ICC Battle For Supremacy
Sri Lanka v South Africa
Match Two, Colombo
Proteas Power On!
The batting powerplay was taken in the 41st Over and strangely Sangakkara decided to bowl out Mahela; a decision which proved to be expensive. Boucher went hell for leather and belted the over for 17 runs! Increasing his overall run-rate was 9.80 he almost reached a century, but not the kind he would want!
Sangakkara then brought on Murali to try and break this partnership at a time when it was most vulnerable during the powerplay and he was successful, Boucher was cleaned up by the doosra. Another protean batsman who wasn?t able to read Murali?s doosra. Although even if the ball had turned it wouldn?t have turned as much as Boucher expected. So a composed and tactical 31 of 57 for Mark Boucher.
With Boucher gone, in came the explosive Albie Morkel and he didn't dissapoint, didn't take too long for him to get going. The 3rd ball he faced from Murali was smashed over mid-on for four, the spin bashing continued as Mendis was finally brought into the attack. Morkel and Duminy played him with ease, mainly sweeping behind the short fine leg to pick up two's and three's scoring nine runs of the over. Unfortunately for Mendis that was the only over he bowled in the innings.
Morkel continued smashing the ball and in the short time he was at the crease he?d already smashed 4 fours and continued to get the singles and doubles off the balls which weren?t going for boundaries. His wagon wheel shows that he favoured the leg side more than anything, only 2 runs scored on the off-side.
With all the quick scoring at Morkel?s end, Duminy was still scoring at a run a ball and with the occasional boundary, he was dismissed rather softly in the 48th over. Kulasekara bowled it straight on a good length, Duminy went across the line and tried smashing it over square leg unfortunately for him he missed the ball and was clean bowled. He?ll be disappointed with the way he got out but his innings was crucial for his team, South Africa were at a horrible position before he came in and now they are in a commanding one.
Botha?s stay wasn?t any special he made 2 runs of 2 balls before he guided the ball straight to slip on the first ball of the last over, Dilshan made no mistake and Malinga was finally rewarded for his efforts. Dale Steyn came out there with a purpose, he smashed the first ball for four over square-leg, the next ball he fended the ball just over Sangakkara?s head, he dropped a hard chance as the ball was coming fast at him and he didn?t have time to react but he did stop the ball so no run was scored. Steyn really found it hard to bat out there, the next three balls were dots but on the last ball he smacked it over cover for a big six.
South Africa at one stage didn?t look like they would make 230, and now thanks to the lower order they are well and truly in charge with 277 runs on the board. Sri Lanka will have to work hard now if they have a chance of chasing this score which will always be an uphill battle on this deteriorating pitch.
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