South Africa beat Sri Lanka by five wickets to win 1st ODI

South Africa beat hosts Sri Lanka by five wickets in a low-scoring game to win the first One-Day International at Dambulla on Sunday.  

Left-hander JP Duminy scored an unbeaten 53 off 32 deliveries as South Africa comfortably chased down 194 runs with 114 four balls to spare. 

Skipper Faf Du Plessis shared an 86-run partnership with Quinton De Kock to keep the visitors on track after Akila Dananjaya sent-off Hashim Amla (19) and Aiden Markram (0) in successive deliveries.  

Du Plessis put South Africa on course as he hammered 10 fours in his 56-ball 47 along with Quinton De Kock, who scored 47 off 59 balls. Duminy then anchored the visitors’ innings with his flamboyant half-century. 

Earlier, It was a match to forget for Sri Lanka as Kagiso Rabada (4/41) and Tabraiz Shamsi (4/33) wreaked havoc in the Sri Lankan lineup. Rabada reduced the hosts to 36 for five wickets in nine overs.  A spirited 72-ball 81 from Kusal Perera kept the hosts alive. The left-hander built a key partnership with Thisara Perera, who scored 49 off 30 balls. But Shamsi had Thisara stumped with flighted delivery to break the 92-run partnership. 

South Africa lead the five-match series by 1-0.