South Africa on song by the light of the silvery moon

On a breezy full moon Poya night in Colombo, the sun set on Kenya's hopes. The African safari ended with the South Africans slaughtering the Kenyans by 176 runs to enter the semi-finals of the Champions Trophy where they will play the winner of the England-India clash. After winning the toss and electing to bat, rather blast, first, the South Africans amassed a tournament high of 316/5 and followed it up by dismissing Kenya for just 140 in 46.5 overs.

It was in 247 BC that Buddhism first came to Sri Lanka, and Poya has been an important part of the Buddhist faith. Even before the people followed the Christian calendar in its current form, every full moon night was of great significance to the devout Buddhists. The faithful, usually dressed in white, visited temples, abstained from drinking alcohol or eating meat. The bustling city of Colombo, usually up for a party at any time, wore a quiet look on the day. Major supermarkets remained closed, all bars and several restaurants never opened for business and there was little traffic on the roads. Most things came to a standstill. But not the cricket.

The R Premadasa stadium, bathed first by sunlight and later by its man-made equivalent, with the faithful doing their best to raise a cheer and get a chant going witnessed fireworks quite early in the piece. Herschelle Gibbs said in an interview before the start of this tournament, "When we played recently in Morocco, I didn't give myself a chance to settle down. I need to play myself in and then score off the second half of the first fifteen overs. Perhaps I put a bit of pressure on myself to get going right away."

The man they used to call Scooter put his theories into practice in fine style against Kenya. Playing the first 10 overs with the patience of a Trappist monk, Gibbs had just six runs to his name when the 11th over, and the explosion, began.

Having got well set, in the presence of Graeme Smith, Gibbs took on the Kenyan bowlers and tore them to shreds. His quicksilver footwork helped him reach the pitch of the ball and high bat speed sent the ball flying past hapless fielders. Putting on 159 for the first wicket, Gibbs and Smith (69) laid the solid foundations for a massive total.

Gibbs clearly enjoyed batting with Smith, but did not miss him, and went on in his merry way. Off-spinner Jimmy Kamande was the worst sufferer, going for 16 in one over when Gibbs dramatically dismissed him over long on, followed by a tracer-bullet lofted cover drive and capped by a straight hit that threatened to go as far as the press box. And this man said he prefers batting at the top of the order because there is not much spin then.

Not one to discriminate, Gibbs began to go after leg-spinner Collins Obuya. After hitting one huge six, the Western Province opening batsman tried to get too cute and attempted to tickle Collins Obuya past the 'keeper. The ball lodged safely in the gloves of David Obuya and Gibbs' knock of 110 (125 balls, 13 fours, 3 sixes) came to an end in the 37th over.

Jacques Kallis, regarded by many as the finest all-rounder of his generation, came in at the fall of the first wicket and helped himself to 60 effortless runs. Kallis was finally dismissed when a good piece of stumping by David Obuya off Steve Tikolo brought an end to his knock of 60 (53 balls, 5 fours, 1 six).

Lance Klusener heaved the ball about for 18 as the end of the innings neared and South Africa set Kenya a mammoth target of 317 for victory.

The minnows of Africa began their improbable run chase badly, losing two wickets with just five runs on the board. Ravindu Shah (3) and Brijal Patel (0) hardly caused a flutter, but Kennedy Obuya sure did, in the 12th over of the innings. Attempting to hook Klusener, he found the ball arrived a touch too quickly and the bat flew from his grasp, almost decapitating Mark Boucher who dived down the leg side to collect the ball. If you are the kind that likes word play headlines, you would say that the match slipped from Kenya's grasp then and there. Or you might say it was time to throw the bat.

Having staged a recovery of sorts to cross the 50 mark without losing any further wickets, the Kenyans once again found themselves stumbling when they lost their third and fourth wickets with 61 and 63 on the board. Steve Tikolo, easily Kenya's most accomplished batsman in this tournament, got his eye in and played the kind of flashy strokes that made people sit up and take notice. Particularly impressive were a cover drive on the up and a terrific pull where he had all the time in the world against a bowler of Makhaya Ntini's pace. Tikolo might have noticed the irony when a Rastafarian band struck up a stirring rendition of Bob Marley's 'Redemption Song' in the stands at the far end of the ground.

It is, however, only a song and Kenya were not good enough on the day to sing it. Tikolo's lashing innings of 69 (11 fours) came to an end when he was caught by Smith off Justin Ontong in the 36th over. The game was up. The tail folded up as Justin Ontong, bowling his quirky mixture of off and leg spin took 3/30 from 10 overs. Those figures do not tell the whole story though. With big off breaks, sharp looping leggies and even, remarkably, a delivery whipped through Muttiah Muralitharan style, Ontong mesmerised the Kenyans. It was that sort of day for them.