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Cape Town - Reeza Hendricks was delighted to contribute to the Proteas' cause with a hundred on ODI debut that came in record time.
READ: Proteas: Reeza enters World Cup race
Hendricks was unaware that when he became the third South African to score a hundred on his ODI debut he did so faster than any of the other thirteen men to have achieved the feat.
The Lions batsman made his T20I debut in 2014 but has had to wait for an opportunity in the fifty-over format.
"I was very happy to make my debut today, and most importantly, contribute for my team," he said.
"It's quite difficult to break through into this South African side, so I was quite fortunate today and I managed to score some runs."
An injured skipper Faf du Plessis was thrilled with the performance from the young batsman which has strengthened the team's batting stocks heading into the World Cup next year.
"To see someone play like that on debut was remarkable, and that's the great thing about our batting line-up," said Du Plessis after the Proteas' 78-run win.
"We have guys putting their hands up every game, and putting match-winning performances. It's about giving guys opportunities. We will try and do the same in the next two matches as well."
Sri Lanka skipper Angelo Mathews was keen to pull what positives he could from the series so far but was eager to move on from the defeats.
Mathews felt the bowlers let them down up front.
"Pretty disappointed with the way we started with the ball," said Mathews.
"The last ten overs didn't go to plan - 360 was a bit too high on this track. We didn't execute our plans.
"We want to look forward and get better as a team. (There are a) lot of positives in Dhananjaya (de Silva) and Lahiru Kumara, they showed some fight. But Reeza played superbly and JP (Duminy) finished well.
"We need to try and think out of the box if we are to win a game. As a team we need to play on good wickets and win. We've still got two games to go and if we can win those, it would be ideal."
The fourth ODI will also be played at the Pallekele International Stadium in Kandy on Wednesday (11:00 SA time).
