Sri Lanka vs South Africa 1st ODI: Five talking points

Rangana Herath

4. Herath’s exploits

Rangana Herath has been Sri Lanka’s outstanding performer in the last two tournaments proving his worth in this squad. He had picked 15 wickets in his last eight matches making up for some lacklustre bowling performances of the pace battery. He did not have to do that yesterday as the pace battery delivered the goods upfront but he cracked the code by dismissing AB De Villiers just when it looked like that he would be able to pose a challenge.

It was almost a dream dismissal for the left-arm orthodox spinner who angled the ball into the batsman and derived a bit of spin making De Villiers poke at thin air as he was bowled. He wrapped up the tail with great ease and he will be assigned to do that job throughout the series.