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South Africa 339 for 5 (De Kock 128, De Villiers 108, Herath 2-48) beat Sri Lanka 257 (Mathews 58, McLaren 3-37) by 82 runs

Quinton de Kock gestures after his Century.

Grinding hundreds like Hashim Amla's in the first ODI and glorious ones like AB de Villiers' in Hambantota. Quickfire starts like Tillakaratne Dilshan's fifty off 40 balls in Pallekele and Sri Lanka's 99 off the first ten overs in the finale. Dramatic collapses - Sri Lanka recorded 5 for 13 in Colombo and 5 for 11 in the second ODI, South Africa contributed 5 for 26 in the same game - this series seemed to have it all. Except a run-out. So it was only fitting that when one came, it proved decisive in a contest which saw South Africa make history by winning a first-ever fifty-over rubber in Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka had polished off almost a third of the target in the powerplay with Kusal Perera pouncing on anything too full, too short or too much on his pads. When he fell on his sword, Dilshan and a belligerent Kumar Sangakkara took over and continued to knock South Africa's plans out of shape. With the wind causing havoc and the runs coming easily, Sri Lanka didn't need to do anything too risky. But then South Africa introduced the man they hoped would be their trump card, Imran Tahir.

Dilshan hit his first legitimate ball to de Villiers at short midwicket and unthinkingly charged to the other side of the pitch. Sangakkara initially moved forward but then turned back. What could have been a tightly scampered single became a two-horse race to the non-strikers' end. De Villiers didn't need to pull off anything acrobatic, de Kock could afford to fumble and yet Dilshan lost his battle. His fury with Sangakkara would only have got worse over the minutes that followed.

via: http://www.espncricinfo.com/sri-lanka-v-south-africa-2014/content/story/759653.html