Published: Mar 22, 2014, 04:45 PM (IST)
Edited: Mar 22, 2014, 08:42 PM (IST)
By Shrikant Shankar
Mar 22, 2014
Kusal Perera‘s belligerent half-century guided Sri Lanka to 165 for seven against South Africa in the Super 10s of the ICC World T20 2014. This is the first match in Group 1 of the T20 World Cup. Perera struck a 40-ball 61 with six fours and three sixes. Angelo Mathews was the next top-scorer with 43 runs. Imran Tahir was the pick of the bowlers with three wickets.
Earlier, Sri Lanka captain Dinesh Chandimal had won the toss and elected to bat first. Perera began Sri Lanka’s innings in aggressive manner. Dale Steyn bowled one full and wide and the left-handed Perera hit the ball over mid-off for a four. Steyn’s next delivery was again full and Perera drove square of the wicket and got consecutive fours. The next delivery was wide outside off-stump and Perera just flicked it and the ball went sailing over wide long-on for a six.
But Steyn struck on the last ball in the first over by bowling Tillakaratne Dilshan for a first-ball duck. The ball pitched in line with middle-stump and came straight as Dilshan looked to be expecting the out-swinger. The ball took a slight deflection off the pads and hit the off-stump.
Morne Morkel replaced Steyn, but that did not change much as Perera flicked one on the pads over deep square-leg for another six. Lonwabo Tsotsobe also bowled one full and Perera played a flick over mid-wicket for a four. Jayawardene drove one from Morne through cover for his first four.
Next ball, he went for a lofted drive on a back of a length delivery, but only sliced it high in the air and Steyn took a simple catch at mid-on. Jayawardene was dismissed for nine. But Perera kept his hitting going as he pulled a slightly short delivery from Tsotsobe over deep mid-wicket for a six.
Albie Morkel was brought into the attack into the eighth over. His first ball was full outside off-stump and Kumar Sangakkara drove on the off side to get his first four. Albie then strayed down the pads to Perera and he flicked it through fine-leg for a four. JP Duminy bowled a short delivery on leg-stump and Perera hit it behind square on the leg side for a four.
Later in the over Perera reached his fifth half-century in Twenty20 Internationals with a single. Imran Tahir was brought into the attack in the 10th over and he struck by dismissing Sangakkara for 14 off 18 deliveries. Sangakkara tried to smash a full delivery down the ground, but the ball turns and takes a thick top-edge. Tsotsobe took a simple catch at short third-man.
The scoring slowed down a little after that. But still the Sri Lankans put the bad deliveries away to the boundary. Mathews came down the track to Tahir and smashed one past the bowler to get his first four. Tsotsobe bowled one full and wide and Perera hammers it along the ground for a four through cover.
After a period of some relatively quiet overs, Perera went for an expansive lofted drive to a delivery from Tahir. But he mistimed the shot and AB de Villiers took a simple catch at mid-on. Perera struck six fours and three sixes in his innings. Sri Lanka’s innings tailed a little after Perera’s wicket. Chandimal was then stumped for 13 by Quinton de Kock as Tahir got his third wicket.
Thisara Perera was the next batsman and he hit one over mid-on for a four. But his innings did not last long as he was bowled by Morne. Mathews was bowled in the last over by Steyn for 43 off 32 deliveries. He struck three fours and one six over long-on off Tahir’s bowling.
Brief scores:
Sri Lanka 165 for 7 in 20 overs (Kusal Perera 61, Angelo Mathews 43; Dale Steyn 2 for 37, Morne Morkel 2 for 31, Imran Tahir 3 for 26) vs South Africa.
ICC World T20 2014 Points Table and Team Standings
ICC World T20 2014 Schedule details
(Shrikant Shankar is a writer/reporter at CricketCountry.com. Previously he has done audio commentary for various matches involving India, Indian Premier League and Champions League Twenty20 for ESPNSTAR.com. You can follow him on Twitter @Shrikant_23)
