Cricket
SA U19 exit World Cup
2010-01-24 15:57
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Graham Hume (Gallo Images)
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Johannesburg - South Africa Under-19 crashed out the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup after a 146-run (D/L Method) loss to Sri Lanka U19 in the quarterfinals in Christchurch on Sunday.
South Africa went into the match with some knowledge about their opponents, after squaring up in a tri-series also featuring India in December and would have been confidently prepared for the Sri Lankan onslaught.
Chasing a revised target of 292, Sri Lankan left-arm seamer, Charith Jayampathi ripped through the heart of South Africa's batting line-up, with the wickets of South Africa's top-four in-form batsmen.
Dominic Hendricks (221) , Stephan Smith (110) and Colin Ackermann (104) are the leading run-scorers for South Africa in the competition so far, and have all come through with match-winning innings', with this match being the exception.
Josh Richards was the lone soldier to put up a fight with a well-played 43, and never received much support from his troops, who collapsed under the pressure.
Earlier, South Africa's lacklustre bowling and fielding performance gave the Sri Lankans the upper hand on a batsman friendly wicket, after winning the toss and electing to field first.
Even the ever-consistent and economical Graham Hume finished with expensive figures (1/50), which was indicative of the rest of the bowlers' performance.
Hume is the leading wicket taker for the Proteas and was on the receiving end of an aggressive attack from Sri Lanka towards the end of their innings. It was Hume that gave South Africa their first breakthrough, with the wicket of Udara Jayasundera (9), caught behind by Richards, in the seventh over.
Udara was the only failure in Sri-Lanka's batting line-up, with all the other batsmen making valuable contributions to the huge total.
Jerry Nqolo's exciting burst, which included the wickets of the dangerous looking Bhanuka Rajapaksa (79) and Rumesh Buddika (42) gave the Proteas hope of pegging back the run-flow in the middle period, but poor discipline on the field gave Sri Lanka the momentum to score at nearly six to the over.
The baby Proteas will play against New Zealand on Monday in the fifth place play-off.
Sri Lanka U19 293/8 (50 overs) B Rajapaska 79, K Vithanage 45, R Buddika 42 J Nqolo 2/46
South Africa U19 145 all out (36.4/49 overs) J Richards 43 W Jayampathi 4/31; S Rajaguru 2/15
Sri Lanka U19 won by 146 runs (D/L Method)