South Africa bat Sri Lanka out of the ODI series

A typically dominating century from Quinton de Kock inspired South Africa to a 71-run (D/L) win over Sri Lanka in last night's rain-reduced third One Day International in Durban.

The win also helped the hosts to a 3-0 series victory with two games to spare. After being put into bat, De Kock smashed 121 off 108 balls his 14th ODI hundred  as South Africa went on to make 331-5 off their 50 overs.

Sri Lanka were struggling at 75-2 after 16 overs of their reply when a rainstorm took the players off for a two-hour break, after which the visitors were set a Herculean target of 193 in 24 overs.

The Lankans needed 118 runs from the final eight overs.

Sri Lanka fell a long way short, managing just 121-5, with legspinner Imran Tahir taking 2-19 after the restart, including Kusal Mendis who was caught and bowled by Tahir after top-scoring with 41 for the tourists.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka lost key batsman Kusal Perera early on in the game when he looked to have hurt his hamstring in the field and was taken to hospital for scans.

Officials said he would not have been able to bat had he been needed but it is unsure how serious the injury is. South Africa and Sri Lanka meet again for the fourth match of the series in Port Elizabeth on Wednesday.