Hosts South Africa flounder in Champions Trophy opener

Sri lanka duo Dilshan and Mendis ensure hosts South Africa suffer humilation in the opener

Hosts South Africa flounder in Champions Trophy opener

Sri lanka duo Dilshan and Mendis ensure hosts South Africa suffer humilation in the opener

Sri Lankan players Thilan Samarweera, Ajantha Mendis (centre) and Tillakaratne (right) celebrate a South African wicket during their Champions Trophy opener yesterday. pic/AFP

Put in to bat after Proteas skipper Graeme Smith won the toss and, almost as a knee-jerk reaction at the venue, gleefully opted to bowl first, as Sri Lanka rattled up 319 for eight.

Playing Mendis for the first time, South Africa were bewitched, bothered and bewildered by the duplicitous witchcraft of the Sri Lankan soldier and were 206 for seven after 37.4 overs, when rain called a halt to proceedings to give Sri Lanka a well-deserved 55-run win on the Duckworth-Lewis formula.

If anything, the setback reinforced the reputation of the home side, installed firm favourites in their country to win, as 'chokers'.

The defeat could spell 'finis' to fanatical home crowds' hopes of rectifying South Africa's dubious distinction of disappointing elimination in eight ICC tournament semi-finals.

Given the unstinted support their players and administrators have expressed in favour of 50-overs cricket and the Champions Trophy (which they won in Bangladesh in 1998-99), the host nation's reverse, also, underscored their administration's incomprehensible scheduling decisions, which resulted in its players being given a three-month lay-off from competitive cricket until yesterday.

A great deal has been made in the local media about the South African players' exemplary weight loss and superb overall physical fitness as the result of a gruelling gym and dietary regime during their sabbatical.

Consequently, whereas Sri Lanka have come into the tournament after a busy ODI and Twenty20 calendar that has strengthened competitive resolve and fine-tuned the unit into a fighting entity, the hosts have had precious little competitive cricket of the type that would have made them battle-hardened.

The Sri Lankans lost veteran Sanath Jayasuriya, who has played in every Champions Trophy, leg before to Dale Steyn for 10, with the score 16.

But a 158-run partnership between Tillakaratne Dilshan, a born-again swashbuckler in his new avatar as opening batsman, and captain Kumar Sangakkara (54 off 74), laid the foundation of what turned out to be a defining effort on an atypical placid, but two-paced, wicket.

Former captain Mahela Jayawardene (61) and birthday boy Thilan Samaraweera continued the good work after Sangakkara was consumed caught and bowled off the leading edge by JP Duminy, to help push the score to 319 for eight.

Dale Steyn was destroyer-in-chief with figures of 9-2-47-3, while Albie Morkel, wayward in his first spell ostensibly as the result of nerves, finished with three for 79 in 10 overs.

Given that the average score at the venue is 250, Sri Lanka must have fancied their chances when Graeme Smith and Hashim Amla (the latter was inducted in the side in place of the injured Herschelle Gibbs), walked out with patent steely resolve.

Amla soon departed, playing on to an inswinger from Angelo Mathews, for a laborious two off 13 balls.

Smith and Kallis then set about the bowling with aggressive batting of the highest inventiveness, treating the disciplined bowling with contempt until Smith succumbed to Mendis's wiles, misreading a googly for 58, which came off 48 balls.

An increasingly dangerous-looking Kallis also perished to Mendis after marauding the Sri Lankan attack for 41 off 48, and the hosts were in dire straits the moment JP Duminy left first ball to Mendis, playing on to Mendis.

With loud thunder reverberating across the African skies over the capital city and the skies threatening to open up to rain, local hopes came to be reposed in the weather gods.

AB de Villiers (24), Mark Boucher (26), Albie Morkel (29 not out) and Johan Botha (21) battled manfully but to no avail.

The Sri Lankans were adjudged winners by the D/L method, even as avid home supporters left the stadium distraught at yet another disappointment.

The pantheon of African gods will have to smile benevolently on their cricket aficionados to bring about, for their team, a miraculous return from the jaws of death after yesterday's loss of face.

Failing that, what the heck, there will be the soccer World Cup, which this sports-crazy nation will host next year.
As the sound of thunder resonated over the stadium and the skies opened up, diehard South African supporters waited hopefully for play to be resumed, even though the cause seemed lost with the hosts 206 for seven off 37.4 overs, needing 113 more to win at 5.46.

The highly-rated JP Duminy also fell, off the first ball he faced from Mendis, AB de Villiers (24), Mark Boucher (26) and Johan Botha (21) put up a semblance of a fight but it was all in vain.

Alas, it was not to be for the locals. Play was called off with Sri Lanka being (deservingly) declared victors via the convoluted Duckworth and Lewis calculations.

Be that as it may, the Islanders were deserving winners.

Scoreboard

Sri Lanka
Dilshan c Morkel b Steyn 106,
Jayasuriya lbw b Steyn 10,
Sangakkara c and b Duminy 54,
Jayawardene c Duminy b Parnell 77,
Samaraweera c van der Merwe b Parnell 37,
Mathews b Steyn 15,
Kandamby c Duminy b Parnell 6,
Kulasekara run out 1,
Muralitharan not out 0;
Extras: (lb5, w5, nb3) 13
Total (8 wkts, 50 overs) 319

Fall of wkts:
1-16 (Jayasuriya),
2-174 (Sangakkara),
3-181 (Dilshan),
4-297 (Jayawardene),
5-297 (Samaraweera),
6-314 (Kandamby),
7-317 (Kulasekara),
8-319 (Mathews).

Bowling:
Steyn 9-2-47-3 (1w),
Parnell 10-0-79-3 (1nb, 3w),
Kallis 7-0-43-0,
Morkel 4-0-39-0 (1nb),
Botha 9-0-53-0 (1nb, 1w),
Van der Merwe 10-0-42-0,
Duminy 1-0-11-1

South Africa
Smith b Mendis 58,
Amla b Mathews 2,
Kallis c Mathews b Mendis 41,
de Villiers c Jayawardne b Malinga 24,
Duminy b Mendis 0,
Boucher lbw b Mathews 26,
Morkel not out 29,
Botha c Mathews b Malinga 21,
van der Merwe not out 3;
Extras (w2) 2;
Total (7 wkts, 37.4 overs) 206

Fall of wkts:
1-9 (Amla),
2-90 (Smith),
3-113 (Kallis),
4-113 (Duminy),
5-142 (De Villiers),
6-163 (Boucher),
7-198 (Botha)

Bowling:
Malinga 7.4-0-43-2 (1w),
Kulasekara 7-0-44-0,
Mathews 8-1-43-2,
Muralitharan 8-0-46-0,
Mendis 7-0-30-3 (1w)

Sri Lanka win by 55 runs (D/L method)

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