South Africa vs Sri Lanka preview

Posted on | March 27, 2007 | No Comments

South Africa will look to erase painful memories of their 2003 World Cup exit when they play Sri Lanka at the Providence Stadium in Guyana in their opening super eight encounter.

The South Africans were cruelly knocked out of their home world cup four years ago in a game against the Lankans because of their misinterpretation of the D/L method, and Graeme Smith’s side will be keen to beat Sri Lanka this time around. The South Africans came second behind Australia in Group A, and their only defeat at the group stages came at the hands of the Aussies. The Proteas had only themselves to blame for the defeat, especially after the start AB De Villiers and Graeme Smith had given them. Shaun Pollock came in for a hammering from Gilchrist and Hayden and he can be rest assured that Jayasuriya, Tharanga and co. will want to do the same. Jacques Kallis is a man with lots of patience and South Africa will definitely want him to stick around to counter Muralitharan.

Sri Lanka came out of Group B, the group of death as group winners. The win over India would have rocketed their confidence sky high, and they will be confident that they can beat South Africa in conditions which appear to suit them more than their opponents. The Lankan batting is in good form, whereas some of the South Africans haven’t managed to spend as much time out in the middle as they would have liked to. Muttiah Muralitharan will play a key role as the South Africans are not the best players of spin. Murali had the Indians, regarded as the best players of spin, in a knot at the Queens Park Oval, and he will relish the opportunity of bowling at batsmen who will look to employ the sweep against him every time. Chaminda Vaas’ incoming deliveries could also pose a threat to the South Africans, especially Graeme Smith, who has a habit of getting out to that delivery. Malinga with his slingy action and Jayasuriya and Dilshan with their spin will provide the variety in the bowling.

This is a tough one to predict, given the nature of the pitch. The conditions appear to suit Sri Lanka, but the South Africans need a victory as they are on 0 points.Possible stars with the bat- De Villiers, Kallis, Jayawardene. With the ball- Ntini, Muralitharan and Jayasuriya.

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5. South Africa vs Ireland preview

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