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Ahmedabad,
Oct 24: South Africa produced a sterling display under
pressure to put their Champions Trophy campaign back
on track with a comfortable 78-run victory over Sri
Lanka in a do-or-die Group B encounter here today. The
South Africans recovered from an early collapse to
post a competitive 219 for nine before the bowlers
came to the rescue with a discplined performance to
bundle out the islanders for a meagre 141 in a
low-scoring floodlit contest at the Sardar Patel
Gujarat stadium. Desperately needing a victory to keep
their semi-final hopes alive, the South Africans
managed to get their act together when it mattered the
most to thrash the in-form Sri Lankans with 10.5 overs
to spare.
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S
Pollock
Man of the Match |
The South African victory means that all the four teams in Group B, who have won a match each, are in contention for the two semi-final berths from the group.
While Sri Lanka have played all their three league matches, New Zealand and South Africa have featured in two matches and Pakistan in one. Abraham De Villiers (54) and Jacques Kallis (43) were the main contributors for the South Africans who were put into bat by Sri Lankan skipper Mahela Jayawardene on a slow track.
The duo put on a vital 80-run partnership for the fourth wicket to pull the team out of the pits after being precariously placed at 30 for three at one stage.
Required to score at a rate of 4.40, the islanders never really recovered from the early setbacks as wickets kept tumbling at regular intervals. Only captain Jayawardene (36) and Tillakaratne Dilshan (36) provided a semblance of resistance. The Sri Lanka run chase got off to as rocky a start like the South Africans, the only difference being that things went from bad to worse for the islanders. Half the side was back into the pavilion into the 25th over, with only 78 runs on the board. The rest was a mere formality. Veteran campaigner Sanath Jayasuriya (3) failed to click as he was trapped in front of the wicket by Pollock, with the Sri Lanka score reading 9 for 1.
Young talent Upul Tharanga, who created a sensation by cracking back-to-back hundreds in the first two matches, also could not reap the fruits of an early life. The 22-year-old opener edged Makhaya Ntini to second slip, but Kallis dropped the catch when he was on four. Tharanga (11) got out in the 10th over, edging a rising delivery from Ntini behind the wicket. Sri Lanka suffered another setback in the next over, as Kumar Sangakkara got out in a similar fashion off Pollock without bothering the scorer. At 23 for 3, Sri Lanka badly needed a big partnership to pull them out of the rut, but instead saw the experienced Marvan Atapattu (2) fall to a beauty of a delivery from pacer Andre Nel. The ball came in sharply after pitching to clip off the bail on the off stump, beating the batsman all ends up.
Skipper
Jayawardene, who had come in after Jayasuriya's dismissal, helplessly observed the procession at the other end till Tilakratne Dilshan joined him in the middle. The two briefly resurrected Sri Lanka's hopes by stitching together a 44-run stand, as the dew started to bother the South Africans with the ball often slipping out of the grip of the fielders and bowlers. The condition became so tough that the super sopper had to be pressed into service during the second drinks break. But just as it seemed that the partnership was perfectly poised for greater glory, came the anti-climax, thanks to some superb fielding from Gibbs and Pollock. Dilshan played a Kallis delivery to backward point, and non-striker Jayawardene set out for a single. Gibbs dived on to his left, picked up in a flash and threw it to the bowler's end.
Kallis, who got a right ankle injury while batting, failed to collect, but Pollock came from nowhere to dive full length forward, latched on to the ball and uprooted the bails in one action. Jayawardene failed to make his way back into the crease, reducing Sri Lanka to 78/5. Earlier, Sri Lanka seized the initiative with some intelligent bowling picking up three early wickets and then nibbled at the opponent batting at regular intervals before South Africa made full use of the slog overs to reach 219 for nine. Kallis and De Villiers performed the salvage job with their defiant fourth wicket partnership. However, Kallis' fall in the 32nd over saw the middle order come apart as the South Africans lost three more wickets to be precariously placed at 176 for 7.
But Robin Peterson (22) and Shaun Pollock (21) brought the modest crowd on their feet with some lusty hittings and taking their team's total past the 200 mark.
Scorecard
(Agencies)
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