Peter Robinson
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1st ODI: South Africa v Sri Lanka at Port Elizabeth, 15 Dec 2000 Peter Robinson |
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Sri Lanka innings:
Pre-game: South Africa innings: |
Rhodes hit 61 not out, his 19th one-day fifty, and Klusener made 39 as they put on 80 in an unbroken stand for the seventh wicket to steer South Africa home after Sri Lanka had made 221.
Rhodes, who has retired from Test cricket but is still sprinting like a hare between the wicket at the age of 31, built on a foundation laid by Gary Kirsten who made 58 at the top of the innings as wickets tumbled about him.
Kirsten’s defiance came to an end in the 27th over after he had faced 70 balls and it was effected by more sharp work from wicketkeeper Romesh Kaluwitharana. Kirsten went down the pitch to Muttiah Muralitharan, but the ball beat the outside edge and Kaluwitharana had the bails off before the batsman could regain his ground.
From 126 for five, Mark Boucher helped Rhodes take the score to 143 before a daft piece of cricket gave the Sri Lankans their sixth wicket. Boucher pushed Sanath Jayasuriya straight to Russel Arnold at short cover and set off for a run, but was, quite rightly, sent back by Rhodes. Arnold’s direct hit took care of Boucher for 9.
The departure of Boucher set the stage for Lance Klusener whose appearance was greeted by a huge roar and, after he had been at the wicket for a few overs, an enthusiastic female fan who rushed onto the field fully clothed and nearly had her top torn off by the security guards.
Together Klusener and Rhodes took South Africa towards the last 10 overs of the match by pushing ones and twos. When Rhodes swept Jayasuriya for four in the 40th over, it was the first boundary from the South Africans since the 19th over.
After 40 overs, the South Africans were 173 for six, still needing 49 to win.
Rhodes picked up his second boundary in two overs when he reverse swept Muralitharan past point with a stroke as cleanly executed as any in his innings and he went to his half-century off 69 balls two overs later, strolling through for another single off Muralitharan.
Klusener had been quiet by his standards, but when Nuwan Zoysa came back into the attack, the left-hander greeted him by swatting him back over his head for four.
Klusener raised the South African 200 in the 45th over by hammering Chaminda Vaas through midwicket for four and celebrated the achievement by hitting the next ball straight for another four.
The end came when Klusener flicked Wickramasinghe over square leg for the winning boundary.
A brilliant catch from wicketkeeper Romesh Kaluwitharana accounted for Andrew Hall and then Nicky Boje was run out by an equally smart piece of work from Mahela Jayawardene to stop the South Africans in their tracks after a brisk opening stand.
With Jacques Kallis following soon after without scoring, the South Africans were forced to rebuild and at the 25-over mark the home team were 118 for four in reply to Sri Lanka’s 221 all out. Opener Gary Kirsten was still at the crease with 53 and with him was Jonty Rhodes on 16.
Kirsten was quickly into his stride at the start of his innings and although Hall took a little more time to settle, the pair rattled to 49 off the first nine overs before Nuwan Zoysa broke through for the Sri Lankans. He persuaded Hall, on 18, to drive and Kaluwitharana dived high and to his right to hold a stunning catch.
Eleven balls later South Africa were 56 for two. Boje dropped Pramodya Wickramasinghe down on the off side and hesitated as Kirsten went for the single. Jayawardene swooped in from point to pick up and throw down the stumps at the bowler’s end with Boje still short of his ground. Boje made only 6 and five balls later South Africa were in even deeper trouble.
Zoysa produced one that seemed to stop on Kallis and the bowler took a return catch of the leading edge to have the home side 57 for three. The three wickets had gone down for eight runs in 16 balls.
Boeta Dippenaar joined Kirsten and together they kept the Sri Lankans at bay for the next six overs, adding 34 before Kaluwitharana produced another superb catch to get rid of Dippenaar for 19. Chaminda Vaas had been expensive in his first spell, but when he returned to the attack, he found the outside edge and Kaluwitharana took off again to hold a low catch with his right hand. The fourth South African wicket fell at 91.
Kirsten’s left foot seemed to be bothering him, but this did not prevent him reaching his fifty off 58 balls when he took a single off Wickramasinghe.
In an innings that never quite caught alight, Sangakkara’s contribution, most notably during a seventh wicket partnership with Chaminda Vaas that yielded 52, kept the Sri Lankans in the game after the seam-heavy South African attack had threatened to strangle the visiting team.
His role was all the more important after Sri Lanka had struggled to put partnerships together during the first part of their innings, a trend that looked likely to continued in the second half.
After being 101 for four at the halfway stage, the fifth wicket fell at 112 when Russel Arnold pushed forward to Lance Klusener and a thin outside edge gave Mark Boucher his second catch of the innings. Arnold made just five in 20 minutes at the crease.
Makhaya Ntini, man of the series in the recently completed Test matches against New Zealand, suffered more punishment when he was given a second spell from the Park Drive end. He was pulled out of the attack once more after conceding 18 in two overs, most of them scored by Sangakkara, for figures of 5-0-44-1, but South Africa’s all-round strength enabled the home side to employ their sixth bowler, Nicky Boje, with Andrew Hall still in reserve.
Sangakkara moved to a deserved half-century off 74 balls with a leg glance for four off Roger Telemachus. But later in the same over he chopped Telemachus into the gully, Jacques Kallis made the stop and Jonty Rhodes was quick to return the rebound to Boucher. Sangakkara and Tillekeratne Dilshan hesitated in mid-pitch and Dilshan was run out for 18 at 159 for six.
Finally, however, Sri Lanka managed to put a stand together as Chaminda Vaas joined Sangakkara. Together the pair fashioned the first half-century stand of the innings for the seventh wicket to lift the tourists above 200 before Vaas lost his wicket for 18, bowled as he tried to hit Shaun Pollock through the leg side.
Vaas went at 211 for seven and Nuwan Zoysa followed quickly at 214 for eight, caught by Pollock at mid-on off a low full toss from Kallis for one.
Sangakkara finally perished in the last over of the innings after facing 114 balls and hitting eight fours. He was bowled by Pollock having a wild swipe across the line as the need to add to the score took precedence over technique and Pollock took his fourth wicket of the innings when he bowled Pramodya Wickramasinghe for one off the penultimate ball of the innings.
The South African captain ended with figures of four for 36.
But after keeping his side going for nearly half the innings, Kaluwitharana gave his wicket away softly for 55 when he was bowled by Jacques Kallis. After 25 overs Sri Lanka were 101 for four with Kumar Sangakkara on 16 and Russel Arnold on four. With the run rate hovering around four an over, the visiting side needed to push on in the second half of the innings if they were to set South Africa a challenging target.
On a pitch that played a little low occasionally, the Sri Lankans opted to bat first but the innings was only three overs old when Sanath Jayasuriya dragged one from Shaun Pollock on to his leg stump to be bowled for three at 16 for one.
Kaluwitharana had given an early indication of his intentions in the second over with two slashes for four off Roger Telemachus, but the South African seamer recovered from this punishment to hold a wonderful return catch, coming back at him at ankle height, to account for Marvan Atapattu in his third over. The Sri Lankan vice-captain made only two and departed at 21 for two.
With Mahela Jayawardene now at the crease, the third wicket took the islanders to 62 for two at the end of the first 15 overs. One run later, however, there was more success for the South Africans as Jayawardene drove at a widish one from Makhaya Ntini to be caught off a thin outside edge by wicketkeeper Mark Boucher.
Jayawardene took 28 balls for his 13, but Kaluwitharana forged on, helping himself to successive boundaries off Ntini as the South African was hit out of the attack after three overs which cost 26.
Kaluwitharana went to his fifty with a single off Lance Klusener after facing 58 deliveries, but after adding another five to his score, he tried to run Kallis down to third man, but played inside the line and had his off stump knocked back.
In all, Kaluwitharana faced 69 balls, hitting seven boundaries and the fourth Sri Lankan wicket had fallen at 91.
Allan Donald, the South African fast bowler who is carrying a slight stomach muscle strain, and Neil McKenzie were left out of the home side’s 13-man squad. The last time McKenzie played in Port Elizabeth he made a maiden Test century, scoring 120 in the second Test match against New Zealand.
Sri Lanka were fielding what looked to be their strongest combination.
Teams
South Africa: Gary Kirsten, Andrew Hall, Jacques Kallis, Jonty Rhodes, Boeta Dippenaar, Mark Boucher, Lance Klusener, Nicky Boje, Shaun Pollock (capt), Roger Telemachus, Makhaya Ntini.
Sri Lanka: Sanath Jayasuriya (capt), Romesh Kaluwitharana, Marvan Atapattu, Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara, Russel Arnold, TM Dilshan, Chaminda Vaas, Nuwan Zoysa, Pramodya Wickramasinghe, Muttiah Muralitharan.
Umpires: Rudi Koertzen and Wilf Diedricks.
© CricInfo
Date-stamped : 15 Dec2000 - 22:49