Proteas look to come out firing

SOUTH Africa begin their Champions Trophy challenge at the Oval in London today by taking on a Sri Lanka side against whom they have already enjoyed overwhelming oneday international success this year.

The Proteas whitewashed Sri Lanka 5-0 in a bilateral series in South Africa in January and, also, prior to that, hammered Australia by the same margin at home.

Yet for all they are top of the one-day international rankings, South Africa have a reputation for under-performing in International Cricket Council tournaments.

The only ICC event they have won was the inaugural Champions Trophy in 1998.

South Africa also boast the world’s number one-ranked ODI batsman and bowler in AB de Villiers and Kagiso Rabada, respectively. In all, they have four batsmen and two bowlers in the respective Top 10 ICC rankings, while seventh-placed Sri Lanka have none in either list.

“We’re still ranked the number one team in the world going into the tournament, so there are quite a few reasons for us to be confident,” said South Africa’s ODI captain de Villiers.

“But we’re still humble at the same time and know that we have to work hard and take it one step at a time to win this,” he added.

Sri Lanka head into the tournament as underdogs – and one of the key reasons they’ve struggled in recent months, has been the absence of fast bowler Lasith Malinga, who hasn’t played any ODI cricket since November 2015 due to a knee injury. The return of “Slinga” Malinga would be a massive boost for Sri Lanka.

“He has been our leading bowler for many years and we missed him,” captain Angelo Mathews said. “He is very keen to return to ODI cricket and we are looking forward to him performing again.”

There are also question marks about all-rounder Mathews’s availability for the South Africa match after scans revealed he’d suffered a calf strain. He will need to undergo a fitness test.

Sri Lanka’s form ahead of the competition has been mediocre, losing warm-up games to Australia, New Zealand and even Scotland. They believe batting against spin bowling is South Africa’s weakness, however, and will look to left-arm wrist spinner Lakshan Sandakan to give them the edge. The 25-year-old has played only six ODIs and the Sri Lankans believe his variety will trouble their opponents. —