Sri Lanka complete series whitewash despite De Bruyn special

The Sri Lankan spinners led by veteran Rangana Herath helped Sri Lanka to a thumping 199 run win, as they completed a 2-0 series whitewash against the Proteas today(23).

Danushka Gunathilaka suspended from international cricket

Danushka Gunathilaka has been suspended from all forms..

Overnight batsman Theunis de Bruyn hit South Africa’s only century of the tour at the Sinhalese Sports Club grounds in Colombo, but it went in-vain as Herath bowled the hosts to victory on a rank turner.

De Bruyn along with the other overnight batsman Temba Bavuma looked fairly comfortable against the Sri Lankan spinners as South Africa finally seemed like they had learnt how to play spin on the 4th day of the 2nd Test.

They used the sweep shot especially to very good effect. De Bruyn was the more confident of the two to begin with but Bavuma grew in confidence as the partnership went past the 50 run mark.

Sri Lanka were running out of options for the first time in the series. Skipper Suranga Lakmal who was comfortable using his three spinners for the first 15 wickets of the match, had to bring himself into the attack. The move didn’t seem to effect the flow of the two South African batsman, as this time Lakmal turned to Dhananjaya de Silva for his part time off-spin.

The South Africans continued to resist. Bavuma too went past the half century mark as the partnership reached the 100 run mark too.

Read: Sri Lanka on the verge of series whitewash

Rangana Herath finally managed to break through when he had Bavuma caught behind for a brilliant 63 to end the 123 run sixth wicket stand. One wicket brought two for Sri Lanka as Quinton de Kock fell of what happened to be the final delivery before lunch on day four, when he was too trapped in front by Herath as South Africa went into the break still needing a further 244 runs for victory with 3 wickets in hand.

Kagiso Rabada played a few shots on his way to a quick-fire 18 but the story of the day was De Bruyn who went past the half century mark for the first time in his career. He reached the magical three figure mark with an exquisite paddle sweep as he celebrated one of the finest Test centuries made by a visiting batsman in Sri Lanka.

He fell soon after his century, when Herath who was bowling with the 2nd new ball got one to go straight through as De Bruyn (101) shouldered arms only to hear the clatter of the stumps.

It was a matter of time from then on as Herath picked up the final wicket of Dale Steyn to finish with six wickets in the second innings as South Africa were bowled out for 290 runs. Dilruwan and Dananjaya picked up two wickets apiece for the visitors as well, with Sri Lanka completing a much deserved 2-0 routing of South Africa.