South Africa won the first of three T20 internationals against the touring Sri Lankans in a thrilling match that saw tied scores and a super over on Tuesday.

Francois du Plessis elected to chase after winning the toss in consideration of the short boundaries at Newlands. The visitors opened the innings in a manner that was consistent with their recent track record in the one day series. By the end of the second over, the Lankans were reeling at 7/2.

The Proteas bowled tight lengths and took regular wickets to keep the total down to 134. The only batsman to prosper in the first innings was 20-year-old Kamindu Mendis. He battled aggressively to score 42 off 29 deliveries before Imran Tahir foxed him into stepping out and David Miller whipped off the bails.

In the chase, Rassie van der Dussen patiently rotated the strike as South Africa slowly closed in on the target. He was supported well by Miller who scored 41 runs off just 23 deliveries. By the 17th over, the hosts needed just 17 runs to win. With seven wickets to spare and Miller and van der Dussen settled in at the crease, Sri Lanka were headed to another humiliating defeat.

However, Lankan skipper Lasith Malinga bowled brilliantly to turn the game around. In the overs that followed, South Africa lost five wickets and barely managed to tie the scores. In the ensuing super over, Miller smashed Malinga for 15 runs. In response Thisara Perera and Avishka Fernando were only able to score five in total at Tahir’s expense.

With the Proteas taking a 1-0 lead, Malinga will be keen on leveling the series at Centurion on Friday.

Afghanistan chased down the target of 149 on the fourth day of their only test match against Ireland on Monday.

On a very flat track at Dehradun, Irish skipper William Porterfield elected to bat first in a bid to heap the pressure of the fourth innings on Afghanistan. The ploy backfired as Mohammad Nabi and Rashid Khan skittled Ireland for 172 before tea on the first day.

In a sharp contrast to the Irish batsmen, the Afghans used the friendly pitch to their advantage and batted brilliantly in well-timed partnerships. Rahmat Shah showed good temperament in his innings of 93 that came off 216 balls. Though Tim Murtagh and Stuart Thompson kept the run-rate in check, Afghanistan managed to gain a comfortable lead of 142 by the end of their innings.

On the very second ball of his second innings, Porterfield departed for a duck. With over three days to go, defeat was already looming at large for Ireland. However, Andrew Balbirnie and Kevin O Brien helped the Irish in delaying the inevitable by scoring a half-century each on the third day.

Khan was in the limelight once again as he bagged five wickets and Afghanistan dismissed Ireland for 288 . At stumps on the third day, Porterfield might have fancied his chances when the chasing side lost opener Mohammad Shehzad with just 5 runs on the board after 10 overs.

When play resumed on the fourth day, Shah repeated his brilliance to score 76 from 126 deliveries and chased down the target shortly before lunch. This win must bring great relief for Afghanistan in the light of their crushing defeat at Bangalore last summer.

Sri Lanka suffered a 5-0 whitewash at the hands of South Africa after they lost the fifth and final One Day International of their tour on an outing cut short by failing floodlights.

Lasith Malinga opted to bat first in hopes of posting a formidable total to defend at Cape Town. The visitors were relying heavily on their opening batsmen to provide a platform for the inexperienced middle-order. However, the Proteas dismissed both the openers by the fifth over and Sri Lanka was reeling at 14/2.

Returning hero, Kusal Mendis stabilised the innings at the cost of the run-rate. In the 18th over, the partnership was broken when South African skipper Francois du Plessis took a catch off the bowling of Imran Tahir. Though three of the the Lankan batsman that came later scored thirties, none of them capitalised on their starts.

For the hosts, Kagiso Rabada was the pick of the bowlers with Tahir being as economic as ever to restrict the target to 226. In the second innings, Aiden Markram made his case for a spot in the limited-overs squad with an unbeaten half-century. South Africa were 135/2 when 28th over ended. Shortly after, the umpires called the players off the field due to bad light.

Sri Lanka did not get any more chances to redeem themselves that night and the match ended in South Africa’s favour by 41 runs. The 5-0 drubbing in the ODI series is a bad sign for Malinga and his men, especially with the World Cup coming up in June. They will have an opportunity to try out out better combinations in the three T20 Internationals starting from Tuesday.

South Africa maintained their winning streak in the fourth of five One Day Internationals against Sri Lanka on Wednesday.

After winning the toss Francois du Plessis put the visitors to bat first, preferring to chase on a flat track at Port Elizabeth. The Lankan innings was badly hurt by the lack of experience in the batting department. Dale Steyn got the first breakthrough by dismissing Upul Tharanga early in his second over.

The hosts denied Sri Lanka any opportunity to build a decent partnership. The scoreboard read 97/7 at the halfway stage and the innings was heading to an early end. However, returning fast bowler, Isuru Udana batted well and added 78 to the total to get Sri Lanka to 189 before being caught by du Plessis in the 40th over.

In the second innings, Quinton de Kock’s purple patch continued and he scored another half-century. Dhananjaya de Silva bowled exceedingly well to complete his quota of ten overs with career-best figures of 41/3. Despite his efforts, South Africa sailed smoothly to victory in the 33rd over with du Plessis leading the charge in his innings of 43 runs.

Australia bowled India out for 237 to win the fifth, final and deciding One Day International by 35 runs on Wednesday. This is the first time that Australia have won a series after trailing 2-0.

There was an air of optimism around skipper Aaron Finch when he elected to bat first in Delhi against India, who have been feared for their knack at chasing totals ever since they hosted the Aussies in 2013. Finch opened alongside Usman Khawaja, who was named ‘Man of the Match’, for another valuable century, and ‘Man of the Series’, for scoring the most runs in the series.

The Indian bowling attack did surprisingly well to restrict Australia to 272/9, given that the visitors were cruising at 175/1 in the 33rd over. Bhuvneshwar Kumar was the pick of the bowlers and he played a crucial role in pulling the run-rate down as he returned match figures of 48/3 from his 10 overs.

India and its supporters had every reason to fancy their chances when the much-acclaimed opening pair of Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan walked out to commence the second innings. As the chase ensued, the Australian seamers bowled tight lengths with unwavering consistency and brutal pace.

Wicket-keeper Alex Carey staked his claim for a spot in the World Cup squad by effecting four dismissals: two stumpings off the bowling of Adam Zampa and two catches which saw off Dhawan and Kohli. India lost too many wickets early on in their innings for by the 30th over, they had squandered six wickets for 132 runs.

Kumar’s batting prowess was the main reason why India lasted till the last ball of the innings, when Marcus Stoinis sent the bails flying. By winning the last ODI, this Australian side have become the fifth team to comeback from a 2-0 deficit and win the series.

In a record chase for Australia, Ashton Turner punished the Indian bowlers to level the series in the fourth of five One Day Internationals on Sunday.

Virat Kohli elected to bat first, considering the flat track in Mohali, and his batters did not disappoint. Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan played masterfully to score 193 runs in the first 31 overs before the former was dismissed on 95. Though Sharma missed out on a well deserved hundred, Dhawan went on to complete his century and added another 44 runs to the tally before being bowled over by Pat Cummins in the 37th over.

Once Kohli was caught behind at 7, Cummins restrained the Indian batsmen and picked up another four wickets. Despite his five-fer, India managed to post an intimidating target of 359. The second innings could not have begun any worse for Australia, as Bhuvneshwar Kumar knocked down skipper Aaron Finch’s stumps for a duck in the very first over.

After Jasprit Bumrah sent Shaun Marsh packing at 6 in the fourth over, the visitors were reeling at 12/2 and another triumphant series to Kohli’s name seemed inevitable. But, Usman Khawaja and Peter Handscomb batted brilliantly to steady the ship and put on a stand of 192 runs for the third wicket. Once the partnership was broken in the 34th over, Glenn Maxwell stepped in to smash 23 runs off 12 balls only to be trapped LBW by Kuldeep Yadav.

When Handscomb departed in the 42nd over, the match was still firmly in India’s favour with Australia needing another 88 runs to win. Turner walked in at No.6 and led a belligerent onslaught scoring 84 runs from just 43 deliveries to complete the highest Australian chase of all time. With the series tied 2-2, Kohli will be weary of his renewed opponents in the deciding match at Delhi on Wednesday.

The English fielders held their nerves to win a spectacular match that went down the wire with both teams amassing massive runs on Wednesday.

When Jason Holder won the toss and elected to chase, he couldn’t have imagined the extent to which the English batsmen were going to exploit his ill-advised decision. Jonny Bairstow and Alex Hales started the innings in explosive fashion and England cruised to 100 in the first 82 balls. After Bairstow fell in the 14th over, Joe Root suffered a rare failure when he was caught behind by Shai Hope at 5.

Skipper Eoin Morgan joined the proceedings and batted patiently alongside Hales to get England to 165, half-way through the innings. The day went from bad to worse for the West Indies when Jos Buttler walked in to replace Hales, who was dismissed at 82. Buttler and Morgan plundered the Windies for 204 runs in the next 20 overs. There were 13 fours and 12 sixes in Buttler’s 150 that came off just 77 balls.

As the chase commenced, Chris Gayle and John Campbell took the offensive immediately, realising the magnitude of the towering target of 419. Campbell was caught at 15 by Root and Buttler took an edge from Hope soon after. At the other end, Gayle proved that age is just a number and clobbered the English bowlers for 11 fours and 14 sixes as he raced to 162 before being bowled over by Ben Stokes.

Though Carlos Brathwaite and Ashley Nurse kept the game alive with their partnership, Adil Rashid’s late burst cut the 2nd innings short in its 48th over. The Windies were behind by just 29 runs at the end of a match that saw 807 runs scored in total. With England leading the series 2-1, the hosts must win the next encounter at St Lucia to save the series on Saturday.

Australia kicked off their tour of India by winning the first T20 International on the last ball of the match.

In a classic low-scoring thriller, the visitors stayed vigilant and successfully chased the paltry 126 posted by the star-studded Indian batting order. Aaron Finch elected to field after winning the toss and his bowlers responded brilliantly, as they consistently chipped the wickets away to keep the batsman down.

Rohit Sharma was dismissed early into the innings, when he had only scored 5 runs. The partnership between Lokesh Rahul and Virat Kohli looked promising, until Nathan Coulter-Nile’s clean catch sent the latter off at 24. In the very next over, Jason Behrendorff ran out Rishabh Pant, leaving Mahendra Singh Dhoni to steady the ship for the umpteenth time in his career.

Rahul batted his way to another half-century and lost his wicket to Coulter-Nile, shortly after. Coulter-Nile rattled Dinesh Karthik’s woodwork in the same over and dismissed Krunal Pandya in his succeeding over. The Indian innings never recovered and Dhoni could only manage a single six in his 29 that came off 37 balls.

India did well to defend their score from the beginning of the chase. Marcus Stoinis fell short of the crease in the 12th ball of the innings, and Jasprit Bumrah got Finch plumb on his pads in the 13th. Glenn Maxwell played sensibly alongside D’Arcy Short, knitting a crucial partnership of 84, before the innings started to crumble again.

The Australian batsmen were found wanting in an intelligent and economical spell from Pandya. However, it was Bumrah’s magnificence in the 19th over that took India to the cusp of victory. He bowled yorker after yorker, strangling the batsmen, and returned impressive match figures of 16/3.

Australia needed 14 runs to win in the last over. Pat Cummins and Jhye Richardson scored seven each, as Umesh Yadav disappointed the crowd at Vishakapatnam. With the series set up perfectly, Kohli will be determined to set the record straight at Bangalore on Wednesday.

England stood up to their reputation as favourites for the World Cup by chasing down a mammoth target of 361 in the first of five One Day Internationals against West Indies on Wednesday.

It was a glorious night for batsmen on both sides with bowlers being swatted around the ground, regardless of the jersey they had on. Ben Stokes was the only exception, as he contained the Windies, despite the lack of any assistance from the flat pitch at Bridgetown, to return figures of 37/3 from his 8 overs.

Chris Gayle celebrated the announcement of his retirement with a brilliant knock of 135, smashing the English bowlers for 12 sixes, before being bowled over by Stokes. The hosts also had Ashley Nurse’s quick 27 and Shai Hope’s patient 64 to thank for their imposing scorecard.

The first over of the second innings ended with a mere 2 runs for England. However, Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow soon accelerated the scoring-rate that never dipped below the required run-rate again. Joe Root stepped in when Bairstow was caught behind the stumps at 33.

Roy and Root, who scored 123 and 102 respectively, kept the fielders on their toes as they found the gaps with masterful technique. By the time Roy was dismissed, he had clobbered the West Indies for 15 fours and 3 sixes. Then, Eoin Morgan joined the party and scored a half-century before Stokes and Buttler completed the chase in the 49th over.

Jason Holder will have much to think about after being sorely let down by his bowling unit. The hosts will be looking to level the series at the same venue on Friday.

Kusal Perera silenced the crowd and his critics to help Sri Lanka to a much-needed win against South Africa on the fourth day of the first test match.

The captain of the Proteas, Francois du Plessis was lost for words at the press conference after the incredible tenth wicket partnership of 78 completed the chase of 304 to bring a close to one of the most thrilling test matches ever.

Perera’s 153 was extraordinary not just because of the grit he displayed against the formidable South African bowlers, but the way he got his team home despite losing partners at every turn.

Sri Lanka were not the favourites to win this match at the start and they weren’t any closer when Keshav Maharaj got their tenth batsman out, taking the Proteas to the brink of victory. But, Perera did the impossible as he engineered the innings marvellously to farm the strike and protect the tenth wicket.

Earlier in the match, Dale Steyn turned back the clock to dismiss the Lankan batsmen at 191 and gave the hosts a healthy lead of 44 runs on a hostile pitch at Durban. Though his efforts looked and proved endangering to the Lankan cause, Perera’s brilliance shone through in an innings of a lifetime.

The upset has left the Proteas and their supporters stunned. Whether they recover from the shock to level the series at Port Elizabeth will be crucial for du Plessis and his position as captain.