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Sa'adi Thawfeeq reporting from South Africa & Kenya

DURBAN, Tuesday - The Sri Lankan team was dancing, hugging each other and celebrating in the Kingsmead dressing room on Monday night the moment it was officially announced that the umpires had abandoned their World Cup Group 'B' match against South Africa and ruled the result as a tie. The two points Sri Lanka collected from that game ensured they went through to the next round of the World Cup - the Super Sixes without any hassles about nett run rates.

It was the issue of nett run rate that almost knocked Sri Lanka out of the competition when to all and sundry, it was quite clear it should be decided on the playing record between each teams in the pool if the points were equal, but the ICC technical committee ruled otherwise by saying it was the nett run rate that should decide the issue.

Sri Lanka took to the field under protest, but the ICC ruling was just the impetus they needed to raise the level of their game to what it has not been for quite a long time. At one time they were considering forfeiting the match to South Africa so that their nett run rate remained intact, but decided to go ahead and play 'in the spirit of the game'.

Marvan Atapattu's maiden World Cup century and Aravinda de Silva, set the pace with a record fourth wicket stand which enabled Sri Lanka to a total which their bowlers were able to defend until the rain had the final say.

The match may have gone either way. Even if Sri Lanka had lost to South Africa they would have still qualified for the Super Sixes because by running up a total of 268 they had ensured their nett run rate was intact and ahead of New Zealand's, who by that time had completed their game against Canada. In that scenario, Sri Lanka would have ended up third in Pool 'B'. But the tie has ensured they will finish on top of the pool unless of course Kenya surprise West Indies in their final Pool 'B' match.

With the number of points they have accumulated Sri Lanka cannot finish anything below second in the pool.

South Africa's exit saw New Zealand come into the Super Six stage finishing second to Sri Lanka on 16 points with a nett run rate of (+0.99). Sri Lanka head Group 'B' with 18 points and a nett run rate of (+1.27) with Kenya, the third qualifier in third place with 16 points (nett run rate -0.12) and a game to play against West Indies.

The two points South Africa received from their tied game against Sri Lanka wasn't good enough to get them to the next stage of the competition. They ended up with 14 points from six games.

Sri Lanka will now take 7 1/2 points to the Super Six stage with New Zealand carrying 4 points and Kenya a possible 10 or more depending on the result of their game against West Indies.

Sri Lanka's 7.5 points are made up thus: v New Zealand (4 pts), v Bangladesh (1 pt), v Canada (1 pt), v Kenya (0 pts), v West Indies (1 pt), v South Africa (1/2 pt).

The points system works out the following way: Win v other qualifiers (4 pts each), tie or no result (2 points each), Win v non-qualifiers (1 pt each), tie or no result (1/2 pt each).

If Sri Lanka end up on top of Pool 'B' they will play world champions and Pool 'A' leaders Australia in their first game of the Super Six at Centurion on Friday (March 7). If they end up second they will take on second placed India in their first game at Cape Town on the same day. The third team from Pool 'A has yet to be decided.

Sri Lanka coach Dav Whatmore said that his team would love playing Australia in their first game.

"We had some success against them, but it is fair to say that it will be tough game particularly in these conditions, but you never know. Definitely they will be the favourites and we will be the underdogs, which we would rather be," he said.

Whatmore said that Sri Lanka were not the same side that played in South Africa and Australia in the recent past.

"We all agree now that this is a totally different team than what was in November through to January. The boys want to do well and keep playing good cricket. They have been playing under these conditions for a long time," said Whatmore.

Where South Africa erred and Sri Lanka scored out was that Sanath Jayasuriya knew exactly what total to keep South Africa under because according to him he had the Duckworth and Lewis rain sheet with him.

"When (Mark) Boucher hit the fifth ball of Murali's over for six, I told him we wanted the final ball to be a dot ball. Murali bowled a good last ball before the players came off for rain and we knew the scores were tied then," said Jayasuriya.

Jayasuriya said that Sri Lanka had a good chance of winning had the match gone its full distance of 50 overs. South Africa eventually ended on 229-6 off 45 overs, still requiring 40 off the last five.

"We had Murali for one over , Aravinda for two and Russell was bowling well. We thought of bringing Aravinda on early because he can bowl well when the ball is new," he said. Jayasuriya praised the batting of Atapattu and De Silva and said: "We had a lot of faith in our batting. Marvan and Aravinda had experience.

Marvan played a brilliant innings and Aravinda too.

"What we wanted was for two batsmen to get runs. Any total over 250 can be a winning total. With our bowlers bowling well we are capable of defending a total like that," said Jayasuriya.

He said his bowlers did not get much help from the pitch, but they spun the ball a lot to capture five South African wickets. The sixth was a run out.

A dejected South African captain Shaun Pollock said that anything could have happened in that last ball of the 45th over which Mark Boucher played down.

"We could have even lost a wicket and the required target would have then gone up. There are a lot of ifs and buts, but in the end it was rather disappointing," said Pollock. He admitted that Boucher was told the score was 229 and not 230 which would have given South Africa the much needed win. Nicky Boje, the twelfth man ran onto the field with a piece of paper in his hand, but was turned away by the umpire.

"It is difficult to put a finger on it and say what went wrong. We lost far too many wickets cheaply in a soft manner which was disappointing," said Pollock.

"It is not the ideal situation to come to the last game of your pool session having to win it to make sure you got through. That was what we needed to do. We could say that we were done by the rain, but maybe we should have done better. It is something which might take a long time to get over," he said.

Both Pollock and United Cricket Board of South African (UCBSA) CEO Gerald Majola called upon the South African public to support the other teams in the competition and make this World Cup a succcess. "The tournament is not over. It still goes on. What I would say is for the public to go out there and support the other teams and make sure the tournament itself becomes a success. This tournament is not only for us, it is for the whole country. We have to ensure it is run smoothly," said Majola. "We are all disappointed. We don't make excuses. It is the third time unlucky for us. It looks like the World Cup is one trophy that keeps evading us. In 1992 we had to score 22 runs from one ball, we tied against Australia the last time and, again we have tied in this tournament.

"The boys have tried very hard. Unfortunately, they didn't play as well as we thought they would. The unfortunate circumstances also counted in the end against them. Of course, we will go back to the drawing board and see what future lies ahead of us and analyse a few issues.

We go to Sharjah and then to Bangladesh. We will have to start building a team for the next World Cup as well," Majola said.

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