Share

Mathews guides Sri Lanka home in low scoring thriller

Cape Town - Angelo Mathews played a gallant and heroic innings to lead Sri Lanka to the first victory of their tour when they beat the Proteas by 3 wickets with two balls to spare in the second T20 International match at the Wanderers Stadium on Sunday.

The series will now go to a decider at Newlands on Wednesday when the Proteas will be strengthened by the return of AB de Villiers.

Mathews finished unbeaten on 54 (54 balls, 1 four and 3 sixes). It was his fifth half-century in this format and took his career total past 1 000 runs.

But the statistics hardly told the story. The key aspect was that Mathews kept his head while most of those around him were losing theirs. And then in a dramatic finish he twisted his ankle in the penultimate over and stayed at the crease although he could barely run. He did manage to hobble a leg bye off the last ball of the 19th over and then hit two sixes to finish the job.

It was by far the lowest aggregate in a T20 match at this venue with the Proteas failing to assess the pitch properly – it spun prodigiously and always provided low bounce with one delivery bouncing no fewer than four times on its way to the keeper, something unheard of at this venue.

The Proteas total of 113 was a good 20 runs below par with Sri Lanka’s mystery wrist spinner, Lakshan Sandikan, taking 4/23 on debut and precipitating a middle-order collapse before Farhaan Behardien and Aaron Phangiso put on 33 for the 8th wicket, the second highest partnership of the match after the 51 by Mathews and Dinesh Chandimal for the 4th wicket.

The Proteas nevertheless put up a never-say-die performance, spearheaded by Lungi Ngidi who took 3 wickets in his opening spell of 3 overs and finished with 4/19. This was the second best performance at the Wanderers and the joint eighth best for South Africa.

He has now taken 6 wickets in 6 overs in this series for a strike rate of 6 and an average of little more than 5.

There were a few difficult chances put down that in the end made the difference between victory and defeat but nobody can begrudge man of the match, Mathews, this victory after what he has been through on the tour to date.

Whether he will be able to play on the remainder of the tour remains in considerable doubt.


We live in a world where facts and fiction get blurred
Who we choose to trust can have a profound impact on our lives. Join thousands of devoted South Africans who look to News24 to bring them news they can trust every day. As we celebrate 25 years, become a News24 subscriber as we strive to keep you informed, inspired and empowered.
Join News24 today
heading
description
username
Show Comments ()
Voting Booth
Should Siya Kolisi keep the captaincy as the Springboks build towards their World Cup title defence in 2027?
Please select an option Oops! Something went wrong, please try again later.
Results
Yes! Siya will only be 36 at the next World Cup. He can make it!
25% - 1273 votes
No! I think the smart thing to do is start again with a younger skipper ...
29% - 1473 votes
I'd keep Siya captain for now, but look to have someone else for 2027.
45% - 2252 votes
Vote
Editorial feedback and complaints

Contact the public editor with feedback for our journalists, complaints, queries or suggestions about articles on News24.

LEARN MORE