Monday Dec 16, 2024
Monday Dec 16, 2024
Wednesday, 10 March 2021 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
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Tillakaratne Dilshan
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Crictracker: After a successful game against the West Indies, it was now time for Sri Lanka to face a depleted South African side missing the likes of Herschelle Gibbs, Albie Morkel, etc. but were yet a strong enough side. However, the Lankan side completely decimated them to hand them their first loss of the tournament.
Tillakaratne Dilshan won the toss and decided that his team would bowl first. South Africa got off to a disastrous start as both their openers were dismissed without adding anything to the total. Andrew Puttick, who came in at number three, tried his best to consolidate, with his score of 39 in 46 balls the only reasonable batting contribution of the innings.
Some very poor batting combined with some good bowling meant that South Africa Legends were bowled out for 89 runs in 18.5 overs. The fact that only two players entered double-figure scores shows how miserably the batting line-up failed. Each and every player who took lease of the ball picked up at least a wicket for the Lankan side.
Rangana Herath was the star with the ball, as he finished with figures of 2 for 11 in his four overs. Nuwan Kulasekara and Sanath Jayasuriya too got a couple of wickets to their name. A target of 90 runs was never going to be enough for a strong Sri Lankan line-up consisting of the likes of Dilshan, Jayasuriya, and the recently retired Upul Tharanga. Even though Jayasuriya was dismissed early on once again, the other two proved to be too much for the South African bowlers. Dilshan played a captain’s knock, as his unbeaten half-century guided the team to a safe victory. Tharanga played a good supporting knock scoring 27 off 31 balls.
Sri Lanka won the game in 13.2 overs and with nine wickets to spare. Garnett Kruger was the only South African bowler to have some success with the ball. Sri Lanka now have three wins in the four games they have played thus far and are currently second in the points table.
Scoreboard
South Africa Legends 89 all out in 18.5 overs (Andrew Puttick 39; Nuwan Kulasekara 2/13, Rangana Herath 2/11, Sanath Jayasuriya 2/25) lost to Sri Lanka Legends 92/1 in 13.2 overs (Tillakaratne Dilshan 50*, Upul Tharanga 27*) by 9 wickets.
