Scores:
Sri Lanka ‘A’- 254 for 4 in 50 overs (Tharanga Paranavithana 116 n.o. Dimuth Karunaratne 31, Thilina Kandamby 32, Jeewan Mendis 43 n.o. Dean Elder 2 for 50)
South Africa ‘A’ – 257 for 3 in 47.1 overs (Dilee Rossouw 20, Heino Kuhn 101, Dean Elgar 79 n.o. Collin Ingram 45 n.o. Sachitra Serasinghe 3 for 48) |
South Africa ‘A’ team proved that they are a strong team when they overwhelmed Sri Lanka ‘A’ by seven wickets in the final league ODI match at the P. Sara Stadium yesterday.
The modest total of 254 runs scored by Sri Lanka was insufficient and South Africa scored 257 for 3 wickets off 47.1 overs.
Heino Kuhn batted best to top score on 101 runs. He had ten boundaries and faced 108 deliveries. He was well assisted by Deabn Elgar who also batted well to remain unbeaten on 79 runs inclusive of three sixes and four fours. This pair put on 102 runs for the third wicket.
Thereafter, Elgar was joined by Collin Ingram to score the rest of the runs for victory. Ingram was unbeaten on 45 runs scored off only 30 deliveries and included a six and four boundaries.
With this win South Africa go out favourites win the final to be played against Sri Lanka ‘A’ tomorrow.
Only Sachitra Serasinghe bowled best to claim all three wickets to fall at a cost of 48 runs.
South African batsman H. Kuhn on strike against Sri Lanka A. Pic by Ranjith Perera |
Earlier, electing to bat first Sri Lanka ‘A’ got off to a poor start losing the first wicket early but Tharanga Paranavithana and Dimuth Karunaratne steadied the inning with a second wicket stand of 69 runs.
Karunaratne managed to score a cautious 31 runs inclusive of only three boundaries and faced 45 deliveries.
Paranavithana continued to play cautiously and later put on another 71 runs for the fourth wicket with Thilina Kandamby.
Kandamby also played with caution to score 32 runs off 45 deliveries and had only two fours.
Thereafter, Paranavithana was joined by Jeewan Mendis towards the end overs but this pair pushed the score along at a more brisk pace and added 83 runs in an unfinished partnership for the fifth wicket.
Paranavithana reached his hundred during the batting power play that was taken after the 45th over. He had faced 105 deliveries for his century and had two sixes and six boundaries.Mendis batted aggressively to score an unbeaten 43 runs off 40 deliveries inclusive of a six and three boundaries.
Paranavithana went on to remain unbeaten on 116 runs off 139 deliveries inclusive of seven boundaries and two sixes.
South Africa used their pace bowlers to good effect with Dean Elder being the most successful claiming two for 50. The other bowlers like Tshabalala, de Villiers and Philander also bowled well to contain the free scoring Sri Lankan batsmen. |
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