danajaya has remained a constant thorn in South African sides and once again ripped through the visitors in the fifth ODI, taking six wickets.
If he’s not taking wickets in the shortest format of the game, the South African batsmen will be almost definitely watchful against him. Expect him to either take a basket of wickets or to remain very economical at the very least.
Angelo Matthews has impressed with the willow over the last few weeks, too. The skipper top scored in the ODI series with 235 runs at an average of 78.33. More, however, will be required from the likes of Niroshan Dickwella and Kusal Perera who only impressed sporadically in the five 50-over matches.
South Africa
It’s been a strange old week for the South Africans. After winning the first three ODIs pretty convincingly, they were absolutely demolished by Sri Lanka in the fourth and fifth One Day Internationals. Their performance in the final ODI would have been especially concerning for Ottis Gibson.
They crumbled to 121 all out in their pursuit of Sri Lanka’s 299-8. Dananjaya once again ploughed his way through the South African ranks to finish on figures of 9-0-29-6. The South Africans will need to find a way to negate his threat in the T20. If they attack him, they risk losing wickets in droves. If they choose to see him out, they basically lose out on four overs. A balance needs to be achieved here.
I wouldn’t be at all surprised if the same wicket is used in the T20 on Tuesday. It was decidedly slower than the other limited overs decks on this tour and took plenty of turn as both Dananjaya and Keshav Maharaj found. With this in mind, we will almost certainly see Tabraiz Shamsi return to the XI with Maharaj perhaps in with a chance of a surprise inclusion.
In terms of batting, the hit and giggle nature of T20 cricket could be just what a struggling South African top and middle order needs after a disappointing week. I’m pretty sure that they’ll be given licence to go out an express themselves before the focus shifts to three ODIs and three T20s against Zimbabwe in September.
Verdict: Sri Lanka 5/4
The hosts have all of the momentum here and will look to send the South Africans home off the back of a defeat. Sri Lanka have been in a different class in the last two ODIs and are tipped to get the job done in the shortest format of the game.
