Dilshan guides SL home

It was a thriller at Colombo in the opening match of what should be a fantastic series between South Africa and Sri Lanka. Ultimately Tillakaratne Dilshan won the game for his team with an unbeaten innings of 38. The home side were set to chase 264 to win and ended on 265/7 from 49 overs, the highest run-chase by Sri Lanka at the R.Premadasa Stadium.

Earlier Graeme Smith won the toss and decided to bat first. Herschelle Gibbs continued his struggles against the angle of Chaminda Vaas and was trapped in front for a duck with his 13th ball. Smith (38) found a good partner in Jacques Kallis (74) and the two upped the tempo in a partnership of 77 off 77 balls. Lokuarachchi got the breakthrough by bowling the South African skipper.

At 90/2, Rudolph joined Kallis, who continued to play outstandingly and reached his half-century from 50 balls, hitting 5 fours and 2 sixes. He did have a life though, dropped by Sangakkara when on 33. Rudolph too was dropped and the culprit then was Chandana. Chandana came back well though, as he slipped a delivery past the charging Rudolph (22) to have him stumped. The score then sat at 138/3 and Pollock (30) was promoted to pick up the run rate.

He started busily, but saw his partner Kallis suffer an unusual dismissal. The South African allrounder pushed a Chandana delivery back to the bowler, who caught the ball. Initial reactions were that the ball had hit ground off the bat of Kallis, but Chandana still gave a lone appeal and, after a referral to the third umpire, had it upheld. Kallis made an 85-ball 74 and hit 5 fours and 2 sixes in his effort.

The wicket made way for wicketkeeper Mark Boucher who went on to give the South Africans their only late impetus amidst a clutter of wickets. After Jayasuriya took care of Pollock, Klusener partnered Boucher to a good fifty (41 balls). Eventually Boucher tried one big shot too many and skied Vaas to Gunawardene at longon. Klusener (15), debutant Jean-Paul Duminy (4) and Nicky Boje all followed in quick succession and Makhaya Ntini hit the last ball of the innings to the midwicket fence as South Africa finished on 263/9.

Chaminda Vaas had the excellent figures of 7-0-33-4. Chandana took 2 wickets and Lokuarachchi and Jayasuriya had 1 apiece.

The Sri Lankan chase started steadily and Dawson got the first joy for South Africa, bowling the dangerous Jayasuriya for 12. Captain Marvan Atapattu joined Gunawardene and the two batted well in a 66-run partnership. Gunawardene brought up his half-century off his 59 balls, but stuck around for just 2 more before spooning a catch to Gibbs in the covers. The left-handed opener score 51 and hit 7 fours in a very impressive and important innings.

With the score now 95/2, the South Africans felt the importance of that Ntini breakthrough. However, that excitement was blunted somewhat when Sangakkara joined his skipper on the back of some excellent form. He progressed comfortably to 24 and then succeeded in clipping Boje directly to Gibbs at midwicket. Atapattu celebrated a fifty of his own, but only got to 61 then nicked Ntini behind - 170/4.

The game stood interestingly poised - 94 runs needed from 98 balls - and South Africa searched to apply some pressure. Smith missed a simple run out chance of Jayawardene (19), but then brought back Klusener for a second spell and he got the same batsman caught behind. Chandana was the next man in and then the next man out - run out by Boje. The crowd grew in voice, sensing the tension as Vaas came out with 53 needed from 57 balls. Kallis bowled a tight 1-run over in the middle of 'happy hour' and the equation was up to 38 needed from 36 balls. The batsmen worked Klusener around for 8 runs in the following over, the 45th, and it was even once more - 30 from 30.

Kallis' next over started well, but a boundary off the fifth ball counted - 23 from 24. With the pressure building, Graeme Smith tossed out his ace and recalled Shaun Pollock for his final spell. After 3 runs were scored from the first 4 balls, Pollock had his man, Vaas caught at longon for 18. The batsmen crossed while the ball soared, but Dilshan couldn't score off the last ball of the over - 20 off 18.

Dawson took up duty at the other end and surrended 7 runs, due largely to the urgency of running by Dilshan. Then 13 from 12 was the equation and it became clear that Dilshan would hold the fate of the Sri Lankans, win or lose. With that in mind, he smacked a Shaun Pollock slower ball over Graeme Smith's head at midoff and suddenly it was only 8 runs to win and 10 balls left. A triplet of singles and Lokuarachchi faced up to Pollock's last ball with 5 needed from 7.

Keen to finish in style, Lokuarachchi open up on Shaun Pollock and swung him high over the midwicket ropes for a thrilling finish to a thrilling game. Sri Lanka the victors by 3 wickets take a 1-0 lead in the 5-game series.

[U]Match Summary:[/U]

[B]South Africa innings[/B] 263/9 (50 overs)
JH Kallis 74 [85], MV Boucher 58 [47]
WPUJC Vaas 4/33 [7], UPU Chandana 2/41 [8]

[B]Sri Lanka innings[/B] 265/7 (49 overs)
MS Atapattu 61 [82], DA Gunawardene 51 [61], TM Dilshan 38 not out [37]
M Ntini 2/46 [9], N Boje 1/31 [5]

[B]Result:[/B] Sri Lanka won by 3 wickets
[B]Man of the Match:[/B] WPUJC Vaas (SL)
[B]Series:[/B] SL lead 1-0

Posted by Liam