Sports

Sports

South Africa whipped again
Marlon Fernandopulle reporting from Dambulla
Sri Lanka, playing minus four of their regular players humiliated South Africa when they scored a resounding seven wicket victory in the fourth One day International at the Rangiri Dambulla Stadium yesterday. The emphatic victory for the Lankans was the icing on the cake as they went 4-0 up in the five match series.

Chasing 236 runs for victory Sri Lanka started off disastrously when opener Sanath Jayasuriya was run out for just eight runs after a terrible mix up with his partner Avishka Gunawardene. Jayasuriya struck two boundaries and looked to be good touch before the unfortunate mix up. His partner Gunawardene made amends when he rode his luck once again to compile his second fifty in the series and give a reasonable start to the Lankan run chase.

Saman Jayantha who began cautiously showed signs of opening out as he swept Boje for a six and later attempted to hit Peterson over mid-on, but only succeeded in holing out to Duminy. Jayantha (46) who added 65 runs with Kumar Sangakkara struck a solitary boundary and a six.

The exit of Jayantha brought in skipper Mahela Jayawardene to the crease. Jayawardene was soon in his stride driving with precision timing. Sangakkara on the other hand took time to settle before he played a few glorious strokes. The pair treated the sparse crowd to a scintillating exhibition of batting that had the South Africans simply watching.

Sangakkara drove the final nail into the South African coffin when he drove Pollock to the cover boundary in the 47th over to hail another Lankan win. Sangakkara struck six boundaries in his 86 ball 74 while Jayawardene knocked five boundaries for his unbeaten 48 that came off only 45 deliveries. Their unbeaten 98 run stand for the fourth wicket came off just 90 balls signifying the dominace of the Lankans in the game.

Sri Lanka rested skipper Marvan Atapattu, Chaminda Vaas, Nuwan Zoysa and Rangana Herath to give Saman Jayantha, Dilhara Fernando, Lasith Malinga and Farveez Maharoof their first chance in the series. South Africa made just one change from the last game bringing in R. Peterson in place of Alan Dawson.

Sri Lankas stand-in skipper Mahela Jayawardene won the toss and surprisingly gave the visitors first lease of the wicket with the intention of extracting some life from a bone dry wicket. However the Lankan opening bowlers Lasith Malinga and Dilhara Fernando came in for some stick early on from the South African opening batters Graeme Smith and Herschelle Gibbs.

However just when the innings began gathering momentum and South Africa were 113 for 2 wickets in the 22nd over Rudolph was run out when he was beaten by a throw from Maharoof from cover point as he attempted a cheeky single. The third wicket triggered a mini collapse when leg spinner Kaushal Lokkuarachchi picked up two wickets in his third over that of skipper Smith and Duminy, both adjudged leg before wicket.

Finally former skipper Shaun Pollock kept innings going to their final score with an unbeaten 52. After their fourth caning a dejected South African captain Graeme Smith said "For us it is a nightmare at the moment. I do not know what do we have to do to get a win. The entire team is disappointed and dejected at the lack of self confidence whichi s the major problem. There is a lot of soul searching to do".

The stand-in Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardena in his turn said "They are a good team and they have the capacity to come back at any given time. However we do not want them to get back their confidence during this tour and that what we have been successful in doing so far".

Top