South Africa won their first knock out game in world cups in the history of their cricket as they made it to the semi finals of the ongoing edition of the tournament. They did it at the expense of the most consistent side in the history of the tournament, the Sri Lankans. And they did it with considerable ease. It was a win for the Africans by 9 wickets and with more than 20 overs to spare.
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Everything did not fall in place for South Africa towards the start of the match as Sri Lanka won a crucial toss and decided to bat first. But they managed to pull things back in their favour by picking up early wickets in the form of Kusal Perrera (3) and Tillekaratne Dilshan (0). Kumar Sangakkara and Lahiru Thirimanna stayed there for few overs and tried to make amends but their attempt went in vain. Imran Tahir came in and rattled the Sri Lankan middle order. He picked up 4 wickets and the match was well but over mid-way through the Sri Lankan innings. Sangakkara stayed there for a long time for his 96-ball 45 but he was way off his supreme best. JP Duminy seized this opportunity and picked up 3 wickets in 9 overs giving away 29 runs. Tahir was however the best bowler on the day as he returned with figures of 8.2-0-26-4. It was a brilliant performance from them as Sri Lankan innings got wrapped up for 133 in 37.2 overs.
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The target was just too little to defend and South Africa chased it down in 18 overs losing the only wicket of Hashim Amla (16).Quinton de Kock played without pressure and scored 78 off just 57 balls. Du Plessis at the other end scored 21 off 31 to make sure that South Africa reached the finishing line without much difficulty. Lasith Malinga tried his best as he got the wicket of Amla but there were just not enough runs on the board to defend. The mystery spinner who became the second player in the history of the game to make his debut in the knock-out stages of the tournament failed to show his tricks for the same reason. 100 runs more, perhaps Sri Lanka could have put up a better fight.
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South Africa became the first team to reach the semi finals of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015. And they await the winners of the match between New Zealand and West Indies to face in the semis. Finally the South Africans could manage to get rid of the monkey on their back. Simply they were the better side on the field and they won it deservingly.
Tags: ICC world cup cricket 2015 South Africa Sri Lanka World Cup 2015
