Francois ‘Faf' du Plessis made the top score and pulled off a spectacular run out as South Africa clinched a series victory in the third One-Day International against World Cup finalists Sri Lanka at Chevrolet Park here Tuesday. Mainly due to Du Plessis making 72 off 74 balls, South Africa was four ahead of the Duckworth/Lewis par score when rain stopped play. The home side was on 179 for five after 34 overs in reply to Sri Lanka's 266 for nine and the result gave South Africa a winning 3-0 lead in the five-match series and extended the tourists poor run to six successive one day defeats. Run outs played a crucial role in both innings. Sri Lanka made a competitive total but it might have been considerably higher if its two star batsmen, Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene, had not been run out, both by direct hits. Upul Tharanga (58) and captain Tillakaratne Dilshan (33) put on 94 for Sri Lanka's first wicket. Sangakkara, batting at number three, looked set to take full advantage of the good start on an easy-paced pitch as he stroked his way to 38 off 37 balls. But Sangakkara fell to a superb piece of fielding by Du Plessis, who dived far to his left at backward point to stop a cut by Dinesh Chandimal, then hit the stumps at the batsman's end with Sangakkara stranded after the batsmen hesitated. Jayawardene was run out for 15, four balls into the batting powerplay in the 36th over, when he was sent back by Chandimal, slipped as he turned and could not recover to beat an accurate throw from Colin Ingram at mid-off. Lasith Malinga made two early strikes in the South African innings, bowling Graeme Smith and Colin Ingram, and South Africa slumped to 52 for three when Alviro Petersen missed a reverse sweep and was leg before wicket to Dilshan. Du Plessis and JP Duminy put on 61 in a fourth wicket stand marked by aggressive running between wickets before Duminy fell to a direct hit by Nuwan Kulasekera from mid-off. Rain started to fall in the 33rd over, at the end of which South Africa were one behind according to the Duckworth/Lewis method. De Villiers said he would have preferred the match to have gone the distance.
