South Africa crush Sri Lanka's slim semi-final hopes

Sri Lanka had no answers for Dwaine Pretorius and the rest of the South African side.

An inspired bowling performance from Kagiso Rabada (2/36), Chris Morris (3/46) and Dwaine Pretorius (3/25) have lead South Africa to an easy 9 wicket win over Sri Lanka at Chester-le-Street. It was no surprise that when Faf du Plessis won the toss to elect to bowl on the pitch that was certainly seam friendly, however it was one of the first times in this World Cup that the bowlers had shown they supported their captains decision by the way in which they bowled. Kagiso Rabada gave his captain the perfect start, having Dimuth Karunaratne caught at second slip first ball of the innings. The Sri Lankan's would all pass double figures in the top order, but failed to go on with it and Kusal Perera (30) and Avishka Fernando (30) pushed the score to 67 inside ten overs, before both falling just 2 overs apart to Pretorius. Dhananjaya de Silva (24) and Kusal Mendis (23) would both try to resurrect the Sri Lankan innings, but Pretorius would remove Mendis to pick up his third, whilst part time spinner JP Duminy would remove Mendis to leave Sri Lanka 6/135 off 36 overs. The tail would try to push the Sri Lankan innings to see out their 50 overs, but when Chris Morris removed Lasith Malinga in the 50th over, Sri Lanka would be bowled out for 203. Chasing 204 to win, Quinton de Kock and Hashim Amla would both get off to a great start, pushing the South African's along at 6 an over before de Kock was bowled by Malinga for just 15. But that would be the only moment of glory for the Sri Lankan's as Amla would be joined by captain du Plessis for an unbroken 175 run stand that would see the South African's record their second win of the tournament. Hashim Amla finished with 80 not out, whilst Faf du Plessis fell just four runs short of his century, finishing with 96 off 103 balls which included 10 fours and one six as the South African's look to finish their campaign with dignity in check.

THE STAR

Dwaine Pretorius celebrates during his spell against Sri Lanka.

Dwaine Pretorius, a relative newcomer to international cricket, would take home the man of the match honours for his brilliant spell of bowling, finishing with 3 for 25 off 10 overs, including breaking Sri Lanka's second wicket partnership that could have turned the momentum for Sri Lanka.

THE MOMENT

Kusal Perera looks back at the damage caused by Dwaine Pretorius.

Dwaine Pretorius's first three overs went for 17 runs, but that all changed when he took the wicket of Avishka Fernando. Four balls later he would remove Kusal Perera and finish his fourth over with figures of 2/19. His next six overs would leak just six runs in a fantastic display of fast bowling.

THE FAILURE

Dimuth Karunaratne walks off after being dismissed for a golden duck.

Dimuth Karunaratne needed to give Sri Lanka a captains innings, instead he failed to negotiate the first ball and was sent packing for a golden duck. Sri Lanka would never really recover from that failure, and with it their World Cup campaign is all but over.

WHAT NEXT - Sri Lanka take on the West Indies on Monday, whilst South Africa finish their campaign against Australia next Saturday. TONIGHT - Australia take on New Zealand and Pakistan have Afghanistan with plenty on the line.