Sri Lanka celebrated a rare success Friday on a tour to South Africa with a five-wicket victory in the fourth one-day international.
Big knocks from captain Tillakaratne Dilshan (87), man-of-the-match Thisara Perera (69) and Dinesh Chandimal (59) lifted the visitors to 304-5 after the home side reached 299-7 with skipper AB de Villiers (96) to the fore.
After keeping close to the six-run-an-over target at the De Beers Diamond Oval for much of the innings, the Sri Lankan batsman hit out against a South African attack sorely missing rested fast bowler Dale Steyn.
Unfortunately, the win came too late for the tourists to affect the five-game series with the Proteas taking a winning 3-0 lead three days ago thanks to a four-run win in a rain-hit Bloemfontein contest.
But the outcome in this northern Cape city did emphasise the steady improvement of Sri Lanka after a nightmare opening match in which they were bowled for 43 to suffer a humiliating 258-run loss.
“This was a fantastic effort as we were hoping to restrict South Africa to 250 or 260 runs,” said Dilshan, “and on a personal note it was nice getting a big score again.”