da jogodeouro： Hosts South Africa were knocked out of the World Cup in bizarre and cruelcircumstances
Charlie Austin03-Mar-2003Hosts South Africa were knocked out of the World Cup in bizarre and cruelcircumstances after a rain affected tie in their crunch clash against SriLanka at Durban on Monday night.Sri Lanka scored an imposing 268 after a superb century from opener MarvanAtapattu and then restricted the Proteas to 229 for six in 45 overs beforethe soaked players were forced from the field by sheets of rain.According to the Duckworth Lewis method used to decide weather affectedmatches, the scores were tied when the umpires called on the covers withSouth Africa needing 40 runs from the last 30 balls of the innings.With time fast running out till the 10.45 cut off time, a slight lighteningof the rain encouraged a brief burst of activity from the ground staff,cheered on by a desperate partisan crowd. But the umpires prevented thecovers being hauled off and play had to be abandoned.With the points shared between the two sides, Sri Lanka’s place in the SuperSixes is confirmed and they top the Pool B table with 18 points. Kenya andNew Zealand take second and third place respectively with 16 points.Sri Lanka will not, however, carry through their maximum quota of pointshaving suffered a shock defeat against surprise qualifiers Kenya in Nairobi.Indeed, bizarrely, Steve Tikolo’s team, by virtue of that crucial win andNew Zealand’s forfeiture, carry through 10 points, and possibly 11 if theydefeat the West Indies, meaning they could be one upset away from a place inthe semi-finals. Sri Lanka carry through 7.5 and New Zealand four.South Africa, one of the favourites before the competition commenced, paidthe penalty for earlier defeats against West Indies and New Zealand andsuffer the similar ignominious exit suffered by the 1999 tournament hostsEngland.Contrary to the pre-game predictions of the swing bowlers dominating thegame, especially under the lights during the second innings, it was SriLanka’s spinners that caused the most problems for South Africa’s batsmen.Herschelle Gibbs, South Africa’s top scorer with 73 from 88 balls, aninnings studded with some glorious pulls, nullified the threat of ChamindaVaas’s left arm swing bowling expertly.With fellow opener Graeme Smith (35) also batting positively, the SouthAfricans rattled along at a run-a-ball against the new ball adding 65 runsin 11.1 overs.But Sri Lanka skipper Sanath Jayasuriya’s decision to employ his spinnersearly brought instantaneous success as the left-hander smashed Aravinda deSilva’s first ball straight down the throat of a kneeling Pulasthi Gunaratneon the mid-wicket boundary.De Silva then mopped up Gary Kirsten (8) after the left-hander missed asweep and was bowled behind his legs to leave South Africa on 91 for two.However, despite the early wickets, and even the loss of Jacques Kallis, whowas uncorked by a fizzing delivery from Jayasuriya, South Africa looked tobe in control whilst Gibbs was at the crease.The 29-year-old batted serenely, cleverly opening his stance against Vaasand playing the ball as late as possible. He was ruthless and clinicalagainst the loose delivery and looked set to carry South Africa home.But Muttiah Muralitharan recovered from an expensive first over to claim thekey wicket as the right-hander stretched across his stumps and missed anattempted sweep.Next over, Boeta Dippenaar was given his marching orders by umpire Venkat asa quicker delivery from Jayasuriya thudded in to his pads.Mark Boucher and Shaun Pollock (25) revitalised local hopes with 63 runs in13.1 overs before, just when the initiative looked to swinging to SouthAfrica, a reflex back-hand flick from Muralitharan ran out Pollock.With 57 needed from 45 balls, new batsman Lance Klusener struggled with histiming, scoring just one run from eight balls, and the run rate crept upuntil Muralitharan’s ninth over, the 45th of the innings.Muralitharan conceded five wides and was then slammed for a magnificentstraight six by Boucher, who was 45 not out from 50 balls when play theplayers left the field. Cruelly, for South African fans, had Boucher taken asingle off the last ball of the over and not tapped the ball straight tomid-wicket, South Africa would have won the match.Earlier, Atapattu had scored his maiden World Cup century and the ninth ofhis career, rescuing the Sri Lanka’s after a nervous start.The innings was precariously placed on 90 for three after the loss of SanathJayasuriya (16), whose innings was cut short by some doleful running, HashanTillakaratne (14) and Mahela Jayawardene (1).But the 32-year-old batted magnificently – his powerful and crisp drivingthrough the cover region a feature of his innings -stroking 18 boundaries inhis 124 from 129 ballsAravinda de Silva provided solid support, showcasing his big match pedigreewith a perfectly paced 73 from 78 balls, an innings that included six foursand two glorious leg-side sixes.The experienced pair accelerated after a period of consolidation andeventually compiled a 152 run stand – a fourth wicket record for Sri Lankaagainst South Africa.