It is hardly surprising that SA have followed three banging victories with the whimper of two defeats in their one-day series in Sri Lanka. Why the visitors should have to get out of bed, much less take the field, having wrapped up the rubber a week ago is a fair question that undoubtedly went unasked out loud. Dead rubbers are part of what’s wrong with international cricket, and to have to put up with two of them — the reality after SA clinched the series last Sunday — is too much pretence for people who do what they do to win when it matters. There is little pride to play for when the game does not matter. It did not matter in Kandy on Wednesday and again did not in Colombo on Sunday, when Sri Lanka won by 178 runs. No team has yet chased down 300 to win a day/night ODI in Sri Lanka, and in the circumstances SA were not going to claim that record — never mind after the Lankans totalled 299/8. Instead Quinton de Kock’s team dawdled, dwindled and descended to a reply of 121 inside 2...
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