Proteas remain 3rd on ICC rankings despite whitewash of Sri Lanka

South Africa will remain third on the International Cricket Council (ICC) rankings despite the comprehensive 3-0 whitewash of hapless Sri Lanka‚ a side they completely outplayed throughout the series.

Proteas remain behind leaders India and second-placed Australia but they improved their rating from 102 to 107 as they continue with their daunting mission of recapturing the much sought after Test Championship mace.

Captain Faf du Plessis’ men thumped Sri Lanka by an innings and 118 runs with two days to spare in the third and final match at the Wanderers on Saturday.

South Africa started the series with a convincing 206 win during the Boxing Day Test in Port Elizabeth and they wrapped up the series with a 282 runs victory in Cape Town to render the Johannesburg encounter a dead rubber.

With the Test series now in the past‚ South Africa and Sri Lanka shift their focus to the three match T20 series which starts on Friday at SuperSport Park in Centurion.

The second match is scheduled for Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg two days later with the last match to be hosted at Newlands Stadium in Cape Town on January 25.

Then‚ it will be time for the five match ODI series to be held in Port Elizabeth‚ Durban‚ Wanderers‚ Cape Town and Pretoria between 28 January and 10 February before the Sri Lankans return home.

Looking back at the Sri Lankan performances over the three Test matches‚ former all-rounder Russel Arnold said though his countrymen disappointed‚ they will take some positives from the tour.

“There is no doubt that the performances have been disappointing overall but there are positives to draw from here and there.

"This is a young team that continues to learn and grow together after losing influential batsman in the last while and we have to be patient with them‚” he said.

“There have been areas like fielding where we did not exert ourselves well such as fielding and shot selection‚ but they will learn from those mistakes and move forward.

"We must also take into consideration the pitches that we played on at the three venues ...... they were not ideal for them. We saw in Port Elizabeth‚ Cape Town and here that there was a lot of grass on the wicket.”

With the limited overs following after this Test‚ Arnold said he hoped that the Sri Lankans will improve their performances even though they have not been particularly impressive in T20’s and ODIs in recent times.

“Hopefully we will see different pitches and the team will show improved performances‚” he said.

Dean Elgar was South Africa’s best batsman of the series with 308 runs from his five innings and he was followed by JP Duminy with 273‚ Quinton de Kock with 270‚ Hashim Amla with 231 and Stephen Cook with 216 in the top five.

Kagiso Rabada was the pick of the bowlers with 19 wickets and he was followed by Vernon Philander with 17‚ Keshav Maharaj with seven‚ Wayne Parnell with six and debutant Duanne Olivier returned with five.

- TMG Digital