Many expected this to be the most keenly fought of the four World Cup quarter-finals; instead we witnessed a rout. It has taken seven tournaments but the South Africa hoodoo of never winning a Cricket World Cup knockout match has been broken after they tore apart a Sri Lankan side whose batsmen, defeated by spin instead of pace, crumbled under pressure. When Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews won the toss and decided to bat, the first nightmare of every South African cricket fan had been played out. The rest of the game, however, was a dream for the Proteas.
Playing what turned out to be his last ODI innings, Kumar Sangakkara—who had scored four centuries in his last four innings—was neutralised through excellent bowling and the failure of the rest. His score at various points in the innings read 0 off 15, 2 off 27, 6 off 42, 34 off 90 and out for 45 off 96. He was the ninth man out with the score at 127, only just past the lowest score in a World Cup quarter-final: West Indies’ 112 against Pakistan in 2011.
South Africa needed just eighteen overs to overhaul the 2007 and 2011 finalists’ meagre total of 133, Sri Lanka’s second lowest in a completed match at the SCG, and win by nine wickets to book a semi-final showdown with New Zealand or the West Indies in Auckland on Tuesday.
Kyle Abbott, Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel set it up with probing spells at the top, leaving Sri Lanka at 47 for 2 by the time spin was introduced in the fifteenth over. Imran Tahir and JP Duminy made sure the pressure wasn’t released, and were there to accept the wickets when the pressure became too much. Duminy became the first South African to take a hat-trick at the World Cup.
It was a sad way for Mahela Jayewardene’s 652-game international career to end, while it also brought to a close Kumar Sangakkara’s days in the 50-over game, though he will continue to play Tests.
For Sri Lanka to upset South Africa in Australian conditions, they needed to bat first and post a decent total to test the Proteas’ nerves. But the South Africans, red-hot from start to finish, never gave them a sniff. There was little batting resistance on a good pitch, with Sri Lanka—the 1996 World Cup winners—losing four wickets for two runs in nine balls as they slumped to 116 for eight.
South Africa knew only victory in a major tournament will enable the team to shed the dreaded “chokers” tag of theirs. Few teams have been in as rare form with the bat as Sri Lanka during the past month, but their scoring frenzy was brought to a screeching halt. This was the venue where less than a fortnight ago they had given Australia’s total of 376 a decent crack, but on Wednesday their top order faltered and there was no way back.
South Africa’s bowlers, often overshadowed in ODI cricket by their more celebrated batsmen, dominated Sri Lanka from the start. Kusal Perera, promoted to open the innings, fell for three when he edged Kyle Abbott and was brilliantly caught left-handed, at the second attempt, by de Kock as the wicket-keeper dived in front of first slip. Tillakaratne Dilshan was then out for a seven-ball duck, edging fast bowler Dale Steyn low to du Plessis at second slip. Thirimanne, who struck five fours, exited when he chipped an easy return catch to man-of-the-match Tahir.
Duminy claimed a hat-trick, the ninth in World Cup history and first by a South African, sparking a horror collapse in which Sri Lanka lost 6-19 in 28 balls. Quinton de Kock, who had managed just 53 runs in six previous innings this World Cup, was 78 not out after hitting the winning boundary—his 12th four—off paceman Lasith Malinga. Faf du Plessis was unbeaten on 21. There was one final twist remaining, though. A freakish rain break that delayed de Kock’s response to the target. Unlike 23 years ago in an SCG knockout, South Africa could look at the rain fall in a relaxed manner. Victory meant the Proteas had, after several heartbreaking reverses that started at the SCG with a rain-affected semifinal loss to England in 1992, finally won a knockout match at the World Cup.
