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After winning the Test series (2-0) against the West Indies, a rejuvenated South African team is currently taking part in a 5-match twenty20 series against the Windies. But the visitor lost the series-opening match against the host Windies quite comprehensively by 8 wickets on Saturday at the National Cricket Stadium, Grenada and have taken a 1-0 lead in the T20I series. Meanwhile, England have whitewashed (3-0) Sri Lanka in a twenty20 series after winning a one-sided third match by 89 runs on Saturday at the Rose Bowl stadium, Birmingham. The results of these two T20I matches are discussed in this article.
Report of the ENG vs. SL Third T20I Match
England had already clinched the Twenty20 series after winning the first two matches. So, the third match was crucial for Sri Lanka to earn a consolation win and avoid a whitewash. However, it was a one-sided affair, with England winning by a massive 89-run margin to complete the clean sweep (3-0).
Batted first, England amassed a huge 180/6 in their allotted 20 overs, courtesy of a 105-run partnership between openers Jonny Bairstow (51) and Dawid Malan (76). The pair were aggressive from the start of the innings, and at one stage it appeared like England would score more than 200 runs.
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Sri Lanka came back strong after the openers departed, and England struggled to keep up the run rate later in the innings. Lankan pacer Dushmantha Chameera was brilliant with the ball, taking four wickets for 17 runs in four overs and assisting Sri Lanka in restricting England to under 200 runs.
In the chase, Sri Lanka started to lose wickets early in the innings and were eventually bowled out for 91 runs with seven balls to spare. Lower-order batsman Binura Fernando (20) was the top scorer for Sri Lanka while pacer David Willey picked up the most 3 wickets for England.
Dawid Malan was named player of the match for his excellent batting in the third match, and Sam Curran was named player of the series.
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Report of the WI vs SA First T20I Match
After winning the Test series, South Africa were overconfident heading into the first Twenty20 match against the Windies. But the Caribbean team came out with a lot of aggression on Saturday and won the game by 8 wickets with 30 balls to spare.
South Africa batted first and scored a respectable 160/6, which was ultimately not enough to win the match. Middle-order batsman Rassie van der Dussen played a quick-fire of 56 runs in 38 balls, while Quinton de Kock added 37 runs. Spinner Fabian Allen was brilliant with the ball, taking two wickets for 18 runs in four overs.
In reply, the Windies chased down the target with 5 overs in hand thanks to a fiery 85-run opening wickets stand between Evin Lewis and Andre Fletcher (30). Player of the match-winner Evin Lewis went on to score 71 off 35, including seven huge sixes, before succumbing to TabraizShamsi in the 12th over.
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The Windies had already scored 124 runs at that point, and it was a straightforward thing for Chris Gayle (32) and Andrew Russell (23) to seal the victory for the Caribbean side. The second T20Imatch between the two sides will take place at the same venue on 28th June (Monday).
Bottom Line
During the opening match of the bilateral T20I series between West Indies and South Africa, the Proteas suffered their 58th T20I defeat while the Windies earned their 59th T20I victory.
Meanwhile, one of the best limited-overs teams in the world, England crushed Sri Lanka in the just-concluded bilateral Twenty20 contest. England outplayed Sri Lanka in every department throughout the series and the host side eventually won the bilateral series 3-0.