South Africa whitewash Sri Lanka in T20 series

South Africa made a clean sweep of the T20 series as they cruised to a comprehensive 10-wicket victory over Sri Lanka in the third and final encounter played at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo yesterday.

After having restricted the home side to a modest 120 runs, the Proteas raced to their target in style with the openers Quinton de Kock and Reeza Hendricks leading the way.

De Kock was the first to reach his fifty from 40 balls inclusive of six boundaries while Hendricks followed immediately by racing to a 38-ball half-century

Earlier, South Africa produced another clinical performance to restrict Sri Lanka to 120 for eight after the hosts had won the toss and elected to bat first.

South Africa dominated the proceedings with their pace-spin combination making run-making really difficult to the home side.

Kagiso Rabada struck early for South Africa by removing Avishka Fernando for 12 and in his next over, he dismissed Bhanuka Rajapaksa for five.

Sri Lanka never recovered from that setback and kept losing wickets at regular intervals and at 86 for seven they were in danger of being bowled out for under 100 runs. (C.D)