Story ICC Battle For Supremacy - Its Fifty-Fifty! | PAK v ENG | ENG Innings

[riz7khan12]

ICC Battle For Supremacy
Sri Lanka v South Africa
Match Two, Colombo​

The Lions Remain on Top​

Due to Mahela getting the wicket of Gibbs in his previous over, Sangakkara decided to continue with him and see if he could pick up another wicket, as another wicket here would’ve meant that South Africa’s out of form lower middle order would be exposed very early. He took a big gamble doing this as he had taken the bowling powerplay as well. AB wasn’t going to miss the opportunity to smack a easy bowler, he decided to go for it. The first ball he faced he drove the ball through the covers for 2, for the next ball he tried to drive again but Mahela had rolled his fingers across the ball and it held back causing de Villiers to lob it straight to cover. Fortune favours the brave as some say, as the fielder there dropped a sitter.

This didn’t faze de Villiers as he continued to belt the ball around the park. Kallis on the other hand found it tough, he had gotten of the mark with a streaky single after facing 12 balls, and runs were hard to come by.

At the other end Mathews was bowling brilliantly to Kallis, he kept it tight with bowling a full line around offstump this gave the ball ample opportunity to swing and it did swing. Kallis was forced to defend or leave a lot of deliverers outside off. This really built the pressure; the two batsmen weren’t rotating the strike. This meant that although AB was scoring at over a run a ball, Kallis was going at about 2 runs per over and South Africa were hovering around 4 runs per over as their overall runrate.​

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Sangakkara used this situation to his advantage, he brought Murali back into the attack to try and get the vulnerable Kallis out. Kallis was up for it, at first he struggled with the amount of spin Murali was getting, but he then started to use his feet and smothered the spin. This allowed him to hit a lofted straight drive over mid-off which went for four. AB was quick to learn off Kallis and danced down the wicket to hit the ball on the full. This resulted in Murali pitching the ball a little shorter now, and each time the batsman advanced down the wicket, they wouldn’t be able to get to the pitch of the ball and had to play the ball defensively. ​

At the other end Kulasekara was brought back into the attack to replace Mathews. The ball was still swinging quite a lot for him and now AB was finding it hard to hit the ball and rotate the strike. The only thing that was aiding South Africa were the extras that Kulasekara was bowling, he had already bowled 7 extras. He bowled a ball full and wide of offstump which AB guided to the fence at third man, this released the pressure on the batsmen a bit. The same sort of delivery was bowled again but this time it seamed out off the pitch and resulted in AB smashing it straight to Gully which was, not surprisingly dropped. The fielding has been very bad this innings from Sri Lanka, if they have any chance of qualifying for the Semis their fielding would have to improve. Here are the two dropped chances of AB de Villiers. You can see that the first chance was a absolute sitter, second chance was a bit harder as it came faster but the gully fielder should’ve held onto it.​

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Soon after Murali really started to rip the ball, he bowled a perfect doosra outside off which AB nicked and was caught by Sangakkara. AB played the original line of the ball instead of playing for the spin and paid the price. He was finally out for 34 of 41 deliveries. A disappointing innings from him, he got lucky two times and he needed to play on if South Africa had a chance of getting a high score. ​

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Sangakkara rested Kulasekara and he was replaced by Mathews, this turned out to be a good move as he proved tough work for the batsmen. Kallis decided he had faced enough dot balls and he hit another beautiful lofted drive over mid-off which raced away for four, he tried that shot again but this time the ball was bowled a bit fuller and all he could do was edge it to slip who took a straight forward catch.​

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Kallis’s vigil had finally come to an end, he had eaten up 50 deliveries to make just 13 runs! Now with Boucher coming in so early he really has to stay out there with Duminy and score positively. South Africa can ill afford another clump of wickets at the end of the session, although thanks to the knock of de Villiers they can still get to 250 or so with the likes of Morkel & Botha still to come. For Sri Lanka, Mendis is yet to bowl and we can already see the ball turning quite a lot so at this point Sri Lanka are well and truly on top.​

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[CG123]

SL seem to well ahead ATM.
Murali and Mathews seem to be at the top of their game, while SA just haven't been able to find a big top order partnership.
Kallis played a shocker of an innings, and as you said it's not really ideal for SA having Boucher come in now.
250's still a stretch considering they're 114 for four at the halfway stage, I'd say aim for about double that ATM, so 230.

 

[Meet]

Boucher and Duminy need to carry on for next 10-15 overs, if they want to win this match.

 

[AkshayS]

Murli and Mathews were hell too good there. Kallis was really struggling with the bat. SL to win this IMO. Murli or Mathews to take a 5-fer.
I think SL can settle SA for around 220-30.

 

[BKB1991]

SA in a tough position. They need players to hold on for a few overs otherwise they are looking at a below par score.

Great update.

 

[Varun]

Mathews and Murli really carrying forward the Sri Lankan attack. I doubt if Boucher plays a reliable innings now. Too much pressure on Duminy.

 

[Roofrom50]

Kallis was very slow with his innings. Must of found it hard with the ball turning a bit, making 13 from 50. Sri Lanka seem to be on top here, Matthews has been bowling well.

Good work mate, first time i've read this story, and i'm liking it. Keep up the good work!

 

[Dutchmen]

what was Mahela Jayawardene doing in the bowling line-up? he doesn't even know how to rap the bowl into the batsman' bat. shocking to see him in that bowling line-up. And Saffa has to build partnership, lost few wickets under 25 overs and Kallis was pretty amazing - didn't even get settle in that conditions, anyhow hopefully JP and Mark would build a partnership.

 

[riz7khan12]

ICC Battle For Supremacy
Sri Lanka v South Africa
Match Two, Colombo​

The Tables have Turned​

Jayawardene and Mathews continued bowling, at first the tight line & length proved tough work for the batsmen especially for Boucher who was going the way of Kallis. But after a couple of overs the batsmen started to rotate the strike and pick up the odd two here and there. Duminy continued to play positively while Boucher was still struggling with the pitch.​

Sangakkara saw this and decided to bring Malinga back into the attack, they were after this partnership. Sri Lanka knew that another wicket here and the game could be over for South Africa. Malinga bowled quite a few short balls at Boucher who was prepared to go for his shots although with risks you often fail, he took a few blows to the body and he almost got caught trying to hook but this didn?t deter him and he used the 150+ km/h speed of the ball and guided it to the vacant third man area for a couple of fours.​

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Duminy was starting to score a lot of boundaries through the square leg region, shifting across the stumps and flicking the ball of his pads for easy runs. The bowlers couldn?t adjust their line especially Jayawardene who suffered at the hands of Duminy. As you can see in that Shot Zone graphic that most of his boundaries came were flicked of the pads.​

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Duminy and Boucher were scoring freely now, even Murali brought into attack didn?t stop them as he was picked off for singles with ease and the odd boundary was scored of the bad balls in the innings which were bowled often now. Duminy reached his 50 with a nervous single, he hit the ball straight to cover and Boucher just took off without listening to the call; Duminy obliged and if the fielder had hit the stumps he wasn?t even in the frame!​

Great Innings from JP Duminy, he played well under pressure and his innings stabilized South Africa who were in a precarious position when he came to the crease. Not to forget the supporting knock from Boucher who has proven again how valuable he is to the South African ODI side.​

Now with Duminy on 54* and Boucher on 25* and the score on 189/4, South Africa are in a good position to launch the counter-attack with the heavy hitters and the batting power play yet to come.​

We are left pondering why Mahela bowled so many overs, he bowled well at first but then he was the ?pressure release valve? for South Africa. Even though the other bowlers restricted the batsmen?s scoring, Mahela has gone for 81 runs of his 9 overs, compared with Murali, Mathews & Malinga who?s were going at under 3 runs per over. We can only assume Mendis has suffered a injury on the field as he hasn?t bowled one over especially since Murali did so well on this pitch.​

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[Roofrom50]

Gee that's a big, quick and well deserved half century from Duminy. He has batted superbly. 81 runs off 9 overs from Mahela? Thats 9 runs per over, thats way too expensive when his other fellow bowlers have bowled for under 3 runs per over.


Great update mate, looking the work, keep it up

 

[6ry4nj]

Even with a deteriorating pitch, South Africa are still in a precarious position. Lose Duminy and they're back in a big hole.

If Sri Lanka had used 5 actual bowlers, this match would be over by now.

 

[AkshayS]

Duminy played really well to turn the match in SA's favour.
South Africa can aim 260-70 on this track and I think this will be enough for SA's immesely potential bowling lineup.

 

[AbhishekS]

Lovely video! Boucher just cannot read Malinga (ignoring the boundary he struck at the end). I love the way you presented the update by taking renders of the batsmen. Good work!

BTW, is User2010 out of this?

 

[AkshayS]

And yeah Riz, that video was awesome and background song was lovely.
Good job bro, keep it up.

 

[Gaurav_7]

BTW, is User2010 out of this?

No, I'm not. It is just I haven't been getting the time for this but I'm hoping to do the Sri Lankan innings. And, that is what we call the advantage of having two writers. Riz has been tremendous with the updates thus far.