Champions Trophy Match 3: South Africa vs Sri Lanka

Champions Trophy Match 3: South Africa vs Sri Lanka: Scorecard

The tough times ahead for Sri Lankan cricket are still there for all to see in last night's clash with South Africa, and yet for a period of the match they were a big chance of pulling of an upset victory despite the absence of their skipper and an almost full -strength CricketBoks line up.

South Africa should really have hammered home their advantage of batting first, but once again could not find a way to finish off the early work. Despite Amla's century and du Plessis' run a ball 75, the middle order could only amble along at the same pace and couldn't explode at the end of the innings. The fact that de Villiers went cheaply didn't help, but neither Miller nor Morris could follow Duminy in scoring at better than a run a ball. Though they never really looked to be a chance of dismissing their opponents, the Sri Lankan bowlers would have been ecstatic to keep the South Africans to 299
Unfortunately, stand in captain Tharanga allowed his side to go over the allotted time for their overs by a whopping 30 minutes, and as a result not only was the team fined the majority of their pay cheque by he will now be suspended for the next two matches, meaning he is most likely now out of the tournament. What a cock up.
In reply, Sri Lanka took on the South Africans, and at one stage in the chance were 1/94 in the 12th over, and even 2/116 in the 18th over, well above the run rate required and on track. Unfortunately, once both openers Tharanga and Dickwella had been dismissed, the resistance became futile, and the final 8 wickets could only add another 87 runs before the boom was lowered at 203. Perhaps the most significant part of this innings was Imran Tahir's excellent bowling performance, picking up 4/27 off 8.3 overs with his wrist spin bowling. Even though he is currently the #2 ranked ODI bowler, his impact will perhaps encourage the other team's in the tournament to give their spinners a go rather than leaving them warming the benches, as England and Australia did in their first games.

You would suspect that Sri Lanka are cooked in this tournament, and that the other finals spot in the group will be decided in tonight's clash between India and Pakistan, such is the emotion that will come with such a clash.