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'South Africa once again found wanting in elite event'

Sri Lanka's spirited attempt to overhaul England's score fell short but will give them confidence for their last game against South Africa. Both teams have no chance of qualification so it is a dead game but both teams will want to show that but for a bit of luck they would have been in the semis too.

The South Africans were once again found wanting in a multi-country tournament despite having some of the biggest names in the game in their ranks. The one thing that could be said is that while their batsmen have adapted to the T20 format and made the necessary changes to their approach and attitude, some of their bowlers have still not found a way and so have got taken for runs.

That was evident in that nail-biting game when young Rabada bowled a back of length ball at his usual speed and was clobbered over long on for a huge six by Carlos Brathwaite. Just a couple of overs earlier David Wiese had shown the way to go by bowling an over full of slower deliveries which the West Indian batsmen failed to get a bat on. Wiese had clearly learnt from the series against Australia where his low full tosses were sent into the crowd by Warner, Maxwell and company.

Sri Lanka the defending champions should have been better prepared too having just played in India and then in the Asia Cup in Bangladesh. However they just weren’t sure what their batting order should be and that does not help a player’s confidence. Without Lasith Malinga who is coming to the end of a glorious career they didn’t have the bowlers to stop the opposition especially in the last quarter of the innings and so leaked runs then and gave the momentum to the opponents.

While Lanka is a team in transition, the Proteas have had a settled team for some time now and so they will probably need to do greater introspection when they return home as to why they weren’t able to rise to the occasion once again.

Source: PMG



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