Col (Retd) Rafi Nasim
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5th Match: South Africa v Sri Lanka at Colombo, 11 Jul 2000 Col (Retd) Rafi Nasim |
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Sri Lanka innings:
Pre-game: South Africa innings: |
Advance to the victory target continued with runs coming through all sorts of shots. Jayawardene tried to throw a ball from Boje over the long off boundary for a six but it landed a little short of the rope. In 27 overs, Sri Lanka was 161 for 2, needing only 5 runs to win. On the next three balls, with single and twos they achieved the target. Sri Lanka was 168 for 2 with Atapattu (44) and Jayawardene (14) achieving a prolific victory for their team. Sri Lanka thus defeated South Africa by 8 wickets. This is the biggest margin of victory in the tournament.
It was certainly not the South Africa's day. They gave a dismal batting performance followed by a similarly lack luster display of bowling and fielding. Sri Lanka dominated the game right through and deserved to win the match in the grand style that they did.
Gunawardene hitting a boundary in each over with undaunted support from Atapattu, the bowlers were not getting a respite. The 100 of Sri Lanka's innings came in 16 overs. Gunawardene (60) and Atapattu (22) exercised full command over the game.
All available bowling resources were employed to break the partnership but to no avail. In the 18th over Gunawardene punished Boje for 2 fours, recording 100 runs of the partnership. On rampage Gunawardene extracted 2 fours from Lance Klusener, one to the covers and the other to long off boundary. In the next over Marvin Atapattu followed suit by driving Boje for a four. Sri Lanka ended 20 overs with a fantastic score of 131 for 1. Gunawardene (80) and Atapattu (30) leading their team to victory.
Gunawardene started aggressively when in the 2nd over he pulled Hayward to fine leg for a four followed by a drive to covers for the 2nd four. Sri Lanka, however, met the 1st tragedy when Jayasuriya trying a big hit off Pollock was caught by Ntini at long on for 1 run. Sri Lanka was at 11 for 1.
Marvan Atapattu joined Gunawardene who in a punishing mood hammered Pollock for 2 fours in his next over. Continuing with his spree of shots, he got 3 fours out of Hayward's over. He cut him fiercely for the 1st four, slicing him to fine leg for the 2nd and hitting him straight for the 3rd. Hayward conceded 16 runs in the over.
To match with his partner, Atapattu punished Pollock for a four in the next over. Sri Lanka's aggressive approach brought the team 41 runs in only 5 overs. Ntini took over from Hayward and started with a wide ball. After a couple of steady deliveries, he was also driven for a straight four by Gunawardene who had gathered 35 runs in 21 balls. The 50 of the Sri Lanka's innings came in 7.1 overs. The first 10 overs yielded Sri Lanka 63 runs for the loss of one wicket Gunawardene (40) and Atapattu (12) were almost in command of the game.
The steady batting did not pay off. Nicky Boje was the next to leave, stumped by Sangakarra off Dharmasena for 19. South Africa lost the 8th wicket at 148. 150 of the innings came in 45 overs. With Kallis lifting Dharmasena to square leg for a six, there was atleast some excitement for the spectators. Incidently in the next attempt for 2 runs, Howard was run out for 0. South Africa was 158 for 9.
It was strange that at no stage, the batsmen resorted to slogging, giving the impression that they were quite happy and content with their present position in the tournament. Jayasuriya bowled Ntini, who came in as the last man for 1, marking the end to South Africa's innings at a total of 167. Jacques Kallis played a brilliant innings of 83 runs.
Sri Lanka having given an outstanding performance in the field have a target of 168 runs to win the match.
The two batsmen having adopted a steady posture, the runs were now coming slowly. Sri Lanka's tight bowling - fielding combination was keeping the batsmen under check. In 40 overs, South Africa was able to score 136 runs with Kallis playing the sheet anchor with 60 and Boje supporting him with 14.
Mark Boucher took the crease. In the meantime 100 of the South Africa innings came in 23 overs. With the loss of five wickets the rate of scoring declined. Another tragedy struck South Africa when Mark Boucher offered an easy catch to Jayawardene at short cover point off Chandana for 8, reducing his team to 110 for 6.
Shaun Pollock came in and returned to the pavilion, adjudged LBW off Chandana for a duck. Chandana claimed 2 wickets in the over. Losing 7 wickets at 110, South Africa was in a disastrous situation.
Nicky Boje took the crease and had 1 run to his credit while Kallis completed a defiant half-century. South Africa was 112 for 7 in 30 overs.
Daryll Cullinan took the crease. Mutiah Muralitharan the ace off spinner came in to bowl. The South Africans were piling up runs at a fairly rapid pace. Sri Lanka achieved another important break through when Cullinan was adjudged run out after scoring 8 runs. South Africa lost the 4th wicket at 84.
Jonty Rhodes came in and took a steady start. In 20 overs South Africa was 93 for 4, with Kallis going strong with 41 and Jonty Rhodes supporting his partner with 5.
South Africa opened the innings with Lance Klusener and Gary Kirsten and suffered the first causality when on first ball of the second over Klusener was caught in the covers by Atapattu off Wickramasinghe, a new entrant in the series. South Africa lost the 1st wicket for no score.
Andrew Hall came in to bat. Nuwan Zoysa who launched the attack for Sri Lanka also met with success when in his second over he bowled Gary Kirsten for 3 runs. Kirsten had edged the ball to the stumps. South Africa lost 2 important wickets for only 4 runs on the board.
Jack Kallis took the crease and was in the process of settling down when his partner Andrew Hall smashed Wickramasinghe to covers for the first four of the innings. In the next over he lifted Zoysa to square leg for another four. Hall added another boundary to the score when he edged Wickramasinghe through the slips. A fielder was added immediately to strengthen the area. With 24 runs scored in 6 overs, the score board was now constantly moving.
Hall was the batsman piling up runs for the team. In the 9th over, he flashed an outside delivery from Zoysa for a four to the point boundary. In 10 overs South Africa was 37 for 2 with Hall (22) and Kallis (9) trying to cover up the initial loss.
In their first encounter on July 7 at Galle, Upul Chandana grabbed four quick wickets to mastermind a sensational South African collapse, which gave Sri Lanka a 37 runs victory. Chasing a target of 250, South Africa appeared to be cruising home, with an opening stand of 150, when all of a sudden they lost 10 wickets in the space of 62 runs.
In the second match South Africa, however, recorded a dramatic victory by 18 runs over Pakistan. This match was almost the repeat of the first drama with only the difference of actors. Chasing South Africa's target of 241, Pakistan appeared to have the match wrapped up when they reached 144 for 1 in 30 overs. Pakistan slipped down to 223 for 9 and lost the match, exactly in the manner South Africa lost to Sri Lanka.
With three victories in a row, Sri Lanka is riding high in every respect i.e. good all round performance by the team, the advantage of home ground, crowd and every thing else. Above all the pride and honour of getting into the finals of the championship.
Victory in this match does not matter as much to Sri Lanka as it does to South Africa. Still Sri Lanka would like to go into the finals undefeated. South Africa has the potential to bounce back and would try to win so as to find its way direct to the finals without caring about the result of last match against Pakistan. They will have to play a balanced game avoiding a "sensational collapse." It will be an exciting fight between the two giants.
Date-stamped : 11 Jul2000 - 14:22