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ICC CWC 2019: Sri Lanka’s semifinal hopes glimmer as they meet South Africa

Presently, Sri Lanka are placed at the seventh place in ICC CWC 2019 points table. However, a couple of points against South Africa would take them straight up to the fifth spot

ICC CWC 2019: Sri Lanka’s semifinal hopes glimmer as they meet South Africa

Sri Lanka's Milinda Siriwardana (L) bats in the nets during a training session at the Riverside Ground, in Chester-le-Street, northeast England on June 27, 2019, ahead of their 2019 Cricket World Cup group stage match against South Africa. (Photo by Lindsey PARNABY / AFP)

A vibrant Sri Lankan side would be looking for another victory to make an entry into the semi-finals as they face South Africa in their next match of the ICC Cricket World Cup (CWC) 2019 at the Riverside, Durham on Friday.

Presently, Sri Lanka are placed at the seventh place in ICC CWC 2019 points table. However, a couple of points against South Africa would take them straight up to the fifth spot, just beneath England, who are themselves in a spot of bother after a good start to the tournament.

A success for Sri Lanka over South Africa would imply that the World Cup semi-finals race would get even more intense with more possibilities opening up. The Dimuth Karunaratne-led team would draw a lot of positives and confidence from their win against hosts England, who are one of the favourites to win the title. Kusal Mendis, Avishka Fernando and Angelo Mathews finally got amidst some runs for Lanka and this would be a sigh of relief for skipper Dimuth Karunaratne as South Africa’s bowling attack has not been their best in this tournament and has failed to restrict the scoring rate or break crucial partnerships.

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South Africa, on the other hand, will hope to stitch a couple of wins in their last two matches and can ruin other team’s opportunities to qualify for the knockout stages. The Faf du Plessis-led team has nothing to lose and subsequently, can be very risky for other teams.

All eyes would be on Lasith Malinga, who scalped four wickets against England and wrecked their run chase.

For South Africa, the last two matches of their campaign will give them an opportunity to bid farewell to their star players JP Duminy and Imran Tahir from this format of the game and they will want to grab it with both hands after an incomprehensibly failed World Cup campaign.

A bright sunny day is predicted at Chester-le-Street without any odds of downpour and it’s probably going to be a run-fest if the two teams try and keep wickets at hand.

Live action begins from 3 pm (IST) onwards.

Squads:

Sri Lanka: Dimuth Karunaratne (c), Suranga Lakmal, Isuru Udana, Lasith Malinga, Kusal Mendis (wk), Kusal Perera (wk), Nuwan Pradeep, Suranga Lakmal, Jeevan Mendis, Thisara Perera, Lahiru Thirimanne, Jeffrey Vandersay, Milinda Siriwardana, Avishka Fernando, Dhananjaya de Silva.

South Africa: Faf du Plessis (c), Quinton de Kock (wk), Imran Tahir, David Miller, JP Duminy, Lungi Ngidi, Kagiso Rabada, Aiden Markram, Chris Morris, Andile Phehlukwayo, Tabraiz Shamsi, Dale Steyn, Dwaine Pretprius, Rassie van der Dussen, Hashim Amla.

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