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South Africa have thrown off the weight of history to record their first win in the knock out stages of a Cricket World Cup, cruising past Sri Lanka to a nine wicket win with 32 overs to spare.
The Sri Lankan batsmen got off to shaky start and could never find their feet as the run rate plodded along and they continued to lose wickets.
JP Duminy provided one of the highlights of the South African bowling innings, snagging the first ever hat-trick by a South African at a World Cup.
The quarter finals of the 2015 Cricket World Cup are upon us as Sri Lanka face off against South Africa at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Join The Roar for live scores and coverage from 2:30pm (AEDT).
The weekend of the 14th and 15th of February must seem so long ago now for Sri Lanka and South Africa. That was when they played their respective opening group games against New Zealand and Zimbabwe.
It has been a long five weeks of cricket since then, but the business end of the tournament is finally here. From now on the equation is simple, it’s win or go home.
South Africa will enter today’s match as favourites, but picking the result is far from clear cut. For all their strengths, the South Africans have had somewhat of a roller coaster tournament thus far, smashing consecutive 400-plus totals against the West Indies and Ireland, before being dismantled by India and Pakistan.
As a whole, South Africa have strength with both the ball and bat, while Sri Lanka stand in good stead with the willow, their bowlers have been a weakness throughout the tournament.
Simply, the Sri Lankan bowling attack is the weakest facet of either team’s game and South Africa need to exploit it. If they’re big hitters can get on top early, they should be able to hit away to a decent total in similar fashion to the Australians when they smashed an insurmountable total against Sri Lanka at the SCG.
Where Sri Lanka will look to get on top is through a strong, consistent performance with the ball. If they can contain the South African hitters, the class of their batsmen is more than enough to see the result fall their way.
With veteran batsman Kumar Sangakkara in blistering form with the bat, Sri Lanka will be rightly confident that they can take it to their favoured opponent today.
Then there is history at play also. The Sri Lankans have developed a reputation for playing their heart out when the big moments come calling. They may not have dropped many jaws up until this point, but being there on the final day for the past two Cricket World Cups means they will truly believe they’re up to the challenge, not just today, but in the coming finals as well.
But no amount of history or belief is going to snag the wicket of the game’s best player, AB de Villiers. The South African captain has been disgusted by some of his team’s performances so far this tournament and if he grits his teeth and digs in with the bat, he’ll pretty much win the game on his own.
Whether Sri Lanka rise up in a World Cup once more, or South Africa can get the win they would feel is theirs to claim, we’re in for a cracking day of cricket at the SCG.
Join The Roar for live scores and coverage of the World Cup’s opening quarter final between Sri Lanka and South Africa from 2:30pm (AEDT). If you are following the action live, be sure to share your thought on the match in the comments below.
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