With half the Proteas side back in the pavilion at the halfway mark, with only 89 runs on the board, the asking rate pushing close to six an over and Muralitharan not yet been given a bowl, the writing was pretty much on the wall.

Muralitharan was given the 26th over, and he immediately made it six for 91, clean bowling Nicky Boje through the gate with a straight one.

Before this, Marvan Atapattu was having a great time in the field, captaining in place of the injured Jayasuriya. He caught Jacques Kallis (24, 36 balls, 3 fours), the most authoritative of South African batsmen, top edging a sweep off Chandana at square-leg, and followed it up with the run-out of Jonty Rhodes from long-on.

Boeta Dippenaar hit Aravinda de Silva for a four to bring up the 100 in the 29th over, but there was little to cheer about for Proteas. Three wickets in the first 15 overs, and three in the next 15, had made their position hopeless.

Sri Lanka might miss Jayasuriya's influence in the field, not to mention his left-arm slow bowling.

The Proteas had made their intentions clear by promoting Lance Klusener in the order to open with Gibbs. They wanted runs at a fast clip to avoid going into the middle overs when the spinners weave their web from both ends. With Gibbs gone, Klusener tore into Pulsathi Gunaratne, clouting him for a four at square leg and a six over mid-wicket.

Marvan Atapattu, in charge as Jayasuriya was rushed to the hospital, promptly changed Gunaratne next over, bringing on Dilhara Fernando from Cap Spartel end. Fernando bowled what must have looked like a mouth-watering full toss to Klusener. But it dipped at the last moment, hit him on the pads and umpire Simon Taufel had no hesitation in adjudging him leg before.

Vaas had another scalp in his seventh over, as Graeme Smith dragged him onto his stumps to make it three for 52.

South Africa had not been able to recover from the early shocks, and were 61 for 3 by the end of the 15th over. A few less than the asking rate of 4.72, but more crucially they have lost a couple of wickets too many.

Far fewer runs than the Lankans would have expected when they were cruising at 119 for naught in the 22nd over.

Such was the struggle of the Lankan batsmen once their top two batsmen were dismissed that only 116 runs were made off 227 deliveries.

Once Kumar Sangakkara (40, off 54 deliveries, 4 fours) holed out to Boeta Dippenaar at deep square leg after lofting Nicky Boje over extra cover fence, the Lankans found it extremely difficult to get runs at a reasonable rate and keep the partnerships going.

Aravinda de Silva was batting well, but seemed to be a touch restless. He charged down the wicket to Kallis, and sent him soaring over extra cover for a six, but then offered a simple chance to Mark Boucher on a short delivery.

With de Silva gone, the South African bowlers who had seemed so helpless earlier, seized the opportunity and choked off the runs. And though Donald went for 11 runs in the penultimate over, the rest was mostly a crawl, as only 37 runs came between over No 31 and 41, 42 off the last 10 overs.

And in between, the Lankans lost five wickets, mostly to injudicious strokemaking, which was really quite inexplicable because they had gone into the match with only six batsmen.

With the asking rate 4.72 per over, would the Proteas beat the Lankans for the first time in this event and take the trophy? It would largely depend how South Africans bat in the first 15 overs, and also on how the Lankan spinners bowl in the middle overs.

Jayasuriya was replaced by Aravinda de Silva, the maestro who had taken 151 runs in two league games against the Proteas without losing his wicket, and he carried on from where he had left off.

At the end of the 30th over, Sri Lanka were extremely well-placed at 155 for two. On a wicket which is likely to afford some purchase to its spinners, the foundation for a large total had been laid, and from here on South Africa might find the going increasingly tough.

Jayasuriya (71, off 71 deliveries, 10 fours, 1 six) lofted Boje's full toss but instead of finding the long-on boundary, the catch carried to a running Allan Donald. Yet again, Jayasuriya had thrown it away when he seemed destined for greater things. But his stay on the crease was still a highly productive one, and it provided the Lankan innings the impetus.

Jayasuriya stand for the second wicket with Kumar Sangakkara was quite productive, and it contributed 41 runs at good pace, off just 45 deliveries to be exact.

Sangakkara had started off with two fours, identical shots at point, off Donald, and he took another four off Boje, delicately guiding him to third man.

To begin with, de Silva was in a cavalier mood, and lived a trifle dangerously, lofting Jacques Kallis to the third man fence with a running Boje missing the catch and conceding the boundary. A couple of deliveries later, on a sharp single, the ball sailed only an inch or so above the bails. But as South Africa introduced seven bowlers by the 26th over, de Silva settled down to get his runs in singles and twos.

At the end of the 30th over, Sangakkara was unbeaten at 33 and de Silva at 18.

Jayasuriya had done the bulk of scoring, in the process making his 50th fifty, a brisk knock consuming 52, off just 48 deliveries, with 7 fours and 1 six.

Jayasuriya got his first boundary in the fourth over, pulling Roger Telemachus to square leg fence. That was the start of a difficult time for Telemachus, as in the same over he was cut to the point fence for a four and a six. Jayasuriya continued to be harsh on him, taking three boundaries off his fourth over.

As he was taken off, Telemachus had given away 36 runs off his four-over spell, 28 of them taken by Jayasuriya.

Like ever, Jayasuriya was stroking the ball to all parts of the ground while Atapattu mostly gathered his runs in singles and twos, though he took three fours off Telemachus, Pollock and Klusener.

With first 11 overs having gone for 64, Pollock rang changes, bringing on Klusener from Cap Spartel end and giving Graeme Smith an over from the Pavilion End. Donald got his side the breakthrough in his very first over, as Atapattu drove him uppishly to short mid-wicket. Atapattu made 25 (40 balls, 3 overs).

Earlier, Jayasuriya won the toss and elected to bat as Sri Lanka chose its first eleven, the one it fielded in the first three matches. South Africa rested Gary Kirsten, Paul Adams, Makhaya Ntini and Justin Ontong.

Sri Lanka are back in form after their disappointing England tour and have already shown their strength in this tournament having qualified early on.

Most experts predict a Sri Lankan win today because of their strength in the spin department and the fact that the wicket starts playing a bit low in the second session. However, we know that South Africa will want to prove that they can fight and contain Sri Lanka. Both teams have had a rest and will be rearing to go.

The toss has been won by Sri Lanka and expectedly will be batting first.

Teams:
South Africa: HH Gibbs, GC Smith, JH Kallis, JN Rhodes, HH Dippenaar, *SM Pollock, +MV Boucher, N Boje, L Klusener, AA Donald, R Telemachus.

Sri Lanka: *ST Jayasuriya, MS Atapattu, +KC Sangakkara, DPMD Jayawardene, PA de Silva, RP Arnold, WPUJC Vaas, UDU Chandana, CRD Fernando, PW Gunaratne, M Muralitharan.