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| Wednesday, 1 September 2004 |
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Lanka complete 5-0... WHITEWASH of South Africa by Sa'adi Thawfeeq
There was an euphoric feeling within the team and around the ground after Sri Lanka completed a 5-0 rout of South Africa when they triumphed by 49 runs in the fifth and final one-day international at the SSC grounds yesterday. It was Sri Lanka's second 5-0 whitewash of an ICC full-member country in a one-day series. They won 5-0 in Zimbabwe early this year. Sri Lanka snuffed out any hopes South Africa had of returning home with a win under their belts when they ran up their highest total against them - 308-8 off 50 overs. Then followed it up with a good display on the field to dismiss South Africa for 259 off 48.1 overs to seal an emphatic victory, which was on the cards the moment Nuwan Zoysa bowled Herschelle Gibbs for six in the third over to push them onto the back foot. For South Africa to match Sri Lanka's tall score they needed a big opening partnership. Zoysa denied them this. Despite a 114-run stand off 137 balls by the two Jacques - Kallis who scored his 13th one-day international century and Rudolph who contributed 48 off 60 balls, it was a big ask for the down trodden South Africans to raise their game to a level they have never been able to and convert it into a win. Kallis made 101 off 127 balls with seven fours and a six but could do little to keep pace with the ever increasing asking rate as the Sri Lankan spinners led by Upul Chandana and Sanath Jayasuriya once again suffocated them for runs. Chandana picked up his first five wicket haul in one-day internationals with figures of 5 for 61 to take the man-of-the-match award. Jayasuriya supported him with 3 for 48. Seventies apiece from Jayasuriya and Kumar Sangakkara and a half-century from Saman Jayantha contributed towards the Sri Lankan run glut on a flatbed SSC pitch. The previous highest total for Sri Lanka against South Africa was 297-7 at the R. Premadasa Stadium in 2000-01. It was also the first time that Sri Lanka had posted a total in excess of 300 in a one-day match against any team at this venue. Their earlier best effort was 296-4 against Bangladesh in the 1997 Asia Cup. The highest ever one-day total made on this ground is 343-5 by Pakistan against Hongkong in last month's Asia Cup. After being inserted by South Africa, Sri Lanka began rather cautiously with the first five overs realizing just 13 runs without a single boundary. But come the sixth over and the boundaries started to flow and suddenly it became a different ball game as Jayasuriya unleashed his full repertoire of strokes crashing Ntini twice to the boundary and taking 12 runs off the over. The half-century of the side arrived in the tenth over, which meant that the next five overs produced 40 runs. There was no stopping Jayasuriya who was given good support by Jayantha in a second wicket partnership that raised 125 off 132 balls after Gunawardene had gone for a third ball duck without a run on the board. Gunwardene's early dismissal when he played on to a delivery from Pollock gave South Africa a false sense of security that Smith's decision to send Sri Lanka first was the right choice. But they were to soon realize that the SSC pitch, which traditionally helps the seamers in the morning with early moisture was devoid of anything and it was flat and very dry. Sri Lanka reading the wicket well opted for an extra spinner by including Herath and relegating Dilhara Fernando. South Africa did just the opposite. They included seamer Charles Langeveldt (a replacement for the injured Andre Nel) for his first match of the tour and dropped left-arm spinner Peterson. As a result South Africa found itself one spinner short, which forced Smith to join the bowling attacking as early as the 13th over by which time the total had raced to 70-1. The partnership ended at the start of the 23rd over when Klusener got South Africa a much-needed breakthrough by having Jayantha caught behind for 51 off his first delivery. Jayantha hit six fours off 68 balls in compiling his second one-day half-century. Jayasuriya continued to score freely getting to his 56th one-day fifty off 56 balls (5 fours). It was the first time in his last six innings that he had passed 20 after scoring 130 against India in the Asia Cup a fortnight ago. When a century was well within his grasp Jayasuriya, in a momentary lapse of concentration got a leading edge onto a harmless delivery from Smith and looped an easy catch to cover. He made 79 off 85 balls with the aid of seven fours. Sangakkara and Jayawardene continued the momentum with a fourth wicket stand of 84 off 87 balls. Jayawardene made 39 of them off 45 balls (3 fours) before falling lbw to Langeveldt, but Sangakkara continued his current remarkable form by completing his third fifty of the series and the 17th of his career off 57 balls (4 fours). He was merciless on the hapless South African bowlers scoring at will and placing the ball to where and when he wanted. Such was his dominance over the visitors that it was no surprise that he won the man of the series award. His commanding innings ended at 72 in the 48th over when he went for a big ondrive but only succeeded in putting up an easy catch to Kallis at long-on. Although Sri Lanka lost some cheap wickets towards the closing overs there was no denying them a score of over 300, which was well within their grasp. For a weekday there was surprisingly a large turnout of spectators. The papara-papara bands in attendance gave a holiday atmosphere and made the proceedings lively despite yesterday being the middle day of the week. Back to the fold Former Parliamentarian and Speaker of the House A.H.M. Azwer was back at his favourite past time - broadcasting cricket commentaries to Tamil listeners on the fifth and final one-day international between Sri Lanka and South Africa at the SSC grounds yesterday. Azwer, a keen follower of the game was commentating in the SLBC Tamil Thendral Service after a lapse of 17 years. Bowden for Lanka ICC trophy match New Zealand umpire Billy Bowden who spent the majority of days in Sri Lanka officiating the second Test between Sri Lanka and South Africa at the SSC and the five one-day internationals between the two countries will once again officiate in Sri Lanka's ICC Champions trophy match against England at the Rose Bowl on September 17. Bowden will stand with Australian umpire Darrel Hair. Another Australian Daryl Harper and Englishman David Shepherd will officiate in Sri Lanka opening match of the competition against Zimbabwe at the Oval on September 14. Mike Procter of South Africa will be the match referee for both matches. Sri Lanka are playing in Group D of the competition. World's largest trophy? The Janashakthi trophy presented to Sri Lanka acting captain Mahela Jayawardene for winning the one-day series against South Africa by 5 matches to nil is considered to be the largest in the world. Flexport, Sri Lanka say they made the trophy standing at 84 inches tall within 20 hours and claim it to be a Guinness world record. SRI LANKA
A. Gunawardene b Pollock 00
S. Jayasuriya c Gibbs b Smith 79
S. Jayantha c Boucher b Klusener 51
K. Sangakkara c Kallis b Langeveldt 72
M. Jayawardene lbw b Langeveldt 39
T. Dilshan b Langeveldt 18
U. Chandana b Pollock 12
K. Lokuarachchi run out 04
F. Maharoof not out 05
N. Zoysa not out 01
Extras (LB-11, W-12, NB-4) 27
TOTAL (for eight wickets, 50 overs) 308
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-0, 2-125, 3-164, 4-248, 5-279,
6-295, 7-302, 8-303.
BOWLING: Pollock 10-0-58-2, Ntini 6-1-36-0,
Langeveldt 7-0-31-3, Smith 7-0-48-1,
Boje 9-1-41-0, Klusener 6-0-42-1,
Duminy 2-0-10-0, Kallis 3-0-31-0.
SOUTH AFRICA
G. Smith run out 25
H. Gibbs b Zoysa 06
J. Kallis c Sangakkara b Chandana 101
J. Rudolph c Dilshan b Chandana 48
M. Boucher st Sangakkara b Chandana 24
S. Pollock c Lokuarachchi b Jayasuriya 11
J. Duminy c Gunawardene b Chandana 00
L. Klusener c Chandana b Jayasuriya 04
N. Boje not out 21
C. Langeveldt c Sangakkara b Jayausirya 02
M. Ntini c sub (Malinga) b Chandana 07
EXTRAS (b1, lb3, w6) 10
TOTAL 259
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-11, 2-59, 3-173, 4-210, 5-221,
6-222, 7-225, 8-239, 9-242
BOWLING: Zoysa 8-0-25-1, Maharoof 6-0-42-0,
Dilshan 5.5-0-31-0, Jayasuriya 10-0-47-3,
Lokuarachchi 6-0-29-0, Herath 3-0-19-0,
Chandana 9.1-0-61-5, Jayantha 0.1-0-1-0
OVERS: 48.1
Result: Sri Lanka win by 49 runs
Man of the match: Upul Chandana (SRI)
Series result: Sri Lanka win the five-match series 5-0
Man of the series: Kumar Sangakkara (SRI)
Toss: South Africa
Umpires: Billy Bowden (NZL) and Tyron Wijewardene (SRI)
TV umpire: Ranmor Martinesz (SRI)
Match-referee: Clive Lloyd (WIS)
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