Durban – With a hot day promised in Durban, and a dry turning pitch, it was no surprise that when Sri Lanka won the toss in the second ODI, they elected to field first.
Even less surprising was the fact that the Proteas made no changes to their team that was so effective against the visitors in Port Elizabeth on Saturday.
For the Sri Lankans, perhaps because of pitch conditions, their two changes came in the bowling department with both being left-arm spinners. Sachith Pathirana and Chaturanga de Silva enter the fray in place of opening batsman Sandun Weerakkody and legspinner Jeffrey Vandersay.
The missing top order batsman may mean a shuffle of the top order with Dhananjaya de Silva being the likely suspect to open the bowling after doing the job last year in Zimbabwe.
South Africa remains settled as they look to stamp their authority on this series, and look to the future and the Champions Trophy in June later this year.
Parnell and Tahir were the destroyers in Port Elizabeth while the modest total set by Sri Lanka never really allowed any of the batsmen to cut loose. Batting will be difficult on the surface, but there is enough class in the team to set a decent total.
Teams:
South Africa:
AB de Villiers (captain), Hashim Amla, Quinton de Kock (wkt), Faf du Plessis, JP Duminy, David Miller, Chris Morris, Wayne Parnell, Andile Phehlukwayo, Kagiso Rabada, Imran Tahir.
Sri Lanka:
Upul Tharanga (captain), Niroshan Dickwella, Kusal Mendis, Dinesh Chandimal (wkt), Chaturanga de Silva, Dhananjaya de Silva, Asela Gunaratne, Nuwan Kulasekara, Sachith Pathirana, Suranga Lakmal, Lakshan Sandakan.
Umpires:
Shaun George (RSA), Richard Illingworth (ENG)
TV umpire:
Richard Kettleborough (ENG)
Match referee:
Richie Richardson (WIS)