South Africa Win by 78 runs

ICC Champions Trophy - Group B
Ahmedabad
South Africa 219-9 (A B de Villiers 54,
S L Malinga 4-53) v Sri Lanka 141. South Africa beat Sri Lanka by 78 runs

A superb bowling performance saw South African keep alive their ICC Champions Trophy hopes in Ahmedabad.

Having lost their opening match to New Zealand, the Proteas produced the perfect response to defeat Sri Lanka by 78 runs and open up Group B.

Andre Nel was at his in-your-face best as he took 3-41, while man-of-the-match Shaun Pollock and Makhaya Ntini strangled the life out of Sri Lankan innings, taking 2-21 and 2-24 respectively.

And, unlike the 87-run loss to New Zealand, their batting also clicked into gear with AB de Villiers top-scoring with 54 in their total of 219-9.

However, the South Africans had been in early trouble after being put by Mahela Jayawardene.

Chaminda Vaas (2-16) removed Graeme Smith and Boeta Dippenaar, while Lasith Malinga accounted for Herschelle Gibbs to leave them on 30-3.

However de Villiers and Jacques Kallis steadied the ship with a stand of 80 - albeit scoring at a slower rate than was needed for a big total.

And when they did try to speed things up, Kallis was stumped for 43 off Sanath Jayasuriya's left-arm spin.

Muttiah Muralitharan then dismissed de Villiers, while Justin Kemp - so dangerous for Kent in this situations - came and went for just seven.

Mark Boucher became Malinga's second victim for 29, before Pollock and Robin Peterson provided some late fireworks.

The bowling duo added 42 runs off 27 balls before Malinga removed Peterson (22) and then Nel in successive balls. The Sri Lankan pace bowler was only denied his hat-trick by Ntini.

Any fears that South Africa's 219-9 wouldn't be enough were quickly extinguished as Upul Tharanga, Sanath Jayasuriya, Kumar Sangakkara and Marvan Atapattu all returned to the pavilion with just 34 on the board.

And when the Sri Lankans looked to be in the process of rebuilding their innings, an embarrassing run out undid all their hard work.

Jayawardene and Tillakaratne Dilshan had made 44 off 11 overs when a mix-up saw the Sri Lankan skipper run out by the athletic dive of Pollock. That sparked the beginning of the end for Sri Lanka.

Farveez Maharoof managed to add just three runs before he fell into Kallis' trap, edging to Smith at first slip.

Vaas, in his own style, attempted to revive the innings, but he lost Dilshan for 36 to Nel.

Malinga and Muralitharan hardly troubled the scorers with their brief cameos, while Dilhara Fernando last seven balls before he was dismissed by Kemp.

The result means South Africa join Sri Lanka, Pakistan and New Zealand on two points.

South Africa Batting

				Runs	Balls	4s	6s
	G Smith	c Jayasuriya	b Vaas	10	15	1
	B Dippenaar	c Sangakkara	b Vaas	3	19
	H Gibbs	c Sangakkara	b Malinga	16	18	3
	J Kallis	st Sangakkara	b Jayasuriya	43	71	2	1
	A d Villiers	c Maharoof	b Muralitharan	54	88	3
	M Boucher		b Malinga	29	39		1
	J Kemp		b Jayasuriya	7	16
	S Pollock		not out	21	17		1
	R Peterson		b Malinga	22	16	3	1
	A Nel		b Malinga	0	1
	Extras	6W 4B 2LB 1NB		13
	Total for 9 Wickets	(50.0 Overs)		219

 

South Africa Bowling (Sri Lanka)

		Overs	Maidens	Runs	Wickets	econ
	C Vaas	10	3	16	2	1.60
	L Malinga	9	0	53	4	5.89
	Fernando	5	0	24	0	4.80
	M Muralitharan	10	0	42	1	4.20
	S Jayasuriya	10	0	36	2	3.60
	F Maharoof	5	0	34	0	6.80
	T Dilshan	1	0	8	0	8.00
	Fall of Wickets	1-13 (Smith) , 2-30 (Gibbs) , 3-30 (Dippenaar) , 4-110 (Kallis) , 5-145 (Villiers) , 6-169 (Kemp) , 7-176 (Griffith) , 8-218 (Peterson) , 9-218 (Nel)

 

Sri Lanka Batting

				Runs	Balls	4s	6s
	U Tharanga	c Boucher	b Ntini	11	34	1
	S Jayasuriya	lbw	b Pollock	3	12
	M Jayawardene		run out	36	50	4
	K Sangakkara	c Boucher	b Pollock	0	9
	M Atapattu		b Nel	2	5
	T Dilshan	c Gibbs	b Nel	36	63	3
	F Maharoof	c Smith	b Kallis	3	15
	C Vaas		not out	29	34	4
	L Malinga	c Smith	b Nel	2	6
	M Muralitharan	c Pollock	b Ntini	3	2
	Fernando	lbw	b Kemp	4	7	1
	Extras	5W 5LB 2NB		12
	Total All Out	(39.1 Overs)		141

 

Sri Lanka Bowling (South Africa)

		Overs	Maidens	Runs	Wickets	econ
	S Pollock	10	0	21	2	2.10
	M Ntini	9	1	24	2	2.67
	A Nel	9	1	41	3	4.56
	J Kallis	8	0	34	1	4.25
	J Kemp	3.1	0	16	1	5.05
	Fall of Wickets	1-9 (Jayasuriya) , 2-21 (Tharanga) , 3-23 (Sangakkara) , 4-34 (Atapattu) , 5-78 (Jayawardene) , 6-91 (Maharoof) , 7-114 (Dilshan) , 8-124 (Malinga) , 9-127 (Muralitharan) , 10-141 (Fernando)