TANGIER– With their backs to the wall, Sri Lanka played with a lot ofguts to inflict a numbing 93-run defeat on South Africa, earning a bonuspoint in the bargain and are on top of the table to wit

Agha Akbar15-Aug-2002TANGIER– With their backs to the wall, Sri Lanka played with a lot ofguts to inflict a numbing 93-run defeat on South Africa, earning a bonuspoint in the bargain and are on top of the table to wit. This bonuspoint might come handy if they get into a tight spot in the second partof this double league event.The tournament after the first round was evenly poised, with all threesides having a win under their belt, with Lankans in front courtesy thebonus point.The Lankan superiority was thorough, in all departments of the game.Having learnt their lessons rather well against Pakistan, they cut outthe mistakes and reinforced their strengths. Aravinda de Silva led thebatting like a veteran that he is, and Sanath Jayasuriya, MarwanAtapattu, Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene all chipped in withmeaningful support to take them to 267. While bowling and fielding, theydisplayed similar application, never allowing the game to get out oftheir hands.With Proteas reduced to seven for 131 by the 32nd over, it was all overbar the shouting, and the only remaining interest at this point beingwhether Sri Lanka would get the bonus point. They did get that, as theinnings folded with Sanath Jayasuriya clean bowling Allan Donald for histhird wicket.Aravinda de Silva walked away with the Man of the Match award.It was Dilhara Fernando who started the slide, striking twice in twoovers, accounting for big-hitting Nicky Boje and Jacques Kallis.Important wickets those, as after the early fall of Herschelle Gibbs,Boje with Gary Kirsten was plastering the Lankan attack all over thepark. And Kallis is always a dangerous customer.The noose was further tightened with a clutch of four wickets – JustinOntong, Gary Kirsten, Mark Boucher and Jonty Rhodes – for the additionof only 28 runs by Upul Chandana getting and Muthiah Muralitharan one,with Kirsten being run out.So good was the Lankan bowling, and so confident was Sanath Jayasuriyathat he didn’t bring on his ace bowler Muthiah Muralitharan till the24the over.With Boje and Kallis gone in quick succession, Dilhara Fernando and UpulChandana brought down the scoring rate considerably. In desperation,Ontong jumped down the track to Chandana only to be stumped bySangakkara. Next ball, Jonty Rhodes guided him towards the third manfence. Mahela Jayawardene not only saved the boundary, he also ran outGary Kirsten (55, 65 balls, 7 fours). Kirsten, dropped by Russel Arnoldin the previous over, was scampering for the third run.Boucher tried to paddle Chandana down the leg side, leading edge went upand Sangakkara lunged to take a good catch.The South African chase had gone haywire, and it was never to recover asJayasuriya pressed himself into bowling and walked away with three cheapscalps of Shaun Pollock, Roger Telemachus and Allan Donald.Aravinda leads Lanka to fighting total:
While batting first after Sanath Jayasuriya won the toss, there was alot of method in Sri Lanka’s approach today. They got a good start, withappropriate emphasis on accumulation in the middle, then acceleration atthe right time, though the finish was not as strong as they would haveliked. De Silva was a stabilising influence in the middle order. Heliterally held the innings together with exceptionally competentbatting, remaining there till the end with 73 runs off just 84deliveries with 4 fours, by far the highest score of the innings and his58th 50 in 280 One-day Internationals.But equally important were de Silva’s two partnerships of 50-plus withKumar Sangakkara (41, 57 balls, 5 fours) and Mahela Jaywardene (32, 37balls, 1 four, 1 six). These stands for the third and fourth wicket, of58 and 70 runs respectively, not just kept the innings on track, theygave it substance too. And though the last 10 overs were milked for 70in exchange of four wickets, it were enough to take the target to asizable 267.Aravinda, the old war horse, proved yet again that his class and hisexperience cannot be discounted. Promoting de Silva to two-down was agood move, for he has the ability to work the ball and is someone aroundwhom others could build the innings; he was totally out of place at No 7against Pakistan. Like a maestro, without any fuss or extravagance, heworked the ball in the gaps, making first Sangakkara and thenJayawardene do the same, for singles and twos, occasionally finding theboundary. They had wickets in hand, and though the late charge yieldedfewer runs than needed for comfort, in the main because strikers Vaas(18, 14 balls, 1 six) and Chandana (0) couldn’t really get it going.Solid start:
Fielding an unchanged side in their second successive game, Sri Lankacertainly seemed to have learnt a lesson from their 28-run defeatagainst Pakistan. The application and shot selection of skipper SanathJayasuriya and Marwan Atapattu was a whole lot better.It wasn’t that Jayasuriya and Atapattu didn’t go for their strokes. Onlythey were much more judicious in their shot selection. If anything,Atapattu quite uncharacteristically kept finding the boundary more oftenthan he normally does early on. And between the fours and sixes, thevalue of a sharp single was never forgotten.Atapattu (35, off 45 balls, 5 fours) was the first to go, missing theline of a Kallis delivery in trying to jab it on the on-side. The legbefore decision was not a difficult one for Simon Taufel. The lastdelivery of the next Donald over was short and wide of off-stump andJayasuriya (49, 58 balls, 2 fours, 3 sixes) in an attempt to nudge it tothe third man fence only ended up giving a straightforward opportunityto Shaun Pollock.Once again Jayasuriya had given it away when he seemed all set forgreater things, but he had provided his side the start. And this timethe remaining batsman got the runs to defend. And they defended it well.