Sharjah: Tabraiz Shamsi and Dwaine Pretorius took identical figures of 3/17 as South Africa bowled out Sri Lanka for 142 all out in a Group 1 match of Super 12 stage in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium here Saturday.
South Africa struck at regular intervals, which made run-scoring a difficult task for Sri Lanka on a used pitch. Apart from Pathum Nissanka’s 72 off 58 balls, no other batter could play a knock of significance.
After electing to bowl first, Anrich Nortje started things off by disturbing Kusal Perera’s stumps in power-play. Nissanka soldiered on to hit boundaries and paced his knock with perfection despite losing partners from other end.
Charith Asalanka looked in good nick but was run-out from a brilliant throw by Kagiso Rabada from mid-wicket. From there onwards, the Sri Lankan batting slide continued as Shamsi and Keshav Maharaj kept things while taking wickets in the middle overs.
Nissanka continued to bat deep, slamming an off-colour Kagiso Rabada for a six followed by back-to-back fours in the 18th over. But on the next over, Nissanka holed out to long-on off Pretorius. Maheesh Theekshana hit a boundary off Nortje in the final over to take Sri Lanka past 140-mark.
Brief Scores: Sri Lanka 142 in 20 overs (Pathum Nissanka 72, Charith Asalanka 21, Tabraiz Shamsi 3/17, Dwaine Pretorius 3/17) against South Africa.