South Africa vs. Sri Lanka, first Odi review.

 "Sri Lanka will be more competitive in the ODI's"

  "They are a far better ODI side then a test side"

All the cricket followers out there must have learnt these lines by heart before yesterday, it may be just the first match of the series, but both these statements have been proven wrong, by a long way.

SRI LANKA LOST THE MATCH BY 258 RUNS.

258!

The natives in Boland Park were in for a treat by their home side, a dream start for Ab to his captaincy and a superb start for South Africa in the series. On the other hand, more criticism for the Sri Lankans, losing by such a margin is for the minnows, not a number four odi ranked side. 

First, lets look at the turning points of the match.

1) South Africa 9/1. Malinga takes a breakthorugh and Smith departs. After this wicket the run rate slowed down and the Sri Lankan bowlers were able to squeeze the runs. Sri Lanka were in control at the end of the first powerplay.

2) South Africa 92/1, Amla smashes two fours of Ajantha Mendis's first over, till then Amla had looked solid, but not at ease, had not been playing his shots, it was Kallis who was keeping the run rate ticking. Amla broke free this over, and after it we saw a more fluent innings from him.

3) South Africa 151/1, Kallis gets run out. The run rate had climbed to 5.31 and South Africa looked set for more carnage in the batting powerplay.

4) South Africa, 158/2, De Villiers comes to the crease on his captaincy debut, comes and takes to two fours of the 31st over. This was just the beginning of a wonderful 52 from him in just 40 balls. A superbly fluent knock and some stylish shots by the captain, provided great entertainment to the crowd and also accelerated the run rate.

5) 46th over, South Africa 273/3, the end of two innings, one a useful and well made 22 by Albie Morkel. The other, a brilliant, wonderful, classy 112 by Hashim Amla, He was the backbone of the South African innings.

South Africa ended on 301/8, a very competitive score considering the new rules.

Malinga ended up with notable figures of 5/54.

And now the Sri Lankan innings, what can i write? Considering it hardly lasted more then  hours. 

Or should i say the Sri Lankan collapse?

A horrible batting exhibition by the Sri Lankan batsmen, one could hardly tell they are a world class team. Chasing a score of 302, the Sri Lankan batsmen didnt even manage to make quarter of it. This is how the Sri Lankan innings scorecard reads.

	Sri Lanka innings (target: 302 runs from 50 overs)		R	M	B	4s	6s	SR
	WU Tharanga	c Duminy b M Morkel	0	2	2	0	0	0.00
	TM Dilshan*	c †de Villiers b Tsotsobe	0	9	2	0	0	0.00
	KC Sangakkara†	c †de Villiers b M Morkel	4	20	14	1	0	28.57
	LD Chandimal	b Tsotsobe	4	7	7	1	0	57.14
	DPMD Jayawardene	c du Plessis b Tsotsobe	2	20	16	0	0	12.50
	AD Mathews	c Peterson b M Morkel	0	1	2	0	0	0.00
	CKB Kulasekara	c Peterson b M Morkel	19	74	46	0	0	41.30
	KMDN Kulasekara	c du Plessis b Steyn	6	14	11	1	0	54.54
	SL Malinga	b Peterson	1	22	9	0	0	11.11
	BAW Mendis	not out	3	26	13	0	0	23.07
	CRD Fernando	lbw b Peterson	0	3	1	0	0	0.00
	Extras	(w 2, nb 2)	4
	Total	(all out; 20.1 overs; 108 mins)	43	(2.13 runs per over Unbelievable, simply unbelievable. Th

Unbelievable, simply unbelievable. The batsmen played like playgrounds kids, horrendous shots completely unexpected of such an experienced line-up. Of course, not taking anything away from the South African bowlers, they bowled magnificiently but honestly, the Sri Lankan batsmen, were hell dissapointing.

SOUTH AFRICA

Positives.

 Where do i begin!?! Just too many! Firstly, its a great way to start a series, a huge confidence booster it was. Secondly, de Villiers superb start to his captaincy, a dream debut especially against one of the top ODI sides. I predict great things for this man, so a wonderful way to start off. 

Thirdly the batting clicked overall, except for Graeme Smith the whole top and middle order performed, with de Villiers, Kallis and Amla playing exceptionally. The lower order could have done better, but they didn't come out at very helpful circumstances. 

One huge positive is Morne Morkel, match figures of 4-10 for him. he bowled beautifully, it was a pleasure to watch him. Bowled menacingly, the one who troubled the Sri Lankans the most. Kudos to Smith for believing in him by giving him the new ball, which led to him triggering the collapse. Other then him, great bowling effort by all the South African bowlers, all chipped in with wickets, and if not, at least sustained the pressure.

Negatives.

Honestly, cant think of any, all i can think of is Graeme Smith still not in form, but its just the first game of the series so he shouldnt't be judged too harshly.

SRI LANKA.

Positives.

The sole Sri Lankan performer.

Negatives.

Back to the drawing board for Dilshan and team, such a performance must not be treated acceptable. They must evaluate all that went wrong and work out solutions.

Other then the first few overs, the match was one sided, South Africa dominated. 

Sri Lankas batting didnt click at all, for which i believe they must tamper a bit with the line up for the next encounter. Perhaps letting Jayawardene open, and Dishan in the middle order before Chandimal. The Sri Lankan batsmen must play more responsibly and according to the situation. Their line up is filled with experience, they themselves would know very well the mistakes they made.

The Sri Lankan bowling was good, but could have been better. Other then Malinga, no other bowlers performance was of much note. Sri Lanka had pressure the first few overs, but fumbles in the field led to easy singles, and moments such as the first ball of Fernando's first over didnt help either.

Dilshan has a lot of answering to do, he must be devastated but someone has to take responsibility for this loss. Yet another match lost with him as captain, he must make his team come back strongly if he wants to save his leadership.

Overall, Sri Lanka must let this loss go, "jo hogaya woh hogaya" and now move on. They shouldn't let this loss dampen their spirits and come back strongly next match. Time to show the world what the world cup finalists are capable off.