RSA VS SL - 4th ODI, Sri Lanka tour of South Africa, 2016-17

Sri Lanka continue to slump in the South Africa quagmire. They did show some glimpse of improvement but not quite to get over the finishline. Meanwhile, South Africa march ahead and will look to whitewash the hosts in the next ODI which is on 10th February. Join us back then for the final game of the series. Until next time, it's a goodbye and goodnight from Krishna on behalf of Pratyush Sinha, Abhishek Chaudhary and Sriram. Cya!

du Plessis: "It's going well. My job is to score runs and everything went into plan today. There was something in the pitch for the bowlers. QDK played well and took the pressure of me. That's the key (knocking 1s and 2s). It's about taking the dot balls away. Not once I thought I could get to 200. Very happy with the runs."

Faf du Plessis is the Man of the Match for his fabulous knock of 185

de Villiers: "The batting was great, Faf played an exceptional knock. He was hitting it very well from the start and very happy for him. Also, Behardien chipping in at the back end. Tharanga played a good knock and the wicket slowed down at the later part of the game. Luckily, we didn't panic. Lot of variaty in our bowling attack and posed a lot of questions to the Sri Lankan batsmen. Wanted to delay KG's attack and it sort of worked for us. Always a tricky one changing the side and performance is very important. Proud of the boys."

Tharanga: "I think we gota good start chasing 368. Much better batting performance. Till last 7 overs we had the game in our hand but lost too many wickets in the end. It''s a good wicket to bat. There was not much of turn and our main concern is batting. Hopefully, we can continue the same performance in the next game."

21:20 Local Time: So close yet so far. But Sri Lanka finally played like an international team. After being pulped by du Plessis's career best effort, Tharanga played like the leader Sri Lanka had craved on this tour. For most part of the innings, they were on top but South Africa had the belief. Such is the cruel story of big chases, nothing is enough. Even a brief phase of couple of wickets can dent prospects and that is what happened. Tahir went for some runs but chipped in with a few wickets when the tourists were closing in on the target. Nonetheless, the loss shouldn't dishearten the Lankans who, perhaps, played their best match on the tour and managed to score their highest ODI total in South Africa.

Parnell to Sandakan, out Bowled!! That's it. South Africa have won this by 40 runs and go 4-0 up in the series. Slower delivery that does the trick. Sandakan makes room and goes for the hoick. Plays it early and sees the top of off rattled. Just the bails flew off the stumps. Parnell gets his fourth scalp and is delighted. Pumps his fists in the air. Tahir, Faf and Samsi go for a celebratory run and join the rest of the team-mates. Sandakan b Parnell 1(2)

Parnell to Sandakan, THATS OUT!! Bowled!!

Rabada to Lahiru Kumara, no run, angling away from the left-hander, Kumara backsaway a long way and fails to get bat on ball

Rabada comes over the wicket

Rabada to Lahiru Kumara, no run, back of a length delivery outside off, Lahiru Kumara gets behind the line and keeps it out

Rabada to Lahiru Kumara, no run, yorker on the stumps, Lahiru Kumara gets his bat down in time to keep it out

Rabada to Lahiru Kumara, no run, short delivery outside off, Lahiru Kumara hides his bat behind his body

Rabada to Lahiru Kumara, no run, Rabada tries to attack the batsman with a length delivery, Kumara backsaway and gets beaten

Rabada to Lahiru Kumara, no run, length delivery outside off, Lahiru Kumara misses by a long way

Kagiso Rabada [8.0-0-50-2] is back into the attack

Parnell to Lahiru Kumara, 1 run, slower delivery on the pads, Lahiru Kumara clips it to the on-side

Parnell to Sandakan, 1 run, Sandakan drives it to sweeper cover

Lakshan Sandakan, right handed bat, comes to the crease

Parnell to Lahiru Madushanka, out Caught by Dwaine Pretorius!! There's procession happening for Sri Lanka. Half-volley outside off, Madushanka makes room and drives it uppishly. Doesn't care to keep the ball down. Hits it straight to Pretorius at cover, who reverse cups it in front of his chest. Lahiru Madushanka c Dwaine Pretorius b Parnell 6(8) [4s-1]