SOUTH AFRICA CRUISE TO 73 - RUN WIN

Openers Hashim Amla and Alviro Petersen had to dig for their runs as they were bogged down. The pair took as much as 73 balls to put on a stand of 46 runs before being separated

South Africa cruised through to an easy 73-run win over the Sri Lanka Board President’s XI in the warm up match played at the Colts ground yesterday. It was JP Duminy’s 100-ball knock of 92 which paved the way for a South Africa win as they were making slow progress after skipper AB de Villers won the toss and elected to take first lease of the wicket.

Openers Hashim Amla and Alviro Petersen had to dig for their runs as they were bogged down. The pair took as much as 73 balls to put on a stand of 46 runs before being separated.

Petersen joined by Duminy was associated in a 49-run stand when the former was dismissed having struggled for a score 43 which took him 77 balls. South Africa at the halfway stage of the innings were 103 for 2.

From there on Duminy took things under control as he was associated in two fruitful partnerships. The first was a 70 runs stand for the third wicket with skipper de Villers which followed with an 82-run stand for the fourth wicket Fuf de Plessis

he duo’s separation came with the dismissal of Duminy whose knock of 92 comprised seven boundaries and two sixes as later South Africa ended their innings by making a formidable score of 271.

The Sri Lanka Board President’s XI in their run chase fared no better as they too were made to struggle for their runs and slid to 53 for 3 in the 13th over. Angelo Perera who made a top score of 46 batted with immense confidence as he along with skipper Dinesh Chandimal steadied the innings. Angelo paid scant respect to the South Africa bowling as he cracked two towering sixes both off left arm spinner Robin Peterson.

At the departure of this pair having added 49 val- uable runs for the fourth wicket saw the home side losing wickets at regular intervals. Despite Angelo’s fighting knock and a 42 by Jehan Mubarak they were not going to be a threat for the South Africa as they folded up for a score of 198.

Right arm pacie Chris Morris and left arm orthodox spinner Robin Petersen shared six wickets while the other four were shared by the left arm and right arm spin combination of Aaron Phangiso and Duminy.

South Africa 271 for 6 in 50 overs (JP Duminy 92, Alviro Petersen 43, AB de Villers 40, Faf du Plessis 40, Hashim Amla 31: Thisara Perera 2 for 49, Dhammika Prasad 2 for 50)

Sri Lanka Board President’s XI 198 in 44.5 overs (Angelo Perera 46, Jehan Mubarak 42, Kusal Perera 23, Dinesh Chandimal 21, Thisara Perera 19: Chris Morris 3 for 27, Robin Peterson 3 for 37, Aaron Phangiso 2 for 39, JP Duminy 2 for 49)