High tension,
THE STALWARTS SOUTH AFRICA SRI LANKA
SYDNEY: Two of world cricket’s most prolific batsmen will face off at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Wednesday and only one, AB de Villiers or Kumar Sangakkara, will stay back. And no matter how both teams have tried to establish that there is more to the first quarterfinal than these two, a good show with the bat by either is likely to make the difference.
It will be nothing short of making cricketing history as far as South Africa are concerned. No matter what arsenal they have carried to World Cups, they have unbelievably never won a single elimination match. Their heartbreak in the 1992 semifinal to England, where rain played spoilsport and cricket’s rain rule made it worse, has now forced changes in the playing conditions.
REOPENING OLD
WOUNDS
But references to that and 1999 are regularly dug out and presented as questions to the Proteas. “Ok, I know what you are going to ask. Chokers, right?” Both de Villiers and coach Russell Domingo did not let the question finish, as if they wanted to get over with it real fast. But getting over with questions on choking and actually doing something in the middle so the world sheds South Africa’s tag is completely different.
Coming into the World Cup as overwhelming favourites alongside hosts Australia, South Africa have already seen their plans and self-belief rattled following losses to India and Pakistan. That didn’t really harm them and they have qualified as the second team from Group B. But now that they are up against Sri Lanka, another subcontinent team who are former champions and runners-up in the last two editions, and a loss here will throw them out, South Africa are trying their best to ensure they don’t look too ruffled.
Sangakkara has already scored four centuries in the tournament and Sri Lanka’s batting has been so overshadowed by his form that Mahela Jayawardene’s contribution with the bat has hardly been required. His form has forced the chairman of selectors Sanath Jayasuriya to say that he wished the 37-year-old would reverse his decision to quit limited-overs cricket after the World Cup.
THE KEY MAN
South Africa skipper De Villiers scored the fastest one-day century in the build up to the tournament, and in the six Cup games has scored the most for his team (417 at an average of 83.4 and a highest of 162 not out). His strike rate has been an amazing 144.29. Sri Lanka know who to train their guns on.
But they had a setback in the afternoon when left-arm spinner Rangana Herath was virtually ruled out of Wednesday’s match after failing to recover from the injury to his left index finger — key to impart spin — suffered in the match against England on March 1. The stitches were removed two days back but he had not bowled since. At the nets on Tuesday, he rolled his arm over for four deliveries and quit. in all chases in Internationals.
in World cup They’ve won 16 and lost 10 while chasing. in chases since January 2014. They’ve won 6 and lost 6.
after WC 2011. They’ve won 15, lost 15 out of 31. knockout matches South Africa have played in World Cups and failed to advance from each of it. While they lost four, they tied the semifinal in 1999 but couldn’t advance on technical grounds.
times South Africa have chased in WC knockouts. They’ve lost thrice and tied one. However, the tied game too resulted in Australia advancing. South Africa’s opening partnership has failed with Quinton de Kock out of sorts. Hashim Amla has clicked but couldn’t convert starts against India and Pakistan. He is the key as SA usually win when he scores at least a half-century, and with Faf du Plessis and de Kock, sets it up for the hard-hitters. The most power-packed middle-order in the tournament is led by AB de Villiers, who has 417 runs. JP Duminy and David Miller too are averaging 50 plus. However, under pressure and without a good platform from the top-order, they can falter as they did against India and Pakistan. With Dale Steyn leading the pack and Morne Morkel and Vernon Philander to follow, there is no doubt this is the best fastbowling unit. But the extra seamer has been a worrying factor if one of the main three doesn’t click or gets injured, like it happened against India. AB de Villiers rolled his arm over against UAE, taking two wickets, and the spinfriendly Sydney track might see him bowl slow-medium alongside leg-spinner Imran Tahir. Tahir has 11 wickets with an economy rate of 4.35 although he was off the boil in the later phase of the league games. Sri Lanka owe it to their top-order for carrying them this far. The top three led by Kumar Sangakkara --- four tons in a row --- have got 64% of the team’s runs. Out of the team’s 1788 runs, Lahiru Thirimanne, Tillakaratne Dilshan and Sangakkara have aggregated 1152. Their biggest concern is Mahela Jayawardene, who has struggled. He has scored a century in the World Cup final and semifinal, but this time, his only good knock was a century against Afghanistan. The other middle-order batsmen don’t evoke much confidence. The pace attack is a one-man unit with Lasith Malinga the big name, and the only one to impress. He has got 11 wickets and has been fairly economical. Angelo Mathews is a handy seamer but can’t be expected to run through line-ups The Islanders are fretting with injured Rangana Herath almost out. Although their lead spinner picked just three wickets, he has been economical. Dilshan too has bowled a bit and has been economical. Sri Lanka can bring in leg-spinner Jeevan Mendis for Herath. M MURALITHARAN, SL legend RUSSELL DOMINGO, SA coach