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At the start of the series, it seemed a foregone
conclusion that South Africa and Australia would
battle it out in the final of the triangular VB
series. After Australia suffered a shock upset at
the hands of the Proteas, there seemed very little
hope for the Lankans considering their elongated
poor run of form. But they managed to turn the
corner at the Gabba, Brisbane with a highly
impressive display, and kept their hopes in the
series very much alive.
Batting has been Sri Lanka's major concern in the
last few series, and for a change; the batsmen
stood up and delivered to potential. Kumar
Sangakkara and Jehan Mubarak were the heroes with
the bat. Both struck blazing half-centuries as the
Lankans amassed an impressive 282 on a batting
beauty. South Africa had the ammunition to chase
the total in spite of the absence of their mainstay
Kallis, but they seemed only a pale shadow of the
team that had got the better of the world champions
only a couple of days back.
Not much went right for the Proteas after Graeme
Smith won the toss and decided to put the
opposition in. Shaun Pollock was the only bowler to
make any kind of an impression on the opposition
batsmen. In the absence of Nel and Ntini, the
African bowling attack was far from efficient. The
inexperience of Kruger, Zondeki and Botha was well
exploited by the Lankans. Not only did the African
bowlers fail to keep Sangakkara and Mubarak quiet,
their waywardness resulted in eight wides and six
no-balls. It did not help matters that their
fielding, considered one of South Africa's
strongest points, let them down.
Though South Africa have only themselves to blame,
the Sri Lankans deserve credit for their sparkling
batting display. Sangakkara's 88 and Mubarak's 61
included some highly delightful strokes and their
century stand put the Lankans on the road to a big
total. But as they have often done in the recent
past, they stumbled a bit towards the latter part
of their innings, and in the end fell short of what
should have been a 300-plus total. South Africa too
lifted their game towards the end with some tight
bowling and an improved fielding display.
But all the hard work was undone very quickly once
the Proteas began their chase. For the umpteenth
time in his career, Sri Lanka's old warhorse
Chaminda Vaas provided his team with the early
breakthrough, trapping Smith leg before. The South
African skipper's lacklustre performances as both
captain and batsmen thus continued. Not long after,
Dippenaar failed to keep out an inswinger from
Kulasekara. And when a tragic mix-up resulted in
the termination of Gibbs' short stay at the crease,
the Proteas found themselves in a deep hole.
Supersub Jacques Rudolph kept Protean hopes alive
with an aggressive half-century. But he too was run
out before South Africa had crossed the 100-mark.
With a long batting line-up, they were still in
with a chance. However, they maintained their poor
record against spinners.
If South Africa's supersub Rudolph was effective,
Bandara wasn't far behind. He combined with
Muralitharan to snatch away any chances of victory
the batting side had. Mark Boucher came up with yet
another tenacious knock under pressure but ended up
on the losing side this time. The wicket-keeper
batsman was the last to fall as Sri Lanka cantered
to a 94 run win.
Their next game is against the Australians and
though they remain the underdogs, it's always good
to have a victory under your belt before taking on
the world champions.
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