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| Sunday, 16 March 2003 |
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Atapattu century steers Lanka into World Cup semi-finals Sa'adi Thawfeeq reporting from S.Africa/Kenya EAST LONDON, March 15 - Vice-captain Marvan Atapattu steered Sri Lanka to their second World Cup semi-final place in seven years by scoring his tenth one-day international century at Buffalo Park here today. The compact opener scored an undefeated 103 for Sri Lanka to beat Zimbabwe by 74 runs in their final Super Sixes match which ensured them a place in the last four. Sri Lanka scored 256-5 off 50 overs and dismissed Zimbabwe for 182 in 41.5 overs. The four points Sri Lanka gained from the match gave them a total of 11.4 points and placed them in fourth position displacing New Zealand (8 points) in the final Super Sixes standings. Sri Lanka will play Australia in the first semi-final at Port Elizabeth on Tuesday. The second semi-final is between India and Kenya under lights at Durban on Thursday. The final will be held on March 23 at Johannesburg. It is only the second time in their history that Sri Lanka had qualified for a semi-final berth in the World Cup. The last occasion was in 1996 under the captaincy of Arjuna Ranatunga when they went on to win the World Cup defeating India in the semi-finals and Australia in the final. The match did not provide the kind of entertainment one normally associates with one-day cricket. The slowness of the pitch defied all that. Not a single six was hit in the entire game. The pitch suited the batting style of Atapattu and he made the maximum use of it to stroke seven fours in his 127-ball knock. He made Zimbabwe pay dearly for dropping him at 23 when wicket-keeper Tatendra Taibu failed to hold onto an edge off Travis Friend in the 16th over. Man of the match Atapattu anchored the innings to carry his bat out for 103 and in the process figured in three useful half-century partnerships that gave Sri Lanka their final total. Sri Lanka got off to a cautious start after Sanath Jayasuriya had won his seventh toss out of nine matches in the tournament. They reached 41 in the 13th over before Heath Streak broke through by having his vis-…-vis Jayasuriya edging a catch behind the wicket with his score on 22. Atapattu and Gunawardana put together a second wicket stand of 83 off 110 balls. Atapattu went on to complete his fifty off 69 balls with four fours. The hard hitting left-hander Gunawardana missed out on a debut World Cup fifty when he was dismissed for 41 scored off 62 balls inclusive of four fours. The nature of the pitch deceived him as he attempted to force off-spinner Marillier but only succeeded in hitting back a low return catch. Nevertheless Gunawardana had served the purpose of his selection as the out-of-form Mahela Jayawardene's replacement with his tidy knock. The Sri Lankans having come to terms with the wicket, hardly lifted a ball in the air. Virtually all the strokes were hit along the ground, with Atapattu being supreme in that execution. The Zimbabwe bowling was friendly compared to that of the Australians and the Indians and Sri Lanka made full use of it to compile a total which gave their bowlers enough room to maneouvre around. The feature Sri Lanka's batting was the useful partnerships they were able to put together with Atapattu as the anchor. De Silva who made 25 off 31 balls helped Atapattu add 51 off 61 balls for the third wicket. De Silva was out trying to work the ball to third man and went edging a catch to the wicket-keeper giving Sean Ervine a wicket off only his second delivery. Kumar Sangakkara continued the good work by partnering Atapattu in a further stand which produced 52 off 41 balls. Sangakkara went on the offensive striking four fours in his knock of 35 off 25 balls. Vaas gave the innings the final flourish with an unfinished stand of 23 off 15 balls helping Atapattu to his century in the final over of the innings. It was the right-hander's second century of the current tournament. He scored 124 against South Africa at Durban in the tied match 12 days ago. Zimbabwe needing to score over five an over began positively racing to 61 off the first ten overs. Vaas suffered the most from the initial assault going for 40 runs in his opening spell of five overs. But the pace was too good to last as Pulasthi Gunaratne struck twice in the sixth and 12th overs to remove Marillier for 19 and Friend for 21. Jayasuriya turned to spin and the scoring rate dropped drastically. He bowled Craig Wishart for 43 to end a 43-run stand with Andy Flower. But the cruellest blow to Zimbabwe's aspiration of giving their most succesful batsman a memorable send off was struck by umpire Brian Jerling who ruled Flower out lbw to De Silva when he edged the ball onto his pads. Flower who made 38 off 51 balls (1 four) was stunned by the decision and the first words he blurted out was "What?" before beginning his long walk back to the pavilion. It was a said end to brilliant career because Flower was retiring from international cricket altogether. The dismissal of Flower in the 29th over at 140-4 was the death knell for Zimbabwe whose innings lost its momentum. The last six wickets folded up tamely for 42 runs in 12 overs with Vaas returning for two great late spells of reverse swing bowling to capture two wickets for six runs in 4.5 overs and take his tally of wickets in the present World Cup competition to 20. SRI LANKA
M.Atapattu not out 103
S.Sayasuriya c Taibu b Streak 22
A.Gunawardene c & b Marillier 41
A.de Silva c Taibu b Ervine 25
K.Sangakkara c G.Flower b Streak 35
R.Arnold c G.Flower b Hondo 1
C.Vaas not out 11
EXTRAS (LB-3 W-15) 18
TOTAL (for five wickets, 50 overs) 256
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-41 2-124 3-175 4-227 5-233
Did not bat: H.Tillakaratne, M.Muralitharan, D.Fernando,
P.Gunaratne.
BOWLING: Streak 10-0-40-2, Blignaut 8-0-40-0,
Friend2-0-13-0, Hondo 5-0-36-1,
Flower 10-0-44-0, Marillier 10-0-43-1,
Matsikenyeri 2-0-13-0, Ervine 3-0-24-1
ZIMBABWE
C.Wishart b Jayasuriya 43
D.Marillier c Jayasuriya b Gunaratne 19
T.Friend b Gunaratne 21
A.Flower lbw b de Silva 38
G.Flower c & b Jayasuriya 31
T.Taibu b Muralitharan 2
A.Blignaut c de Silva b Fernando 1
S.Ervine b Vaas 12
H.Streak c Atapattu b Jayasuriya 2
S.Matsikenyeri not out 1
D.Hondo b Vaas 0
EXTRAS (LB-5 W-4 NB-3) 12
TOTAL (all out, 41.5 overs) 182
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-36, 2-68, 3-111, 4-140, 5-150,
6-151, 7-178,8-181, 9-181
BOWLING: Vaas 9.5-0-46-2, Gunaratne 7-0-33-2, de
Silva9-1-36-1, Muralitharan 7-0-22-1,
Jayasuriya 6-0-30-3, Fernando 3-0-10-1.
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