South Africa survive Lasith Malinga's menacing spell
An extraordinary spell of fast bowling from Lasith Malinga threatened to produce the greatest one-day heist
An extraordinary spell of fast bowling from Lasith Malinga threatened to produce the greatest one-day heist
Phew! What a nerve-wracking finish. South Africa were cruising at one stage and were hit by a double strike by Murali. They recovered again, via a calm Kallis, and then, just when they were staring at the victory, they blinked. Malinga slinged slower ones and fiery yorkers and blasted out four in a row. From there the game was hanging on a knife's edge. And in the end, an edgy drive to third man sealed it for South Africa.
Malinga: "I am feeling bad that we lost the game but I am happy that I took a hattrick. The old ball was going to reverse and I got the wickets. I tried to get five in a row but unfortunately didn't get it. ... We are a fighting team but I think we didn't have enough runs.
Man-of-the-Match: Langeveldt. It was awarded by Joe Solomon,former West Indies cricketer and the man who fired in the direct hit to tie the game against Australia in the famous Test in 1960-61. That was some game, this was not so bad either.
Mahela I thought the guys fought back well but the runs were not enough. Credit to the bowlers but we didn't have enough runs. ..... Overall we made lots of mistakes while batting, some loose shots and we didn't finish batting the full 50 overs. That came back to haunt us.
Smith I think i went from 26 to 40 in those last few overs. .... That spell at the end from Malinga really tested us. ... I am chuffed and happy to get away with 2 points from this game.
Well .... that's it from us. This is Sriram Veera signing off. Thanks for logging in and tuning in. Do join us tomorrow for New Zealand v West Indies game.
One slip in place.
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| Super Eights | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | M | W | L | PT | NRR |
| AUS | 7 | 7 | 0 | 14 | 2.4 |
| SL | 7 | 5 | 2 | 10 | 1.483 |
| NZ | 7 | 5 | 2 | 10 | 0.253 |
| SA | 7 | 4 | 3 | 8 | 0.313 |
| ENG | 7 | 3 | 4 | 6 | -0.394 |
| WI | 7 | 2 | 5 | 4 | -0.566 |
| BAN | 7 | 1 | 6 | 2 | -1.514 |
| IRE | 7 | 1 | 6 | 2 | -1.73 |
| Group A | |||||
| Team | M | W | L | PT | NRR |
| AUS | 3 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 3.433 |
| SA | 3 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 2.403 |
| NED | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | -2.527 |
| SCOT | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | -3.793 |
| Group B | |||||
| Team | M | W | L | PT | NRR |
| SL | 3 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 3.493 |
| BAN | 3 | 2 | 1 | 4 | -1.523 |
| IND | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1.206 |
| BER | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | -4.345 |
| Group C | |||||
| Team | M | W | L | PT | NRR |
| NZ | 3 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 2.138 |
| ENG | 3 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 0.418 |
| KENYA | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | -1.194 |
| CAN | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | -1.389 |
| Group D | |||||
| Team | M | W | L | PT | NRR |
| WI | 3 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 0.764 |
| IRE | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 | -0.092 |
| PAK | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0.089 |
| ZIM | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | -0.886 |