South Africa held the upper hand throughout their contest with Sri Lanka, but in the end, the loss of 43 minutes play to rain during the last hour on Day 5 was the decisive factor.
Sri Lanka ended 9 wickets down, 21 runs short of victory, as their tail had earlier held firm against good South African seam bowling.
Sri Lanka ended 9 wickets down, 21 runs short of victory, as their tail had earlier held firm against good South African seam bowling.
South Africa had posted 375 in their first innings, held together by a partnership between the experienced Kepler Wessels 160 and Peter Kirsten 80, before overcast conditions helped the Sri Lankan medium pacers run through the tail.
Sri Lanka's reply was disappointing, all out for 249, 6 batsmen dismissed in the 30's, as the South African seamers enjoyed themselves.
South Africa always seemed to have enough runs to play with during their second innings, before the turning pitch allowed the Sri Lankan spinners, lead by Anurasiri with 5-51 to work their way through the lower order.
Sri Lanka lost wickets regularly during their 2nd innings, but a good partnership between Jayasuriya 73 and Tillekeratne 56, and hand contributions from the tail allowed them to escape with a draw, just short of a suprise comeback victory.
The match ended as a draw, with South African captain Kepler Wessels man of the match for his impressive double, top scoring in both innings.
Pitch: 60
Toss: South Africa
South Africa 375 all out (110.3 overs)
(K.C.Wessels 160, P.N.Kirsten 80, A.P.Kuiper 20, D.J.Richardson 34, R.P.Snell 34; G.P.Wickremasinge 2-63, A.P.Gurusinha 4-36, A.Ranatunga 2-11)
Sri Lanka 249 all out (93.5 overs)
(U.C.Hathurasinghe 38, A.P.Gurusinha 35, P.A.de Silva 33, S.T.Jayasuriya 38, H.P.Tillekeratne 39, R.J.Ratnayake 31; A.A.Donald 2-54, R.P.Snell 3-43, W.J.Cronje 2-10)
South Africa 254 all out (89 overs)
(A.C.Hudson 41, K.C.Wessels 81, P.N.Kirsten 46, W.J.Cronje 20; K.I.W.Wijegunawardena 2-26, S.D.Anurasiri 5-51, S.T.Jayasuriya 2-35)
Sri Lanka 360/9 (119 overs)
(R.S.Mahanama 24, U.C.Hathurasinghe 57, P.A.de Silva 25, S.T.Jayasuriya 73, H.P.Tillekeratne 56, R.J.Ratnayake 43*; A.A.Donald 2-96, R.P.Snell 4-85)
Match Drawn
Man of the Match: K.C.Wessels
Match Points: South Africa 15 (Bat 3, Bowl 4) Sri Lanka 7 (Bat 1, Bowl 2)
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