Faf du Plessis and Hashim Amla struck unbeaten half-centuries as South Africa coasted to a nine-wicket victory at the Riverside Ground on Friday to dent Sri Lanka’s hopes of making it to the 2019 World Cup semi-finals.
Du Plessis and Co. not only grabbed a consolation win but also dished out a clinical display with both ball and bat as they emerged victorious by a comprehensive margin.
Earlier, Sri Lanka had a disastrous start to their innings when captain Dimuth Karunaratne was caught at slip by Du Plessis off the first ball of the match, delivered by Kagiso Rabada.
Kusal Perera and Avishka Fernando batted positively to take the score to 67 for one in the 10th over before Fernando mistimed a shot, sending the ball steepling into the air before it was taken by Du Plessis.
Perera was the next to go, chopping a Dwaine Pretorius delivery onto his stumps as Sri Lanka slipped to 72/3 in the 12th over.
Angelo Mathews was bowled by Morris for 11 and Kusal Mendis departed for 23. Every recognized batsman apart from Karunaratne reached double-figures but none went on to play big innings.
Brief Scores: South Africa 206 for 1 (du Plessis 96 not out, Amla 80 not out) beat Sri Lanka 203 (Avishka 30, Pretorius 3 for 25, Morris 3 for 46) by nine wickets.
Here’s how Twitter reacted:
You see, this is how this team can dominate! #Proteas This is exactly what they do in bilateral series'.
— Alviro Petersen (@AlviroPetersen) June 28, 2019
South Africa v Sri Lanka:
World Cup 2015: SA won by 9 wickets
World Cup 2019: SA won by 9 wickets #SAvSL #SLvSA #CWC19
— Sarang Bhalerao (@bhaleraosarang) June 28, 2019
hum to doobe hain sanam, tumko bhi lekar doobenge – Faf to SL? #SLvSA #CWC19
— Gaurav Kalra (@gauravkalra75) June 28, 2019
South Africa wins. In the process helps England too. Well…South Africa has been helping English cricket for a while now. Nothin new ☺️🤗 #SAvSL #CWC19
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) June 28, 2019
https://twitter.com/hershybru/status/1144551195236868096
SA too late SL too dismissive, overall an one sided-affair which had slight chances for the latter but that too vanished now.#SLvSA #CWC19
— Reema Malhotra (@ReemaMalhotra8) June 28, 2019
South Africa to Sri Lanka. #SLvSA pic.twitter.com/tG8748wl6T
— Sagar (@sagarcasm) June 28, 2019
Radio silence 🙂😜 @RusselArnold69
— Hemang Badani (@hemangkbadani) June 28, 2019
