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| Sunday, 8 December 2002 |
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Take series 4-1 : South Africa thrash Sri Lanka on ominous note Ranjan Anandappa reporting from South Africa South Africa sent an ominous warning and displayed that they are a big force to be reckon with for the World Cup title to be held in their country in February next year. They beat Sri Lanka on Friday in convincing fashion by 6 wickets in the final one day game in Bloemfontein with over four overs to spare and exposed the Sri Lankan short comings in no uncertain manner. Chasing a victory target of 229 to win, South Africa cruised through just losing 4 wickets on their way to victory. Herschelle Gibbs 47, Neil Mckenzie 70 n.o. Boeta Dippenaar 36 were among the runs for South Africa. Earlier, Shaun Pollock produced an excellent bowling effort sending off Aravinda de Silva and Mahela Jayawardena in quickly while Mondi Zondeki took the wicket of Atapattu who was batting with growing confidence in his first ball in an international one day game. It's not merely because they beat Sri Lanka in a Test and one day series, their preparations has been excellent and the selection of players in preparation for the event has been prudent. The Sri Lankans came on the tour as a prelude to the World Cup, but judging the standards of their performance the tour has been a fiasco. Sri Lanka is in the same group with South Africa, West Indies, New Zealand and Bangladesh among the Test playing nations. Sri Lanka will meet New Zealand here at the same venue at Bloemfontein in their first preliminary round game on February 9, and looking back the Cricket Board will have plenty of home work to do. Their biggest problem has been the inadequacies within their techniques playing on fast and bouncy wickets.It is almost an impossible task to overcome this within such a short space of time. Only Marvan Atapattu and Kumar Sangakkara seemed to be more suited playing in South African conditions. By winning the 2-Test series and the best of five one-day series and with five more one-day internationals to be played with Pakistan, the South Africans have judiciously planned their quest for the World Cup. At a time when all teams are building up for the big event in South Africa, the display by the Sri Lankans must certainly be cause for worry for the coach and the others involved in the game. The Lankans are still struggling to find their correct combination for the World Cup. The problem with the Lankans were the bounce and the lateral movement of the ball in South Africa which was far too much for them to handle. SRI LANKA
M. Atapattu c Hall b Zondeki 53
S. Jayasuriya c Rhodes b Donald 2
A. de Silva c Boucher b Pollock 0
M. Jayawardene c Boucher b Pollock 3
K. Sangakkara not out 77
R. Arnold c Pollock b Hall 36
T. Samaraweera run out 33
C. Vaas c Gibbs b Donald 0
P. Nissanka run out 0
C. Gamage not out 3
Extras (B-2 LB-6 NB-3 W-10) 21
TOTAL (for eight wkts, 50 overs) 228
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-6, 2-7, 3-48, 4-84, 5-145,
6-201, 7-208, 8-208.
DID NOT BAT: Pulasthi Gunaratne.
BOWLING: Pollock 10-4-23-2, Donald 9-0-65-2 (W-7)
Hall 10-1-37-1 (W-1) Klusener 5-0-24-0 (W-2)
Zondeki 8-1-37-1 (NB-3), Peterson 8-0-35-0.
SOUTH AFRICA
H. Gibbs b Gamage 47
A. Hall c Sangakkara b Gunaratne 18
R. Peterson c Sangakkara b Vaas 5
N. McKenzie not out 70
B. Dippenaar run out 36
J. Rhodes not out 25
Extras (LB-10 NB-2 W-16) 28
TOTAL (for four wkts, 45.1 overs) 229
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-44, 2-53, 3-87, 4-175.
DID NOT BAT: Mark Boucher, Lance Klusener, S
haun Pollock (captain), Allan Donald,
Monde Zondeki.
BOWLING: Vaas 10-0-37-1, Gamage 10-1-52-1 (W-8),
Gunaratne 8.1-0-40-1,Nissanka 10-0-48-0(NB-2, W-8)
Samaraweera 4-0-25-0, Jayasuriya 3-0-17-0.
RESULT: South Africa won by six wickets.
South Africa won series 4-1.
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