New Delhi: South Africa and Sri Lanka began their ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2023 campaign amidst records tumbling in the highest-scoring match ever in the tournament's history.
South Africa smashed the World Cup’s biggest ever total of 428 after being sent in to bat by Sri Lanka skipper Dasun Shanaka, and wrapped up the game by 102 runs.
Despite losing their skipper early on, three South African batsmen Quinton de Kock and Rassie van der Dussen cracked centuries, before Aiden Markram slammed the quickest ODI World Cup century.
In reply, Sri Lanka fell short despite a phenomenal knock of 76 from Kusal Mendis, Charith Asalanka excellent 79 and Shanaka’s rearguard 68.
Markram broke Kevin O’Brien’s record for the fastest-ever Cricket World Cup century, bringing up his century in just 49 balls with a six, and ended his innings at 106 from 54 deliveries.
Heinrich Klassen (32 from 20), David Miller (39 from 21) and Marco Jansen (12 from 7) kept up the tempo as South Africa put Sri Lanka out of reckoning.
Runs flowed after the break as Sri Lanka made an attempt to surpass the aspirational target. Unfortunately, they got off to a poor start, losing Pathum Nissanka for a duck off Jansen.
Hope lingered for the Lankans when Kusal Mendis unleashed fury through the Powerplay, and reached his fifty off the 25th ball with a huge six over deep square leg.
Kusal Perara’s strange innings came to an end when he was cleaned up by Jansen for 7 from 15 balls, but the relentless Mendis just kept on going, and looked like he could even break the record set by Markram just a few hours earlier.
But when Kagiso Rabada removed Mendis the game was effectively over as a contest – a fact that was clear to see in Rabada’s huge reaction to getting the key wicket.
Mendis' remarkable 76 had come from just 42 balls and featured eight maximums as well as a quartet of fours.
And, although Sri Lanka were well ahead of South Africa’s scoring rate for much of the first half of their reply, it was the wickets that hurt their chances of doing something remarkable, with Sadeera Samarawickrama (23 from 19) and Dhananjaya de Silva (11 from 14) also back in the hutch by the midway stage.
Asalanka kept Sri Lanka’s momentum going, rattling his way to a half century and scoring 12 boundaries, including four sixes, in his lively 65-ball 79.
And some sloppy fielding, including a number of dropped chances, meant that South Africa had to wait for their inevitable victory.
Shanaka also reached his half-century as Sri Lanka continued to impress with the bat.
But the win did ultimately come, with Rabada bagging the 10th wicket to bowl Sri Lanka out for a well-fought 326, still 102 runs shy of the gargantuan target.
Shanaka had called it right at the toss and opted to field, noting the possibility of dew as a factor behind his decision. He also added that the Delhi track was a good one for batting and his team's aim was the restrict South Africa.
And it looked like the right decision when Sri Lanka drew first blood when they removed the Proteas skipper Temba Bavuma for 8 in the second over. South Africa sought to wrest back control before bedding in to lay a platform as Sri Lanka bowled with decent discipline through the Powerplay.
It was in the ninth over, bowled by Shanaka, that de Kock opened his arms and hit him for a six. Soon, de Kock and his partner van der Dussen unleashed a flurry of exquisite strokes and helped the South Africa rate pick up. This included a sequence of 6,4,4 from the willow of van der Dussen against de Silva in the 11th over.
Van der Dussen reached his half-century in the 18th over with a boundary against Matheesha Pathirana. De Kock reached a half-century of his own in the 22nd over.
And the duo kept their attack on the spinners, taking 12 runs off de Silva in the 23rd over. And with the platform set, South Africa went huge in the second half of their innings. (UNI)