South Africa tour of Sri Lanka, 2013

[Mahaa Raavana]

This thread is veering :offtopic: Getting back on topic,SA confirms Amla will play the next match...For the sake of spectators hope the protea batsmen would put up a better show...

[bulbul]

This thread is veering :offtopic: Getting back on topic,SA confirms Amla will play the next match...For the sake of spectators hope the protea batsmen would put up a better show...

Sl will sweep completely :two_thumbs_up:

[G_B_]

Sa looked dire out there based on the highlights I saw. While Steyn Morkel etc are still young and will easily be around for another 5 years. I dont see many coming through for them. I am starting to see a pattern emerge with Gary. Pick a promising team with many set players. Take them to the next level. Then leave when things can only go downhill. Will wait for SA touring UAE before i make that call.

[carnish]

Dominant Sangakkara gets better with age

Cricketers are sometimes labeled 'great students of the game'. Often these students are men who distinguish themselves from the peloton of cricket's sporty jocks by a yearning to learn more about the history and the nuances of the pursuit that consumes their lives. When he first began playing for Lancashire, Muttiah Muralitharan was said to have had a more thorough knowledge of the team's previous season than many of the cricketers who had played in those matches. Part of why Michael Hussey's 'Mr. Cricket' moniker endured was because he would speak for hours on end about the game, in what seemed like laborious detail to his teammates. In his years as Australia captain, Ricky Ponting was found perusing grade cricket scorecards from around the country. All men, whose livelihoods had happily aligned with their life's most ardent passion. At 35, a lifetime of learning is propelling Kumar Sangakkara's cricket far further than his innate ability ever could, and into the reaches of greatness. Against South Africa, he hit the highest ODI score ever made in Sri Lanka at a breathless pace that would have done Sanath Jayasuriya or Aravinda de Silva proud. Unlike either of those men, Sangakkara is not a natural strokemaker, nor are ODIs his format of choice. Yet the records continue to tumble over and again to a man who was never the precocious teenage talent that every other great Sri Lankan batsman was, before coming of age. By the end of his career, Sangakkara will probably top more lists than the rest of them combined. A year ago, when Sangakkara became the ICC's Cricketer, and Test Cricketer of the Year, he refused to put himself in the company of the greats, both from Sri Lanka and worldwide. "They dominated attacks," he said, "and they were great to watch. I'm more of a worker, and I graft for my runs." Yet 13 years into his career, he is tearing international attacks apart for the first time, and playing the match-winning innings that have frustratingly eluded him in the last decade. Having accumulated 66 from his first 91 deliveries, Sangakkara snapped in the batting Powerplay, and unfurled an array of finishing blows even a 30-year old version of himself would never have attempted - 103 came from his next 46 balls. AB de Villiers later reflected on Sangakkara's ability to manipulate the field, but the batsman had set such panic upon the South Africa bowlers they seemed incapable of containing him regardless. Even in a Test career that gleams far brighter than his limited-overs returns, he has rarely known such uncompromising dominance. The attack left the field not just emphatically beaten, but roundly humiliated. His unbeaten 134 at The Oval last month, to lead a difficult chase against a strong England, was another innings that showcased a new dimension to his one-day game. There are 77 half-centuries to the 16 hundreds in Sangakkara's career, and many of those fifties meant little to the team, failing, as they did, to launch Sri Lanka to victory. He has learnt now, what it takes to carry the side over the line, and his ODI average is the best it has been since the honeymoon of his career. The 46th over of the Sri Lanka innings produced a moment that exposed the core of Sangakkara's success. Going down to one knee, he attempted an over-the-shoulder scoop off a Ryan McLaren full toss, and had his stumps splayed. In an instant he was on his feet, looking from umpire to umpire and pointing at the men on the fence with agitation. De Villiers had stationed too many outside the circle and Sangakkara had counted them mentally before taking guard. He knew the ball would not count, so the risky stroke was no risk at all. The most unique facet of his greatness is that it is foremost a triumph of the mind. Before the series, Angelo Mathews had said Lahiru Thirimanne was capable of becoming the next Sangakkara, and as the young batsmen floundered while the great frolicked at the other end, plenty remarked on the vast gulf in class. Thirimanne's critics might be surprised to learn that at the same age, and number of ODI innings, Sangakkara averaged six runs less than Thirimanne does now. He may have only made 17 from 33 in a 123-run partnership, but Thirimanne has already hit an ODI ton against a high-class attack. Batting in a similar position to Thirimanne at the start of his career, Sangakkara did not manage that until his 86th game. "There are a lot of things to learn from Sangakkara," Thirimanne said after the match. "As young batsmen we take a lot out of what he says and the way he plays. He's a special player and we're lucky he's from our country. In matches, I use a lot of what he says." Thirimanne will do well to adopt Sangakkara's obsession with improvement. Unfortunately for the young man, his beautiful, bent-kneed cover-drive has already drawn parallels with Sangakkara, and his future will likely be measured on the Sangakkara scale. It is a career that is almost impossible to emulate, because his mentor is himself one of cricket's greatest students.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/sri-lanka-v-south-africa-2013/content/story/653631.html

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'We let the heat get to us' - de Villiers

AB de Villiers said that the inability of South Africa's bowlers to deal with Colombo's sapping heat played a major role in the 180-run loss on Saturday, after the attack conceded 320 for 5. South Africa prevented Sri Lanka from achieving a quick start after electing to field first, but were woeful at the death, conceding 137 in the last 12 overs. Sri Lanka's total was propelled by a 134-ball 169 from Kumar Sangakkara, who built steadily alongside Upul Tharanga and Mahela Jayawardene before embarking on a manic pace in Lahiru Thirimanne's company. He hit 103 in his last 46 deliveries, and was bowled by Ryan McLaren in the 46th over, only for the delivery to be called a no-ball because too many fielders had been stationed on the fence. "I don't think we started badly," de Villiers said. "Going at four or five runs an over was a good effort on that wicket. There's a lot of heat out there and I think the bowlers took a lot of strain. We let it get to us. I tried to keep their spells nice and short, which we managed to do. Unfortunately we lost a bit of momentum when Sanga and Jayawardene got that partnership going. There was another partnership after that and then the no-ball and the wickets - things didn't go our way there." South Africa continued to bowl short throughout the innings, with little reward on a slow surface, but de Villiers said it was not the bowling strategy, but the attack's indiscipline that spurred their downfall. Pinpoint yorkers were scarce in the latter overs of Sri Lanka's innings, with both Sangakkara and Thisara Perera succeeding in hitting over the top in the final flourish. "I think execution was the problem at the death, when the bowlers were tired. The fields were set and the balls kept flying, and then you add Sanga's class to that. He manipulated the fields really well. Once you brought the fine leg up, he'd play the lap shot and if we had limited men on the off side he'd manipulate there. I don't think our plans were bad." South Africa's chase was effectively scuttled by the 17th over, as the visitors continued to lose quick wickets in pursuit of quick runs. They succumbed for 140 in the 32nd over, but were missing three top batsmen, with Jacques Kallis and Graeme Smith not with the squad and Hashim Amla sitting out the match with a neck injury. "We lost wickets early on, which was a problem," de Villiers said. "I thought they executed their skills well. We tried too many big shots and tried going for boundaries instead of working it around and getting into the game. We didn't have a pattern of play with the bat in hand. There were no partnerships and we kept losing wickets at the wrong time." "We definitely missed Hash [Hasim Amla] today. He's a world-class player and the number one batter in the world. We'd have liked more stability up front. Without him, our order looks a little light but there are still no excuses to be four or five down with 60 or 70 runs on the board." De Villiers also defended his decision to bowl first, with his team then having to chase under lights. The Premadasa surface has in the past become noticeably slower in the second innings of an ODI, but de Villiers suggested that conditions remained good for batting throughout the match, despite his side's collapse. "We looked at the past statistics and eight out of the last ten games had been won by the team chasing. Also, when I looked at the wicket this afternoon, I realised it wasn't going to change much over 100 overs. At night, with maybe a bit of dew and having cool conditions to bat in, I thought it was a very nice chance for us to chase. But 320 was a bit much and we were under pressure."

http://www.espncricinfo.com/sri-lanka-v-south-africa-2013/content/story/653687.html

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Plays of the day for the first ODI between Sri Lanka and South Africa

The no ball In the 46th over, Ryan McLaren might have thought he had had Kumar Sangakkara cleaned up, when the batsman moved across his stumps and missed a full toss that he attempted to scoop, and had his stumps rattled. But having not skipped a beat, Sangakkara began vigorously appealing to the umpires before McLaren could even begin his celebration. Pointing with agitation at the fielders on the fence, Sangakkara indicated that there were too many men outside the circle, and the umpires perhaps by their own calculation, acknowledged his complaint by awarding a no-ball. Worse for South Africa, Sangakkara attempted the same shot next ball, and connected well enough to send it to the fine leg fence. The mauling Sangakkara was 66 off 91 at the beginning of the 39th over, but Chris Morris served up an over of woeful death bowling inside the batting Powerplay and set Sangakkara on the track that saw him plunder 103 off the next 46 balls. A wide, overpitched delivery first sped over point, before a long-hop was hammered over the deep square leg rope, as the batsman backed away. Another short delivery was clipped finer on the leg side, and to finish the quartet, Sangakkara lofted Morris over wide mid-on. The four-ball burst had cost 18 and the over went for 20. Sri Lanka did not slow down after that, hitting 117 from the remaining 11 overs. The start The small Premadasa crowd could hardly be more ecstatic after Sri Lanka's furious finish, but were in raptures again after Lasith Malinga removed Colin Ingram with a yorker in the first ball of South Africa's innings. Swinging in the opposite direction to the way he usually moves the ball, Malinga snuck the ball between pad, and Ingram's bat, which not only came down too late, but was playing the wrong line anyway. The recurring nightmare Length balls on the stumps are usually a straightforward proposition for most batsmen, but Tillakaratne Dilshan probably wakes up in a cold sweat with visions of that delivery playing in his head. Even just in the last seven months, Dilshan has had his stumps splayed by that very delivery in three different continents. Amid a slew of early wides, Chris Morris got one to go straight and despite having vowed he had corrected the malaise in March, Dilshan found himself swiping towards the leg side, and walking back to the pavilion soon after.

[carnish]

[StriKe]

^ Looks better than crap celkon cup

[JaFanatic]

2nd ODI

[carnish]

South Africa face the heat from conditions and hosts

After Saturday's 180-run opening loss, South Africa captain AB de Villiers said his side would not spend time dissecting their performance, but would instead attempt to forget the match ever happened. With so many of their best players unavailable, perhaps that is not so bad a ploy. If South Africa's touring party did not seem outmatched in these conditions when they landed, they certainly do now. It will take a great deal of belief and a little luck to overcome an opponent, who has their measure in skill and technical proficiency. The batsmen will reason they simply had a poor outing, and could not make their risks pay off with such a large total to chase, but foremost among the visitors' woes must be their bowling at the death. The last 12 overs of Sri Lanka's innings not only cost 137, but the South Africa attack also seemed incapable of adhering to any semblance of a plan. Yorkers were missed, often by a distance, and the fast men reverted to a puzzling Plan B of digging the ball in short, despite Kumar Sangakkara having clobbered plenty to the square-leg boundary throughout his innings. Before the match de Villiers spoke of the potential he saw in Chris Morris and Rory Kleinveldt, but with all his fast bowlers available for the second game, experience may mark the route to success. South Africa's fielding was also uncharacteristically poor, with a straightforward chance at slip going down early in the innings, before a slew of ground-fielding errors surrendered free runs. Colombo's sticky heat was blamed for the visitors' general raggedness, but in 2013, an unfamiliar climate hardly serves as an adequate excuse for top-level sportsmen. South Africa are capable of being the best fielding side in the world on their day, and de Villiers will hope they have adapted to the heat after a week on the island. Sri Lanka are not without their own troubles, and for many spectators, Lahiru Thirimanne's unease at the crease even as Sangakkara unleashed mayhem at the other end, epitomised the gulf in class between Sri Lanka's senior players and its youngsters. Thirimanne is batting out of position and lacks the power to perform the finishing role, but he and Dinesh Chandimal must take quickly to the roles they have been assigned, because it is unlikely they will bat in the top order as long as the veterans still take guard.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/sri-lanka-v-south-africa-2013/content/story/654201.html

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Chandimal focuses on adaptability

Dinesh Chandimal's year could hardly have begun much better. Having sat the last half of 2012 on the sidelines, he was added to the New Year Test side after Kumar Sangakkara fractured a finger, and impressed with both bat and the gloves, hitting 62 not out alongside the tail in the second innings. Two months later, he made his maiden Test century on a batting paradise in Galle, but followed that with a much more valuable hundred in Colombo, against Bangladesh. In between, he had become his nation's youngest ever captain in any format, when he was handed the Twenty20 reins, and he celebrated by leading his side to a first-up win. The last few months, though, haven't quite gone according to plan. In April, he opted to turn down soft offers from the IPL, in order to work intensively with Sri Lanka's batting coach on technical flaws that hindered his limited-overs game, as well as to learn some English. He has emerged with a slew of phrases that every sportsman finds useful in his career, but the rewards of learning are less evident in his ODI batting. In seven innings since the start of June, Chandimal has made 86 runs, at 14.33. His development in limited-overs cricket has to some extent hampered by the presence of Sri Lanka's three top-order juggernauts. Chandimal has excelled in Tests, where he has had the time to construct innings, but his batting yet lacks the power to make good use of the finishing spots he has been saddled with in ODIs. With Sri Lanka's senior batsmen reluctant to retire before the 2015 World Cup, Chandimal has figured he must adapt to batting lower down, as he may remain there for some time yet. "I need to know how to bat from No.1 to No.11. I think that's what the best cricketers do," Chandimal said. "When you have such good players in your top order, you have to fit where the team needs. In my last two tours there have been some small weaknesses in my batting and I have had to bat in different places in different matches, but I can't be disheartened by that." Chandimal also called on the other young batsmen in his side to begin contributing, after the senior batsmen had carried the side through tournaments in the UK and West Indies, without a great deal of support from the middle order. Sri Lanka's 180-run victory in the first ODI was similarly propelled by Kumar Sangakkara's 169, which constituted more than half of the team's total. "We can't always rely on our experienced players to score runs. As youngsters we are expecting that on the days when they can't score, we will stand up and perform," Chandimal said. "We have a lot of good young players - Upul Tharanga, Lahiru Thirimanne, myself. I think we have a lot more experience now than we did when we first started playing. "We've been given a big opportunity, as I've been given the captaincy and Lahiru is the vice-captain. As young players we need to know how to take hold of that opportunity with both hands." Tharanga's presence at the top of the order has helped settle the opening combination, after Kusal Perera could not find form in the Champions Trophy last month. Tharanga has 13 ODI centuries, including a career-best 174 since returning to the side last month, but he has in the past been wildly inconsistent. With so much youth in the middle order, however, Chandimal feels Tharanga's 168 matches worth of experience, provides a better overall balance. "He has done really well since coming back into the team in the last tour. We saw how well he used his experience in the last few games. If you look at his statistics there's no doubt he's a talented cricketer. That opening combination is good. Because of the two new balls, you need that experience."

http://www.espncricinfo.com/sri-lanka-v-south-africa-2013/content/story/654231.html

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Ford wants consistency from Sri Lanka

The lack of consistency in the Sri Lankan middle order has been a concern for some time and head coach Graham Ford believes it is one area they need to keep improving on to become a successful one-day side. "There have been some good moments and we have beaten some really good teams but we are not quite consistent enough," Ford said. "Sometimes we haven't finished off our batting innings as well as we would have liked. That does come with experience as players get more time at this level. Something we've just got to keep working on." Ford was confident that with time the younger players who are expected to fill the shoes of senior cricketers like Tillakaratne Dilshan, Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara in the future will be up to the task. "At this stage we are still in the phase of the younger guys developing and learning from the seniors and that's why it's crucial that we strike up a balance," he said. "Hopefully, as they continue playing around the seniors, it won't be long before they are performing equally as well." Sri Lanka thrashed South Africa in the first ODI on Saturday by 180 runs after Sangakkara made a career best 169. Jayawardene and Upul Tharanga had also chipped in with 42 and 43 runs respectively. Ford, who as South Africa's coach between 1999 and 2002 helped them secure eight out of 11 Test-series wins, said he is well aware of the threat the visitors would pose for Sri Lanka. "I don't want to go public about my thoughts on South Africa but we are fully aware that they are a very powerful one-day unit," he said. "South African teams are much better at playing on foreign conditions nowadays than they were some ten years ago. We can expect a very tough series." Ford was happy with the way Angelo Mathews has handled the side since his elevation to the captaincy in February. "He's been fantastic. He has taken on the role really well and he leads by example. It hasn't been easy, he's had some very tough cricket but he's handled it exceptionally well," he said. Ford, who has been the Sri Lanka coach since January 2012, highlighted the team's fighting spirit as a particularly heartening aspect of their cricket. "The team has gelled well and there's been some stability in the roles that they have been asked to perform," he said. "What's impressed me the most is the fighting spirit amongst the group. We try to be really proud of that and to make sure we are a group of fighters. That has shown on a number of occasions. When times have been tough the boys have stuck together." Ford is contracted by Sri Lanka Cricket till the end of January 2014.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/sri-lanka-v-south-africa-2013/content/story/654165.html

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Weak Spin Attack SA's Bane

One of the more interesting statistics in ODI cricket is South Africa's record in Sri Lanka. The teams have now played 12 completed matches on the island. Out of those, South Africa have won one. Their captain in that game was Kepler Wessels, and current chief selector Andrew Hudson opened the batting. In almost two decades since, they haven't even come close to the hosts, and so far in this series, they have been outplayed just as comprehensively. It has not helped that South Africa's best bowler and best batsman have not played in the series. Dale Steyn was ruled out of the tour through injury, and Hashim Amla missed the first match with neck spasms, before sustaining a grade one tear in his groin while fielding in the second. But another one of South Africa's woes, which has little to do with either player, has been the bane of their ODI game for long. Spin bowlers Robin Peterson and Aaron Phangiso bowled their full quota of overs on Tuesday, and took one wicket apiece. On the surface, this not have seemed a poor return, but in South Africa's innings, their inadequacy was laid bare. Tillakaratne Dilshan, who is better than a part-timer perhaps, but still no ace with the ball, out-bowled South Africa's frontline spinners and extracted more turn than either. His modes of attack were more creative - flighting several outside off before darting a couple on the toes to finish the over. The visiting slow bowlers persevered on a humdrum line, without major variations to flight or pace, and reaped results that fit their bland exertion. On a pitch as slow as this worn Premadasa track, Sri Lanka's 223 for 9 was always going to be a testing total, even with Amla opening the innings and without the intermittent rain. Part of South Africa's problem is that their opponents are too adept at defusing left-arm spin. Sri Lankan batsmen are weaned on the stuff and the domestic competitions have lately been inundated with high-quality, left-arm spinners. There are also five left-handed batsmen in Sri Lanka's top eight, who will not be daunted by the ball turning into them, particularly as neither spinner possesses a delivery that spins the other way. So thin are South Africa's slow-bowling stocks, there is also no offspinner to call on apart from the part-time efforts of JP Duminy. Imran Tahir, meanwhile, appears to have been discarded like so many South African slow bowlers before him. Yet, even given these handicaps, Peterson and Phangiso have hardly made the best of helpful conditions. Rangana Herath may not be the finest proponent of the left-arm slow bowlers' craft in the world, but he has more wickets from 12.5 overs than all three of South Africa's spinners combined, and they have collectively sent down 44. Herath may be bowling in familiar conditions, but he is effective the world over, and adapts his game cleverly and quickly. He is no great spinner of the ball either and his guile, calculation and subtlety may mark the route to progress for the visiting spinners. Their captain might also be persuaded to set more attacking fields in conditions where slow bowlers should be dismissing batsmen. The action now moves to Pallekele, where South Africa may have some respite on a surface that tends to be faster, bouncier and more seam-friendly than the track they have encountered in Colombo. Their pace attack may set about hiding the flaws in the slow-bowling there, but for a side aspiring to build a cricketing dynasty, that cannot suffice. A greater emphasis on developing spin-bowling talent - at least at the top-level, may light the way, or perhaps a prodigy must be unearthed and moulded to plug the mighty hole in an otherwise impressive ship. Less than a year ago, they were the top team in all formats, but now they have slid to fifth in the ODI rankings, behind Sri Lanka, and have ceded the top T20 spot to the same team. Their limited-overs woes should serve as an ongoing reminder to South Africa that although they fly through in Tests on their vicious pace attack and a formidable row of batsmen, there may come a day when they succumb to their kryptonite, even in the longest format.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/sri-lanka-v-south-africa-2013/content/story/654637.html

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Injured Amla in doubt for third ODI

Hashim Amla is in severe doubt for the third ODI against Sri Lanka after sustaining a grade one tear to his left groin muscle, while fielding during the second match in Colombo. He did not bat on Tuesday after leaving the field in the 46th over of Sri Lanka's innings. Amla also missed the first match with muscles spasms in his neck. Fielding at fine leg, Amla pursued a ball off Dinesh Chandimal's blade in the 43rd over, and in his efforts to reel it in, leapt and fell hard on his left knee. He did not rise without help thereafter, and after receiving treatment on the boundary line, was helped gingerly back to the pavilion by a member of the team's medical staff and a team-mate. "Injuries of this nature usually take three to seven days to recover, but he will receive intensive treatment and rehab in the coming days to give him the best possible chance of being ready for the third or fourth ODI in Kandy this week," Mossajee said. South Africa are also missing Amla's opening partner and regular captain Graeme Smith, due to injury, while spearhead Dale Steyn was also ruled out for the tour, as he recovers fully from a side strain. The third ODI will be played in Pallekele on Friday, and the fourth on Sunday at the same venue. South Africa are 2-0 down in the series.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/sri-lanka-v-south-africa-2013/content/story/654635.html

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The Selection Committee of Sri Lanka Cricket at its meeting held on 24th July 2013, selected the following 15 member squad to represent the National Team for the 3rd & 4th ODI matches against South Africa to be played on the 26th and 28th July 2013. Angelo Mathews will be returning to the National Team as Captain after the suspension of the first two ODIs. SQUAD For 3rd & 4th ODI:

Angelo Mathews (Capt), Dinesh Chandimal (V.Capt), T.M Dilshan, Upul Tharanga, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardena, Angelo Perera, Jehan Mubarak, Rangana Herath, Sachithra Senanayake, Ajantha Mendis, Lasith Malinga, Shaminda Eranga, Thisara Perera, Suranga Lakmal, Lahiru Thirimanne (Subject to fitness)

[adi B]

good job carnish :nice:

[carnish]

good job carnish :nice:

Thanks

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We win games when squeezed - De Villiers

Last year in Sri Lanka, AB de Villiers became the first South Africa captain to own up to choking in high pressure limited-overs games. He used the C word liberally both before and after the tournament as though he'd been instructed to publicly embrace the tag as a means of overcoming the team's mental woes in major tournaments. Ten months later, de Villiers is asserting the opposite about his side's ability to triumph when much is at stake. South Africa will lose the series if they lose another match, but in bilateral affairs, pressure brings out their best, de Villiers said. "I believe it's the other way around in this series," he said. "When we get squeezed into a corner, we win games. We wake up a bit late in ODI series especially. We lose the first one and the second one maybe, and then all of a sudden, 'woah, let's wake up and start playing cricket now'. If we do the basics well for 100 overs we'll definitely win. I believe in the boys." De Villiers was also intent on distancing his side from a woeful record in Sri Lanka, despite having lost their first two matches in the series. South Africa have lost their last 11 matches in the country against the hosts, with only one victory to their name. The last ODI series in 2004 was a whitewash, though only JP Duminy and Robin Peterson of the current squad appeared for South Africa then. "I just want to set one thing clear because I see it in TV screens all over - the fact that we've lost 11 games in a row here. I haven't been part of that. I've played two games and these are my first two ODIs that I've ever played in this country. I don't really care about what happened in the last nine games," said De Villiers "People seem to make a big thing of it. I'm not upset about it and I know it's part of our history, but this team doesn't need the luggage of the past nine games. All these guys are on their first tour here apart from a guy like JP, who made his debut here last time. We'd like to change that. We're 2-0 down now and still alive in this series." De Villiers also called for more application from his batsmen, who between them are yet to produce a score in excess of 30 in the series. Faced with two tall chases - the second of which was revised via a Duckworth-Lewis calculation - South Africa lost too many wickets before the 20th over to mount a serious challenge. "It's not really because we were being too aggressive," he said. "We struggled to adapt to the change of the Powerplays. We did really well in the Powerplay, even though we lost a wicket in the first over in both games, we seemed to recover really well. After the Powerplay was done and the field spread, we just lost wickets out of nowhere. "I think there was a lack of awareness from our side - just awareness that we are playing 50-over cricket here, not 20 overs. Maybe for the first 20 overs we need to have more of a Test-match mindset, and from 10 to 20 to really get partnerships going and get stuck into the conditions and all the bowlers. Maybe we'll give them one spell and look at their second spell to attack. We haven't really had the opportunity to look at that yet, because we haven't batted for that long." South Africa have lost eight of their 15 wickets this series to spin, but de Villiers was confident his side had hatched a plan to neutralise the threat, particularly that of Rangana Herath who is the leading wicket-taker in the series so far, with five dismissals at 8.20. "We've been a bit lackadaisical when it comes to playing Herath and we've tried to hit him too square," De Villiers said. "We all know he doesn't get a lot of bounce. He's a skiddy kind of bowler, so we'll try to play him straighter, which we did well in South Africa. He's definitely handier in his own conditions and maybe he gets a bit more turn. But he's not a massive threat for us."

http://www.espncricinfo.com/sri-lanka-v-south-africa-2013/content/story/655129.html

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Sri Lanka v South Africa, 3rd ODI, Pallekele Thirty-five runs in an over

32.1, SIX, Perera's smashed it! Plonked his front foot forward and brought up Sri Lanka's 100 by smashing the ball over the square-leg boundary, he even took his bottom hand off the bat during the follow through 32.2, 1 wide, that's fired wide outside off stump 32.2, SIX, and again, Perera's decided Peterson's got to go. Once again he takes his bottom hand off the bat and carts the ball over the midwicket boundary 32.3 SIX, boom! Perera sees a shorter ball coming his way and this time he stands his ground and pulls over deep midwicket even though there are two fielders on the boundary 32.4, SIX, Perera has exploded on Peterson! He's dragged that from wide outside off stump and sent the fans beyond the midwicket boundary scurrying 32.5, FOUR, a full and fast ball, Perera gets under it and lofts it over the bowler's head for a four 32.6, SIX, a tremendous over for Sri Lanka ends with a tremendous blow! We won't be seeing Peterson in the attack while Perera is batting anytime soon! The last hit is the biggest, sailing into the night sky before disappearing into the fans beyond deep square leg. 35 runs off the over, the second costliest in ODIs

[JaFanatic]

4th ODI