CHENNAI: SOUTH Africa served a warning shot to the other title contenders as they ran through Sri Lanka to seal a six-wicket win on a warm early New York day. With the caveat that the Proteas are generally various shades of outstanding in the preliminary stages of a global ICC event, this performance was even beyond their wildest dreams.
On a wicket that wouldn’t have been out of place in South Africa, the pop up 35,000 seater in Nassau County was treated to some fine first session of a Test match kind of bowling. It was fast, there was some movement off the surface and the bounce was more of the tennis ball variety.
The likes of Kagiso Rabada, Marco Jansen, Ottneil Baartman and Anrich Nortje — full marks to the management for eschewing the option of playing a second spinner — made the Lankan batters hop, skip, jump as well as fish outside the off stump with some teasing lines. Even though there was help on offer in terms of movement and bounce, they stuck to the basics. The end result was the 2014 champions being bowled out for 77 in 19.1 overs. One thing that really helped the foursome was the height. All of them are comfortably over 5’10” and the Lankan batters failed to adjust to the natural extra lift they were getting off the deck.
Saying that, the Lankan batters didn’t help themselves as they didn’t show the necessary application needed in bowling-friendly conditions. While taking on a game is well and good, the intent and execution has to be seamless. Here, it was anything but. They lost more than half their side to catches in the deep while trying to clear the boundary. Two further wickets fell thanks to batters trying to hit the leather off the ball but failing to make connection (one stumping and one bowled).
While Jansen and Rabada shared the new-ball, it was Baartman, who made his international debut less than two weeks ago, who opened the floodgates. With no boundary balls on offer, Patthum Nissanka wanted to climb into Baartman’s first ball, a fullish length wide delivery. The opener saw a boundary ball but the extra bounce meant he couldn’t get the desired connection. Third man did the rest. Five balls later, the drop-in pitch had its first maiden of the day.
24/1 after six overs was, in hindsight, an okay start given the conditions. Itching to get a move on, Kamindu Mendis tried to flick Nortje over square leg. But he didn’t get the necessary distance. This wicket signalled the start of an extraordinary period of play where every time a pacer or a spinner bowled, they picked up a wicket. For the record, they slumped from 1/31 to 6/44. Coupled with the movement on offer — something which the Lankan bowlers also found when they came out to defend the small total — they were also hurrying the batters. Dasun Shanaka and Angelo Matthews raised brief visions of a total in excess of 100 when they hit three sixes in a nine-ball period immediately after the sixth wicket but Shanaka showed the perils of misjudging a par score on the surface. With more than five overs still remaining, he cleared his front leg and swung for the hills. A pace on delivery at the stumps dislodged the furniture behind. That was the beginning of the end.
If the first match in the pop-up Stadium is anything to go by, how will the other teams react? Will the other surfaces on the square be of a similar nature (he four South African pacers, between them, returned joint figures of 7/52 in 15.1 overs)? The answers to these two questions will decide which team sets the momentum in the early part of the World Cup. Considering India play three of their four games here, they will know they have to find the right answers quickly.
Brief scores: Sri Lanka 77 in 19.1 ovs (Rabada 2/21, Maharaj 2/22, Nortje 4/7) lost to
South Africa 80/4 in 16.2 ovs (de Kock 20, Klaasen 19 n.o).