Opener Sanath Jayasuriya set the table for a feast, but a stunning middle-order collapse saw Sri Lanka starved of runs as they stumbled to 222 in their triangular series limited-overs match against South Africa on Tuesday.
Jayasuriya and Jehan Mubarak had blazed 94 runs off 97 balls to set the Sri Lankans up for a huge score at the Western Australia Cricket Association ground, but the party was brought to an abrupt end by the unlikeliest of sources.
South African skipper Graeme Smith, bowling the gentlest of off-spinners, claimed his best-ever one-day figures of 3-30 off 10 overs, starting the batting rot that eventually saw Sri Lanka lose their last eight wickets for 85 runs.
Earlier, Mubarak and Jayasuriya had threatened to destroy South Africa’s under-strength attack.
Jayasuriya brought up his 50 off 44 balls with a booming six over mid-wicket and eventually reached 86 off 65 before he was dismissed by a brilliant diving catch from Ashwell Prince at backward point off Smith.
The veteran’s stunning knock had included nine boundaries and three sixes, and 17 runs off one over from rookie paceman Johan van der Wath.
Smith had earlier claimed his first scalp when Mubarak chopped him on to his stumps for 31 with the Sri Lankans then 94-1.
The two wickets, the first time Smith had taken more than one in an international one-day match, were the breakthrough the South Africans needed.
But not content with his early success, Smith then grabbed 3-8, trapping Mahela Jayawardene lbw for one as the Sri Lankans started to flounder at 142-3 in the 24th over.
Smith’s previous best one-day figures had come earlier in the current triangular series when he took 1-15 against Australia.
This was also the first time he had bowled a full 10 overs in an international one-day match, an indication of his success as much as the shallowness of South Africa’s attack.
Tillekeratne Dilshan was the only one of the Sri Lankan batsmen to reach more than 20 in the debacle that followed with a defiant 37 before he was run out — one of three for the day.
For South Africa, veteran Shaun Pollock took a tidy 2-17 off 10 overs, while Charl Langeveldt, who had conceded 26 runs off his first three overs, steadied to finish with 1-50. — Sapa-AFP