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A superb all-round show by J P Duminy earned South Africa a 12-run victory over Sri Lanka in the first Twenty20 international in Colombo on Friday.
The tourists, after putting up a modest 115-6 after electing to bat, restricted Sri Lanka at 103-9 at the Premadasa stadium.
Duminy top-scored with 51 off 52 balls as South Africa recovered from a poor start. He then picked three wickets for 18 runs, earning himself the man of the match award.
It was a morale-boosting win for South Africa following an embarrassing 4-1 defeat in the last one-day series.
Kumar Sangakkara put up a fight for the hosts with an unbeaten 59 off 53 balls, but young opener Kusal Perera (11) was the only other batsman to reach double figures.
With 21 runs needed off the last two overs and three wickets in hand, left-arm seamer Wayne Parnell swung the game South Africa's way by removing Sachithra Senanayake and Lasith Malinga without conceding a run in the penultimate over.
Sangakkara hit two boundaries in Morne Morkel's final over, but it was not enough to carry his team to victory.
Morkel and Parnell finished with two wickets each.
South Africa's Twenty20 captain Faf du Plessis was delighted by his team's win.
“I am very chuffed and so proud of the boys," he said.
"We were under pressure after the one-day series, but the team showed great character tonight.
“The wicket was not easy to bat on, so I thought ours could be a good total. I told the boys that if we kept fighting, we could pull it off."
Sri Lanka's Dinesh Chandimal said bad batting cost his team the match.
"We bowled well, but then undid all the good work with some rash shots," he said.
"But there are still two more games to go and we will look to come back strongly."
David Miller (25) shared a fifth-wicket stand of 56 with Duminy after the Proteas slumped to 50-4 in the 11th over.
Off-spinner Senanayake, who shared the new ball with Malinga, struck in each of his first three overs to reduce South Africa to 23-3 by the sixth over.
Senanayake claimed both openers, Quinton de Kock and Henry Davids, leg-before, and then bowled South Africa's du Plessis for eight.
Star batsman AB de Villiers was on 15 when he skied Angelo Mathews to the cover region and Kusal Perera rushed in to take a good catch.
Duminy hit three boundaries and a six before he was dismissed in the penultimate over, caught in the deep off Ajantha Mendis.
The second and third matches will be played in Hambantota on Sunday and Tuesday.
Scorecard
South Africa
H Davids lbw b Senanayake 1
Q de Kock lbw b Senanayake 5
F du Plessis b Senanayake 8
JP Duminy c Dilshan b Mendis 51
AB de Villiers c K. Perera b Mathews 15
D Miller c Dilshan b Malinga 25
D Wiese not out 3
W Parnell not out 0
Extras: (lb5, w2) 7
Total: (for six wickets, 20 overs) 115
Fall of wickets: 1-6, 2-12, 3-23, 4-50, 5-106, 6-113.
Bowling: Malinga 4-0-25-1, Senanayake 4-0-14-3, Mathews 4-0-13-1, Dilshan 3-0-15-0, T. Perera 1-0-11-0, A. Mendis 4-0-32-1.
Sri Lanka:
K Perera c Wiese b Morkel 11
T Dilshan c de Villiers b Duminy 9
D Chandimal c de Kock b Tsotsobe 8
K Sangakkara not out 59
A Mathews c and b Duminy 4
J Mendis c Tahir b Duminy 0
L Thirimanne c de Villiers b Tahir 5
T Perera c Du Plessis b Morkel 0
S Senanayake c de Kock b Parnell 0
L Malinga c du Plessis b Parnell 0
A Mendis not out 0
Extras: (lb 1, w 5, nb 1) 7
Total: (for nine wickets) 103
Fall of wickets: 1-15, 2-25, 3-44, 4-72, 5-72, 6-90, 7-91, 8-95, 9-95.
Bowling: Tsotsobe 3-0-11-1, Morkel 4-0-28-2, Parnell 3-1-8-2, Tahir 4-0-22-1, Duminy 4-0-18-3, Wiese 1-0-8-0, Davids 1-0-7-0.
Image: South Africa players celebrate after clinching victory
Photograph: Dinuka Liyanawatte/Reuters