dead-bats a full delivery aimed at the stumps, and calls an initially-hesitant Morkel across
South Africa vs Sri Lanka, 3rd ODI at Bloemfontein, Jan 17 2012 - Ball by Ball Commentary
RESULT
3rd ODI (D/N), Bloemfontein, January 17, 2012, Sri Lanka tour of South Africa
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Sri Lanka are 0-3 down with two games to go. The fourth ODI is in Kimberley on Friday, that will be a day-nighter too, so join us at 2 pm local time for that. Siddhartha Talya is updating his match report. That is it from me, Abhishek Purohit. Cheers
Faf du Plessis is the Man of the Match for his eye-catching 72. Faf: "Just nice to get some time in the middle, and the run out as well. There is skill involved but you count yourself lucky when you hit from that angle. I am grateful to AB and Kirsten to give me a chance up the order. It was serious cramping, AB told me its a mental thing and I need to harden up. I tried to but it kept coming and coming. We had AB in the middle still and I thought we could take the game."
AB de Villiers: "I would have liked the game to go the end. I am proud of the boys, we pulled it back with the ball and were solid with the bat, unfortunately there were a couple of run outs. Fielding is part and parcel of ODI cricket and can turn a game on its head. The whole team played really well. I thought the guys stuck to their plans really well. 260-odd wasn't a bad total for us. 300 was on the cards but we pulled it back really nicely. Alviro and Colin did not get too many but they looked good. Faf and JP settled things down nicely."
Dilshan: "Definitely disappointed to lose the series like this. I think we began really well, Mahela's and Sanga's run outs cost us 20 runs and that was the turning point. We also have to improve our fielding, South Africa are much better than us. We had a great chance to win today, with Lasith still having five overs with almost 90 runs to go. We'll try to finish strongly in the last two games."
10.50 pm It's off, finis, kaput. The match has ended. Really unfortunate way for Sri Lanka to lose the series. South Africa win by four runs under the D/L method. Well, someone had to be on the wrong side of the rain, and it cannot be South Africa all the time. They have been at the receiving end since 1992. But Sri Lanka looked like the better team today, they were one wicket away from getting into the SA tail, and Malinga had five overs to go.
10.45 pm Bad news for Sri Lanka, the rain has picked up again. Something tells me that's that
Mak: "It is late in India ! 2.14 now ! im still up hoping to see the latest record...the first ever time rain favoured SA !!! Ah AB ! You do DO IT ALL .. !"
10.30 pm The umpires are having a word with the groundsman. Apparently, it will take 40 minutes for the groundstaff to get the ground ready for play. The Supersopper is coming out now, but it is facing some issues getting started up, says Firdose.
Prithvi: "Wonder how rain can favour South Africa. Its against the laws of nature."
10.23 pm Mopping up operations have started, Firdose informs us. There is a lot of water on the covers, the umpires are having a look, umbrellas in hand. It is still raining a bit
Ritvik: "It's pretty late out here in India.. Have an exam tomo. And I woke my dad and brother out of their sleep to watch this match that looked likely to have a thrilling finish.. It was one over before rain struck. Now I'm being cursed. Wonder who's luck is worse..mine or the Sri Lankans'."
10.15 pm It's still raining, but it has eased off slightly, says Firdose. Cut-off time for the game is 11.26 pm
10.05 pm Still pouring, says Firdose. We'll start losing overs after around 10.30 pm
G&T goes back to 1992: "... and with one ball to go, South Africa now require 22 runs to win ..."
Firdose informs us that there will be an hour's delay allowed before they start docking overs. At the moment, it is pouring though
9.33 pm The rain has picked up and the umpires are having a chat. And they have decided to come off. South Africa are ahead on the D/L score at the moment - 175
Rain, D/L, South Africa, Sri Lanka - here is the scorecard of that 2003 World Cup match
end of over 348 runs
SA: 179/5CRR: 5.26 • RRR: 5.50
AB de Villiers39 (36b 3x4)
Albie Morkel7 (12b)
Lasith Malinga 5-1-20-2
Rangana Herath 6-0-24-0
33.6
1
Malinga to de Villiers, 1 run
33.5
1
Malinga to Morkel, 1 run
goes on the pads with the full one and is turned to fine leg
33.4
1
Malinga to de Villiers, 1 run
squeezes a low full toss just past the non-striker's stumps
33.4
1w
Malinga to de Villiers, 1 wide
rips one in full but down the leg side
33.3
1
Malinga to Morkel, 1 run
a clean pick-up at mid off would have found him short, that is, if the throw would have hit, it missed in the end
33.2
1
Malinga to de Villiers, 1 run
Malinga goes for the yorker, AB pats it away and they scamper across
Standing way outside his crease
33.1
2
Malinga to de Villiers, 2 runs
AB improvises, he bends his knee, and fetches a widish one from outside off and bunts it past the non-striker for a couple
Some rain could be on its way
Malinga is back
end of over 335 runs
SA: 171/5CRR: 5.18 • RRR: 5.64
AB de Villiers34 (32b 3x4)
Albie Morkel5 (10b)
Rangana Herath 6-0-24-0
Kosala Kulasekara 3-0-21-0
32.6
1
Herath to de Villiers, 1 run
extra cover is a bit deep and that is enough for them to pinch one
32.5
•
Herath to de Villiers, no run
pushes a tossed up ball to the bowler
32.4
•
Herath to de Villiers, no run
pushes towards cover off the front foot
32.3
2
Herath to de Villiers, 2 runs
AB opens up the off side, lofts inside out with the turn over extra cover
32.2
1
Herath to Morkel, 1 run
whips a low full toss off the pad to deep square
32.1
1
Herath to de Villiers, 1 run
turned square on the leg side for one
Dave: "Geoff has a valid point. I seem to recall SA cruising in the last world cup until a de Villiers run out. Now who was running to the other end?"
end of over 3213 runs
SA: 166/5CRR: 5.18 • RRR: 5.61
AB de Villiers30 (27b 3x4)
Albie Morkel4 (9b)
Kosala Kulasekara 3-0-21-0
Rangana Herath 5-0-19-0
31.6
1
Kulasekara to de Villiers, 1 run
slower one on the stumps that he drops behind square on the off side
31.5
4
Kulasekara to de Villiers, FOUR runs
now he shuffles across and works behind square leg for another boundary
31.4
4
Kulasekara to de Villiers, FOUR runs
shot! AB unfurls an extra cover drive that flies to the boundary, he makes a bit of room outside leg, and thwacks the ball with a bit of an open face
31.3
•
Kulasekara to de Villiers, no run
worked straight to midwicket again
31.2
•
Kulasekara to de Villiers, no run
fuller one slanted in, turned to midwicket
31.1
4
Kulasekara to de Villiers, FOUR runs
smack! sits up from back of a length, widish too, and AB hammers it past extra cover
end of over 312 runs
SA: 153/5CRR: 4.93 • RRR: 6.00
Albie Morkel4 (9b)
AB de Villiers17 (21b)
Rangana Herath 5-0-19-0
Kosala Kulasekara 2-0-8-0
30.6
•
Herath to Morkel, no run
goes past the outside edge with one that slides across him outside off
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