Sri Lanka record historic win

2nd Test, Day 5: Sri Lanka v South Africa
August 15, 2004 at SSC, Colombo

Sri Lanka clinched their first ever series win over tourists South Africa, as they defeat them in the second Test of the two-match series, by a mammoth margin of 313 runs.

The day belonged to Chaminda Vass, who in the absence of spin king Muttiah Muralitharan, claimed superb figures of 29/6 destroying the relatively new yet formidable Proteas line-up.

South Africa's luck ran out, after only eight overs were possible yesterday, as rain stayed away from the SSC for the fifth and final day. Resuming at 21/2, they were soon reduced to 36/5 as a result of a gem of a bowling spell by the left-handed Vaas.

It took incredible resistance from Boeta Dippenaar and wicket-keeper Mark Boucher to prevent a humiliation, on a much larger scale than the 313 runs they fell short by.

Both the batsmen recorded their respective fifties, but Boucher couldn't carry on, falling immediately after lunch, so as to negate all chances the visitors had of pulling off a miraculous draw.

From there on, Vaas accompanied by new pace sensation Lasith Malinga made bread and butter of the South African tail, bringing the innings to a close at 179.

First innings double centurion Kumar Sangakkara was named the Man of the Match, while Vaas, for a consistent bowling performance through out the series, was named the Man of the Series.

The two teams now play a series of five One-Day Internationals, before heading off to England for the ICC Champions Trophy.

SRI LANKA (1st innings) 470 all out
KC Sangakkara 232, DPMD Jayawardene 82, SM Pollock 81/4
SOUTH AFRICA (1st innings) 189 all out
GC Smith 65, M van Jaarsveld 51, HMRKB Herath 60/3, ST Jayasuriya 34/5
SRI LANKA (2nd innings) 211 for 4 dec.
MS Atapattu 72, KC Sangakkara 64, JH Kallis 6/2
SOUTH AFRICA (2nd innings) 179 all out
HH Dippenaar 59*, MV Boucher 51, WPUJC Vaas 29/6, LS Malinga 54/3

MAN OF THE MATCH
KC Sangakkara

MAN OF THE SERIES
WPUJC Vaas

Sri Lanka beat South Africa by 313 runs, thus winning the two-match series 1-0.

Posted by Sudeep