Proteas Excel Under Pressure

South Africa produced a sterling display under pressure to put theirChampions Trophy campaign back on track with a comfortable 78-run victory overSri Lanka in a do-or-die Group-B encounter today.

The South Africans recovered from an early collapse to post a competitive 219for nine before the bowlers came to the rescue with a disciplined performance tobundle out the islanders for a meagre 141 in a low-scoring floodlit contest atthe Sardar Patel stadium in Ahmedabad.

Desperately needing a victory to keep their semi-final hopes alive, the SouthAfricans managed to get their act together when it mattered the most to thrashthe in-form Sri Lankans with 10.5 overs to spare.

The South African victory means that all the four teams in Group B, who havewon a match each, are in contention for the two semi-final berths from thegroup. While Sri Lanka have played all their three league matches, New Zealandand South Africa have featured in two matches and Pakistan in one.

Abraham De Villiers (54) and Jacques Kallis (43) were the main contributorsfor the South Africans who were put into bat by Sri Lankan skipper MahelaJayawardene on a slow track.

The duo put on a vital 80-run partnership for the fourth wicket to pull theteam out of the pits after being precariously placed at 30 for three at onestage.

Required to score at a rate of 4.40, the islanders never really recoveredfrom the early setbacks as wickets kept tumbling at regular intervals. Onlycaptain Jayawardene (36) and Tillakaratne Dilshan (36) provided a semblance ofresistance.

The Sri Lanka run chase got off to as rocky a start like the South Africans,the only difference being that things went from bad to worse for the islanders.

Half the side was back into the pavilion into the 25th over, with only 78runs on the board. The rest was a mere formality.

Veteran campaigner Sanath Jayasuriya (3) failed to click as he was trapped infront of the wicket by Shaun Pollock, with the Sri Lanka score reading 9 for 1.

Young talent Upul Tharanga, who created a sensation by cracking back-to-backhundreds in the first two matches, also could not reap the fruits of an earlylife. The 22-year-old opener edged Makhaya Ntini to second slip, but JacquesKallis dropped the catch when he was on four.

Tharanga (11) got out in the 10th over, edging a rising delivery from Ntinibehind the wicket.

Sri Lanka suffered another setback in the next over, as Kumar Sangakkara gotout in a similar fashion off Pollock without bothering the scorer.

At 23 for 3, Sri Lanka badly needed a big partnership to pull them out of therut, but instead saw the experienced Marvan Atapattu (2) fall to a beauty of adelivery from pacer Andre Nel. The ball came in sharply after pitching to clipoff the bail on the off stump, beating the batsman all ends up.

Skipper Jayawardene, who had come in after Jayasuriya's dismissal, helplesslyobserved the procession at the other end till Dilshan joined him in the middle.

The two briefly resurrected Sri Lanka's hopes by stitching together a 44-runstand, as dew started to bother the South Africans with the ball often slippingout of the grip of the fielders and bowlers.

The condition became so tough that the super sopper had to be pressed intoservice during the second drinks break.

But just as it seemed that the partnership was perfectly poised for greaterglory, came the anti-climax, thanks to some superb fielding from HerschelleGibbs and Pollock

Dilshan played a Kallis delivery to backward point, and non-strikerJayawardene set out for a single. Gibbs dived on to his left, picked up in aflash and threw it to the bowler's end.

Kallis, who got a right ankle injury while batting, failed to collect, butPollock came from nowhere to dive full length forward, latched on to the balland uprooted the bails in one action. Jayawardene failed to make his way back tothe crease, reducing Sri Lanka to 78-5.

Earlier, Sri Lanka seized the initiative with some intelligent bowling,picking up three early wickets and then nibbled at the opponent batting atregular intervals before South Africa made full use of the slog overs to reach219 for nine.

Kallis and De Villiers performed the salvage job with their defiant fourthwicket partnership. However, Kallis' fall in the 32nd over saw the middle ordercome apart as the South Africans lost three more wickets to be precariouslyplaced at 176 for 7.

But Robin Peterson (22) and Pollock (21) brought the modest crowd on theirfeet with some lusty hitting and taking their team's total past the 200 mark.

As many as 32 runs came off the last two overs as Farveez Maharoof conceded22 before Lasith Malinga, who otherwise bowled well to finish with the bestfigures of 4 for 53, gave ten more.

The South Africa innings got an early setback as skipper Graeme Smith (10)made his way back into the pavilion in the fifth over.

Vaas, who bowled intelligently to offset the slow movement off the pitch, gotthe first breakthrough as Smith played early and the ball landed in the safehands of Jayasuriya at short mid wicket.

Gibbs went on the offensive against Malinga, executing some flicks andpowerful drives to pick up three fours.

But Malinga extracted his revenge when the batsman tried to guide an awaygoing ball to the third man and wicketkeeper Sangakkara took the faint edgebehind the stumps as South Africa seemed to be struggling at 30-2.

Their condition worsened further with Boeta Dippenaar's painstaking 19-ballstay coming to an end as he was again caught by Sangakkara standing close to thestumps.

Kallis and de Villiers then set about doing the repair job with a responsiblepartnership.

Kallis, who twisted his ankle while going for a second run in the 18th over,played watchfully as Vaas bowled all his ten overs on the trot returningimpressive figures of 10-3-16-2.

As the South African innings meandered, Kallis tried to break the shackles bypulling Dilhara Fernando over mid on fence for the first six of the match.

PTI