Bees offer respite in dire contest
Eliminated South Africa swat aside Sri Lanka Du Plessis and Amla finally shine with bat
That this match will be chiefly remembered for a swarm of bees briefly halting play says everything. Having waited almost a month for the World Cup to roll into the North East, the poor Durham crowd were delivered the dampest of squibs on the day that summer finally arrived.
For that, they have Sri Lanka to blame. Only increasing bemusement as to how England managed to lose to such a team, Dimuth Karunaratne’s side folded so meekly in this hopelessly one-sided, nine-wicket defeat it is a wonder that they still maintain the slenderest of hopes of making the semi-finals.
Not only is that mathematically highly unlikely, but on the basis of this performance they stand no chance of being capable of taking any opportunity that may arise.
The potential for quips when the bees arrived near the end of Sri Lanka’s innings was huge: it was hard to hear the buzz over the snoring in the stands or the insects had shown more intent than any of Sri Lanka’s batsmen.
As every man on the pitch – players and umpires alike – hit the deck to shelter below the swarm, the different techniques for dealing with the bees were fascinating, at least in comparison to any of the action that had come before.
While both batsmen opted for the conventional method of burying their head in hands, South African bowler Chris Morris used the time to strengthen his abdominal muscles by performing a plank and umpire Sundaram Ravi went full-on dead fish with his face in the turf and arms by his side.
The two-minute stoppage provided only the briefest respite from the drudgery of Sri Lanka’s innings. Attempting to tackle a slow surface, their batsmen had found the going difficult from the moment Karunaratne fell to the first ball of the match, but not half as difficult as spectators found it watching them flounder.
At one point Jeevan Mendis’s 37ball stint at the crease had yielded just four runs and it was little surprise that Dwaine Pretorius’s figures
R 15 80 96 15 206 B 4 6 of three for 25 were the most economical of any 10 overs bowled at this World Cup.
While Sri Lanka found it troublesome crawling their way to 203 all out in 49.3 overs, South Africa barely broke sweat in chasing it down. If only they had shown such determination earlier in the tournament, they may not have already been eliminated.
Playing themselves into form when it was too late, Faf du Plessis and Hashim Amla shared an unbroken stand of 175, hitting tournament-high scores of 96 and 80 respectively.
By the time Du Plessis flicked the winning boundary with 76 balls left, half the sun-baked spectators had already departed for home after a day ideally suited to the Snooze Cam that looks to catch those napping in their seats during this World Cup. At least no one was stung.