South Africa dent Sri Lanka’s semi-final hopes
CHESTER-LE-STREET (UNITED
KINGDOM): Hashim Amla and Faf du Plessis powered South Africa to a nine-wicket victory over Sri Lanka on Friday, dealing a huge blow to the Asian side’s hopes of reaching the World Cup semi-finals.
Amla (80) and captain Du Plessis (96) put on an unbeaten 175 for the second wicket as South Africa cruised to victory in the 38th over, finishing on 206 for one.
Sri Lanka were struggling after defeats to New Zealand and Australia and two washouts before reviving their World Cup chances with a shock win against hosts England last week.
But, with six points from seven games, the 1996 champions have now slipped behind England, Bangladesh and Pakistan in the race to qualify from the roundrobin phase.
“It feels like it’s a long time coming,” said Du Plessis, whose side were already out of contention for the semi-finals before the match.
“It feels bittersweet, it doesn’t feel like it means too much,” he added. “But the basics of batting were shown today. We’ve not had guys bat long and build big partnerships. One big partnership and everything looks much easier.”
Sri Lanka’s batting let them down against an inspired South African pace attack led by recalled seamer Dwaine Pretorius, who returned figures of 3-25 from his 10 overs.
A swarm of bees briefly interrupted play towards the end of the innings, forcing the players and umpires to lie flat on the ground.
South Africa will sign off with a final league match against Australia.
Sri Lanka have two more games — against West Indies on July 1 and India on July 6.