Close Sri Lanka 267 for 7 (de Silva 73*) beat South Africa 174 (Kirsten 55, Jayasuriya 3-24) by 93 runs
Scorecard

Aravinda de Silva hit an unbeaten 73 to inspire Sri Lanka to an easy 93-run win over South Africa in the Morocco Cup at Tangier.

De Silva smashed his 58th half-century to rescue the Sri Lankans as they lost their way after winning the toss and elected to bat. The total proved beyond the reach of the spin-wary South Africans, who were shot out in 45 overs with the Sri Lankan slow bowlers sharing six wickets.

De Silva hit just four boundaries in his 84-ball innings, but his substantial contribution with well-placed singles and twos enabled Sri Lanka put up a fighting score.

South Africa were reduced to 79 for 3 by the 16th over, triggered by the reckless dismissal of Herschelle Gibbs, who was bowled for 11 attempting to heave Pulasthi Gunaratne out of the ground. Dilhara Fernando then struck two crucial blows in successive overs when both Nicky Boje and Jacques Kallis were caught at midwicket by Russel Arnold.

Justin Ontong helped Gary Kirsten take the score to 103 for 3 by the 23rd when Sri Lanka effectively ended the match as a contest by removing both batsmen off consecutive deliveries. Ontong, clearly uncomfortable against the legspin of Upal Chandana, groped to an unconvincing 9 when he misread the line and was bowled. Next ball, Kirsten was run out for 55, failing to beat a throw from the third man fence by Mahela Jayawardena while attempting a third run. Sanath Jayasuriya ended the match with three quick wickets.

Yesterday, Jayasuriya blamed the defeat by Pakistan on his batsmen's inability to get big scores after settling in. The lessons were not learnt by the top order as Jayasuriya himself went for 49, Marvan Atapattu for 35, Kumar Sangakkara for 41 and Mahela Jayawardena for 32.

Jayasuriya and Atapattu put on 84 for the first wicket by the 17th over before both fell in the space of 10 deliveries. Sangakkara helped de Silva add 58 for the third wicket before pulling Lance Klusener to midwicket where Ontong took a superb diving catch.

De Silva also had useful support from Jayawardena as the pair added 70 for the fourth wicket to steer Sri Lanka to 216 for 3 in the 43rd over. They scrambled 70 runs in the last 10 overs despite losing three quick wickets. That was when de Silva's considerable experience was crucial.

The emphatic win, which gained Sri Lanka a bonus point, left all three sides level with one victory each after the first round of the preliminary league. The second round starts on Saturday after a day's rest, promising a keen struggle in the race for the final on August 21.

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