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Lanka crush S Africa by 76 runs
2/8/2006
Sri Lanka crushed South Africa by 76 runs in the VB Series eliminator in Hobart to join Australia in the final, reports BBC.
Winning the toss on a good wicket that took some turn, Sri Lanka finished on 257-9 after being set for a much larger score at the mid-innings point.
However, their total - built around Marvan Atapattu's 80 - proved more than adequate as South Africa produced a dismal performance with the bat.
Malinga Bandara shone with four wickets as South Africa were skittled for 181.
Sri Lanka's second wicket pairing of Atapattu and Kumar Sangakkara (62) took them to a formidable platform of 175-1 with 15 overs to go.
The medium-pacers got stuck into the middle and lower order and too many Sri Lankan batsmen holed out in the deep.
Tillakaratne Dilshan hit Andrew Hall (3-50) for a four and a six in the final over to boost his team's cause.
But at the midway point, it seemed South Africa were slight favourites to win.
Chaminda Vaas had other ideas as the left-arm seamer removed Boeta Dippenaar and Herschelle Gibbs quickly.
With South Africa never quite on top of the required run rate, the crucial wicket came in the 27th over, when Graeme Smith (67) became the fourth man to be dismissed with the score on 113.
Justin Kemp fell lbw next ball as leg-spinner Bandara struck a purple patch and there was suddenly no way back for the Proteas.
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