One Day Triangular, 4th match played at Harare Sports Club: South Africa A 248 for 3 (du Plessis 89*, Levi 63, Hendricks 51*) beat Sri Lanka A 245 for 7 (Jayasundera 55, Perera 52, Kleinveldt 2-38) by seven wickets
Despite a vastly improved batting performance from Sri Lanka A, South Africa A made light work of chasing down Sri Lanka A's total of 245-7 when they cruised to a comfortable seven wicket win at Harare sports club on Tuesday.
Sri Lanka A won the toss and elected to bat.
This was the first time in the tournament that the team who won the toss decided to bat and openers Udara Jayasundera and captain Dimuth Karunaratne took full advantage of the surprisingly wayward bowling that was on offer. Kyle Abbott in particular was severely punished with both batsmen finding the boundary on a regular bases.
Abbott however redeemed himself when he took a brilliant catch as he ran in from long on to take the catch inches off the ground to dismiss Karunaratne for 39 off the bowling of Chris Morris. The departure of the skipper's wicket then saw South Africa A regroup and stem the steady flow of runs as their bowling improved significantly.
Jayasundera who initially started off as the aggressor in the opening stand of 87 then became subdued as he cautiously approached his half centurie before being run out by Faf du Plessis for 55 off 80 balls which included eight sweetly struck fours. Chamara Kapugedera with 37 and Dilruwan Perera, 58 guided Sri Lanka A to a respectable total. Rory Kleinveldt was the pick of the bowlers with 2-38 from eight overs.
South Africa A once again got off to a poor start when Dean Elgar was out for just five with the total on 18. Richard Levi however kept South Africa A in touch with a muscular 63 off 59 balls with six fours and a towering six.
But even at the fall of the belligerent openers wicket, captain Faf du Plessis and Reeza Hendricks went about scoring the required runs in a highly professional manner with an unbroken fourth wicket stand of 122 which insured South Africa A's spot in Saturdays final.
Du Plessis finished with 89 not out which made his score joint highest with Colin Ingram who also made an unbeaten 89 in South Africa A's two wicket win over Zimbabwe A on Sunday. The inform Hendricks gave his captain excellent support with a polished 51 not out as South Africa A passed the total with four overs to spare. South Africa A meet Zimbabwe A in a must win game for the hosts on Wednesday.
