da cassino online： South Africa’s pre-World Cup form continues to snowball as they overwhelmedSri Lanka at SuperSport Park on Friday night to take a two-nil lead in thefive-match series
Charlie Austin29-Nov-2002South Africa’s pre-World Cup form continues to snowball as they overwhelmedSri Lanka at SuperSport Park on Friday night to take a two-nil lead in thefive-match series.The South Africans scored a mammoth 317 for six – a record score against theSri Lankans – after half centuries from Graeme Smith (99), Boeta Dippenaar(89) and Jacques Kallis (53).Sanath Jayasuriya briefly threatened a remarkable match-winning innings witha spectacular early over assault, thrashing 46 from 32 balls, including twosquare cuts that sailed over the grassy banks that line this stadium.With Jayasuriya crashing 21 runs from Makhaya Ntini’s fourth over, the SriLankans passed 50 in just 49 balls, silencing a partisan 15,000 strongcrowd.But Sri Lanka’s desperate chase came to a juddering halt when three wicketsfell in the space of just 13 deliveries.Marvan Atapattu (4) top edged a pull, Jayasuriya lost his middle stump as hecharged down the wicket and Kumar Sangakkara (10) was caught in the coversfor the second consecutive game.The middle order kept up the run rate for a while but the Mexican Wave thatswirled its way around the ground may as well have been a Victory Wave – SriLanka were never going to sustain the momentum.The visitors were eventually bowled for 140 in 33.2 overs – the second timein three days that they have failed to pass 200 – to hand South Africa amassive 177 run victory.Unlike at Wanderers, Sri Lanka could find no fault with the pitch – theSuperSport surface was a fine batting strip, ideal for strokeplay andlimited overs cricket.Sri Lanka’s problem was that their bowlers could not contain a rampant SouthAfrica top order that built up momentum steadily throughout the afternoon.Sri Lanka had started well enough, restricting openers Herschelle Gibbs (16)and Graeme Smith with a disciplined new ball display, but, ironically, thefall of Gibbs – clean bowled as he charged Pulasthi Gunaratne – changed thetempo of the innings.Nicky Boje scored 28 from 34 balls in a 47 run partnership for secondwicket, taking the pressure off Smith who took his time to establish himselfat the crease.But even when Boje lifted a catch into the deep, Sri Lanka were still in thegame with the South Africans on 67 for two after 15.1 overs.However, the left-handed Smith and right-handed Dippenaar, both of whom wereunder pressure to cement their places in the World Cup squad, calmly laidthe foundations for South Africa’s formidable total.As Jayasuriya – whose captaincy was as frenetic as his batting wasspectacular – tried to rush through the overs of his part-time bowlers thepair milked runs easily, scoring 103 runs between the 20th and 35th over ofthe innings.Smith – a powerful and uncomplicated left-hander – looked destined to scorehis maiden one-day hundred but was run out for 99 as he tried to scramblethe last run to mid-wicket ending a 134 run partnership.With so many free-hitting batsmen lurking in the South Africa top order itwas a surprise to see Kallis walking out to bat at number five with only12.1 overs remaining.But right-hander played imperiously, taking the game away from the SriLankans with a series of thunderous strokes that saw him complete a fiftyoff just 24 balls, the second fastest ever by a South Africa.Kallis fireworks were ended by a ricochet off a Dippenaar straight drive,who was playing his hand expertly, relying on timing and intelligence ratherthan brute force.When a slower ball finally deceived him, Pollock and Jonty Rhodes, who cameback into the side today after recovering from a hamstring injury, finishedthe innings with a flourish.South Africa had scored 106 runs from the final ten overs.Sri Lanka were left ruing their decision to go into the game with threefrontline bowlers as they included all-rounders Upul Chandana and HasanthaFernando for their first game of the series. The pair conceded 85 runs in 11overs.