Press Trust of India
Sydney, March 18: Spinners Imran Tahir (4/26) and hat-trick man Jean-Paul Duminy (3/29) shared seven wickets between them to help a clinical South Africa outplay an unusually hapless Sri Lanka by nine wickets and enter the cricket World Cup semifinals, here Wednesday.
Leg-spinner Tahir and part-time off-spinner Duminy acted in tandem to pack off the Sri Lankans for 133 in 37.2 overs. South Africa, who are keen to shrug off their chokers tag, then came out to complete the batting job in 18 overs and register their first-ever knockout win in the 50-over showpiece event. Quinton de Kock (78 n o) and Faf de Plessis (21 n o) stitched an unbeaten 94-run partnership to get the target without breaking a sweat.
But the day surely belonged to the spinning duo of Tahir and Duminy as they wrecked havoc over what was considered a strong Sri Lankan batting unit.
Electing to bat at the SCG, Sri Lanka lost the plot from the very start after the Proteas pace attack dismissed the openers in double quick time to leave the islanders reeling at four for two.
The tweakers were introduced into the attack in the 14th over with Duminy getting the ball ahead of Tahir and the two spun a web around the Lankan batsmen.
Tahir kept chipping in and off-spinner Duminy also joined forces after getting the dangerous Angelo Mathews out for 19 caught at mid-wicket by Faf du Plessis.
Duminy got Mathews out off the final delivery of his eighth over and much to everybody’s surprise got two more scalps at the start of his ninth over to complete his first-hat-trick in ODIs, which was also a World Cup first for a Proteas bowler.
Sri Lanka struggled from the start after Kyle Abbott got Kusal Perera (three) caught behind and then Dale Steyn sent the in-form Tilakaratne Dilshan packing for a nought.
But it was man of the match Tahir who started the rot with a caught and bowled effort to send Lahiru Thirimanne (41) back in the pavilion after a hard-working knock.
Sangakkara, who came into the match with record four consecutive ODI hundreds, was a mute spectator at the non-striker’s end to this abject surrender. The veteran left-hander, to his credit, tried to get some runs in the Lankan bag. He was finally dismissed by Morne Morkel as he tried to up the ante.
