SL VS RSA - 5th ODI, South Africa tour of Sri Lanka, 2018

It has been a roller coster ride for the South Africans on this tour thus far. They started off on a horrific note in the Test series and then came charging back in the first three ODIs to seal the series. They took their foot off the pedal in the final two matches and the wounded Sri Lankan lions pounced on them. All the talk in the post-match presentation were leading to the World Cup which is still 10 months away and these two teams are far from getting their combination right for the mega event. Join us for the T20 match day after tomorrow which will wrap-up this tour. Until then, this is Varun Dixit signing off on behalf of Akshay Maanay, Rishi Roy and Venky.

Quinton de Kock: It is never easy coming here and winning in Sri Lanka. It is great to come off a series win here. I think, they batted really well and bowled really well. Angelo led them really well too. Akila is a serious bowler. It is hard to take on someone like him who has so many variations up his sleeves. I don't think toss played a part. We have ticked a lot of boxes but there are still things to be done before the World Cup.

JP Duminy, Man of the Series: It is bit of a bitter-sweet. I am pretty happy with the way we are playing. It was a tough decision to give up Test cricket but so far so good. Hopefully, I would make the World Cup squad in ten months time. Key for me is consistency in the next couple of months. Our batting has really been good in the first four matches and hopefully we can dominate in the World Cup. I am looking forward to leading my team in the T20 match.

Angelo Mathews: This was a performance we were looking for but it came in the last match. This should have come in the first three matches. Wicket was on the slower side and I was struggling to make runs on it. Credit to South Africa with the way they played. We are trying to play better in every match, there are still 20 matches to the World Cup and we want to make most of it. T20 cricket is always fun and we would like to have fun in the next match.

Akila Dananjaya, Man of the Match: "Today, I have bowled best. Plan was to be the best bowler in the series and I have achieved it. I want to play in both formats. I have improved my variations." - Roshan Abeysinghe translated the interview which was conducted in Sinhalese.

Spinners with two six-wicket hauls in ODIs:
Ajantha Mendis (6/13 & 6/29)
Shahid Afridi (6/38 & 7/12)
Rashid Khan (6/43 & 7/18)
Akila Dananjaya (6/54 & 6/29)

- South Africa have now lost seven of their last eight ODIs at RPS. At no other venue they have lost a higher %age of ODIs as much as RPS - 9 out of 13 (69.23%).

Biggest wins for SL vs SA (by runs):
180 Colombo RPS, 2013
178 Colombo RPS, 2018 *
123 Colombo RPS, 2013

20:41 Local Time, 15:11 GMT, 20:41 IST: Hugs and handshakes all around. Skipper Mathews will be a happy man. It was almost a perfect match for his team. They put a formidable score on the board and South Africa never looked like chasing it down. Suranga Lakmal started it off with a snorter to get rid of Amla and South Africa did not recover from that. Akila was the wrecker-in-chief for the hosts. He bamboozled South Africans with his sorcery and they had no clue about the variations that he had up his sleeves. He ended up with exceptional figures of 6-29. Skipper Quinton was the only bright spot in Proteas' batting, he put up a valiant fight and scored a fifty to provide some respectability to the final total. Only four batsmen could manage to get into double digits and that sums up the batting effort of South Africa. Time for the presentations..

Lahiru Kumara to Junior Dala, out Caught by de Silva!! Dhananjaya de Silva takes the final catch to end South Africa's misery. Sri Lanka win by a comprehensive margin of 178 runs. It was a back of a length delivery outside off, Junior Dala smashes it, he doesn't time it as well as he would have liked and de Silva at cover-point takes it. It almost pops out of his hands but he showed good reflexes to grab it on the second attempt. Junior Dala c de Silva b Lahiru Kumara 5(3) [4s-1]

Lahiru Kumara to Junior Dala, THATS OUT!! Caught!!

Lahiru Kumara to Junior Dala, FOUR, no sympathy for his fellow fast bowler, he banged it in, it was a nasty short of length delivery. Junior Dala gets inside the line of it and helps it to fine leg for a boundary

Lahiru Kumara to Rabada, 1 run, at the pads and Rabada tucks it to deep square leg

Lahiru Kumara to Junior Dala, 1 run, back of a length delivery outside off, Junior Dala steers it to third man for a single

Dananjaya to Rabada, no run, defends it back

Junior Dala, right handed bat, comes to the crease

Dananjaya to Maharaj, out Caught by Lakmal!! The day keeps getting better for Dananjaya. He is having a whale of a time at RPS. His best ever figures in ODIs. It was a back of the hand delivery, Maharaj doesn't read it at all. He dances down, went for a glory shot, got the desired elevation but it came of the bottom half of the bat and it went up in the air. Lakmal settles under it and takes it nicely near mid-off. These high catches under the night sky are never easy. Maharaj c Lakmal b Dananjaya 8(12) [4s-1]

Dananjaya to Maharaj, THATS OUT!! Caught!!

Dananjaya to Maharaj, no run, straight one at the stumps, blocked back to Dananjaya

Dananjaya to Rabada, 1 run, pushes it between extra cover and long-off for a single