S. Africa's Du Plessis, Miller hit centuries against Sri Lanka

Durban (South Africa) (AFP) - Faf du Plessis and David Miller hit centuries as South Africa posted an imposing total in the second one-day international against Sri Lanka at Kingsmead on Wednesday.

South Africa scored 307 for six after being sent in on an unusually dry, slow Kingsmead pitch.

Du Plessis made 105 off 120 balls, while Miller finished the innings with a burst of power hitting to make 117 not out off 98 deliveries.

Largely due to Du Plessis, South Africa maintained a reasonable scoring rate despite losing their first four wickets for 108 runs, with none of the four batsmen dismissed able to reach 20.

The left-handed Miller showed reined in his normal attacking instincts as he and Du Plessis made steady progress against an assortment of accurate slow and slow-medium bowlers.

The pair put on 117 off 136 balls for the fifth wicket before Miller and Chris Morris plundered 60 off 43 balls for the sixth wicket to put South Africa within range of topping 300.

Miller finished the innings strongly, reaching his century in the final over and celebrating with two sixes and a four off Nuwan Kulasekera. He hit six sixes and three fours in his innings.

Du Plessis reached his fifty off 53 balls with five fours and a six but added only two more boundaries and took another 60 deliveries before posting his seventh one-day international century.

After Nuwan Kulasekera and Suranga Lakmal sent down four overs each with the new ball, Sri Lankan captain Upul Tharanga opted for spin and the slow medium-pace of Asela Gunaratne for most of the rest of the innings, giving the batsmen virtually no pace to work with and making it difficult to hit boundaries.

The big-hitting Miller was relatively subdued but hit a straight six off Sachith Pathirana before going to his half-century, off 54 balls, with two successive sixes off Dhananjaya de Silva.