Lankans back in contention with a bang
TANGIER-- With their backs to the wall, Sri Lanka played with a lot of guts to inflict a numbing 93-run defeat on South Africa, earning a bonus point in the bargain and are on top of the table to wit
Agha Akbar
15-Aug-2002
TANGIER-- With their backs to the wall, Sri Lanka played with a lot of
guts to inflict a numbing 93-run defeat on South Africa, earning a bonus
point in the bargain and are on top of the table to wit. This bonus
point might come handy if they get into a tight spot in the second part
of this double league event.
The tournament after the first round was evenly poised, with all three
sides having a win under their belt, with Lankans in front courtesy the
bonus point.
The Lankan superiority was thorough, in all departments of the game.
Having learnt their lessons rather well against Pakistan, they cut out
the mistakes and reinforced their strengths. Aravinda de Silva led the
batting like a veteran that he is, and Sanath Jayasuriya, Marwan
Atapattu, Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene all chipped in with
meaningful support to take them to 267. While bowling and fielding, they
displayed similar application, never allowing the game to get out of
their hands.
With Proteas reduced to seven for 131 by the 32nd over, it was all over
bar the shouting, and the only remaining interest at this point being
whether Sri Lanka would get the bonus point. They did get that, as the
innings folded with Sanath Jayasuriya clean bowling Allan Donald for his
third wicket.
Aravinda de Silva walked away with the Man of the Match award.
It was Dilhara Fernando who started the slide, striking twice in two
overs, accounting for big-hitting Nicky Boje and Jacques Kallis.
Important wickets those, as after the early fall of Herschelle Gibbs,
Boje with Gary Kirsten was plastering the Lankan attack all over the
park. And Kallis is always a dangerous customer.
The noose was further tightened with a clutch of four wickets - Justin
Ontong, Gary Kirsten, Mark Boucher and Jonty Rhodes - for the addition
of only 28 runs by Upul Chandana getting and Muthiah Muralitharan one,
with Kirsten being run out.
So good was the Lankan bowling, and so confident was Sanath Jayasuriya
that he didn't bring on his ace bowler Muthiah Muralitharan till the
24the over.
With Boje and Kallis gone in quick succession, Dilhara Fernando and Upul
Chandana brought down the scoring rate considerably. In desperation,
Ontong jumped down the track to Chandana only to be stumped by
Sangakkara. Next ball, Jonty Rhodes guided him towards the third man
fence. Mahela Jayawardene not only saved the boundary, he also ran out
Gary Kirsten (55, 65 balls, 7 fours). Kirsten, dropped by Russel Arnold
in the previous over, was scampering for the third run.
Boucher tried to paddle Chandana down the leg side, leading edge went up
and Sangakkara lunged to take a good catch.
The South African chase had gone haywire, and it was never to recover as
Jayasuriya pressed himself into bowling and walked away with three cheap
scalps of Shaun Pollock, Roger Telemachus and Allan Donald.
Aravinda leads Lanka to fighting total:
While batting first after Sanath Jayasuriya won the toss, there was a lot of method in Sri Lanka's approach today. They got a good start, with appropriate emphasis on accumulation in the middle, then acceleration at the right time, though the finish was not as strong as they would have liked. De Silva was a stabilising influence in the middle order. He literally held the innings together with exceptionally competent batting, remaining there till the end with 73 runs off just 84 deliveries with 4 fours, by far the highest score of the innings and his 58th 50 in 280 One-day Internationals.
While batting first after Sanath Jayasuriya won the toss, there was a lot of method in Sri Lanka's approach today. They got a good start, with appropriate emphasis on accumulation in the middle, then acceleration at the right time, though the finish was not as strong as they would have liked. De Silva was a stabilising influence in the middle order. He literally held the innings together with exceptionally competent batting, remaining there till the end with 73 runs off just 84 deliveries with 4 fours, by far the highest score of the innings and his 58th 50 in 280 One-day Internationals.
But equally important were de Silva's two partnerships of 50-plus with
Kumar Sangakkara (41, 57 balls, 5 fours) and Mahela Jaywardene (32, 37
balls, 1 four, 1 six). These stands for the third and fourth wicket, of
58 and 70 runs respectively, not just kept the innings on track, they
gave it substance too. And though the last 10 overs were milked for 70
in exchange of four wickets, it were enough to take the target to a
sizable 267.
Aravinda, the old war horse, proved yet again that his class and his
experience cannot be discounted. Promoting de Silva to two-down was a
good move, for he has the ability to work the ball and is someone around
whom others could build the innings; he was totally out of place at No 7
against Pakistan. Like a maestro, without any fuss or extravagance, he
worked the ball in the gaps, making first Sangakkara and then
Jayawardene do the same, for singles and twos, occasionally finding the
boundary. They had wickets in hand, and though the late charge yielded
fewer runs than needed for comfort, in the main because strikers Vaas
(18, 14 balls, 1 six) and Chandana (0) couldn't really get it going.
Solid start:
Fielding an unchanged side in their second successive game, Sri Lanka certainly seemed to have learnt a lesson from their 28-run defeat against Pakistan. The application and shot selection of skipper Sanath Jayasuriya and Marwan Atapattu was a whole lot better.
Fielding an unchanged side in their second successive game, Sri Lanka certainly seemed to have learnt a lesson from their 28-run defeat against Pakistan. The application and shot selection of skipper Sanath Jayasuriya and Marwan Atapattu was a whole lot better.
It wasn't that Jayasuriya and Atapattu didn't go for their strokes. Only
they were much more judicious in their shot selection. If anything,
Atapattu quite uncharacteristically kept finding the boundary more often
than he normally does early on. And between the fours and sixes, the
value of a sharp single was never forgotten.
Atapattu (35, off 45 balls, 5 fours) was the first to go, missing the
line of a Kallis delivery in trying to jab it on the on-side. The leg
before decision was not a difficult one for Simon Taufel. The last
delivery of the next Donald over was short and wide of off-stump and
Jayasuriya (49, 58 balls, 2 fours, 3 sixes) in an attempt to nudge it to
the third man fence only ended up giving a straightforward opportunity
to Shaun Pollock.
Once again Jayasuriya had given it away when he seemed all set for
greater things, but he had provided his side the start. And this time
the remaining batsman got the runs to defend. And they defended it well.